Yonkers ZBA backs condo building in historic district

Ernie Garcia
The Journal News

YONKERS - The Zoning Board of Appeals voted last night to approve a nonprofit developer's request to build a 12-story building in a downtown historic district.

The Greyston Foundation sought variances for Warburton Riverview, a $35 million work-force condominium housing project that will target middle-class singles and families. The proposed housing would sit behind the facades of several 19th-century buildings from 44 to 54 Warburton Ave. and on 6 to 8 Wells Ave.

Greyston sought zoning exemptions from Yonkers ordinances regulating building heights, off-street parking, lot coverage and other issues. Zoning officials granted Greyston's variances with 17 conditions, including a ban on pile-driving and rock blasting to protect the nearby Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site and other sensitive structures.

Greyston's president, Steve Brown, said he was pleased with the decision and he did not object to the conditions.

"I didn't hear anything that we didn't say we would do," said Brown, whose project begins a review by the city's Planning Board next week.

City Council voted to create the historic district in April. It includes 13 buildings in various architectural styles from about 1860 to 1900, including some Greyston originally had proposed to demolish as part of its project. Incorporating the buildings that Greyston owns in the historic district into Warburton Riverview is expected to add about $2 million to the project's cost.

Despite Greyston's assurances to its preservation-minded neighbors, the proposed complex makes some of the historic district building owners nervous.

Robert Snyder owns 9 Manor House Square, an 1857 structure in the historic district and the city's first police headquarters. Zoning officials specifically mentioned Snyder's building, requiring a vibration detector near the structure.

That stipulation did not allay Snyder's concerns.

"From personal experience there are short-, medium- and long-term effects of vibrations," Snyder said.

Snyder has also repeatedly cited the "oops factor." The Aug. 21 collapse of the Centennial Firehouse in Peekskill illustrates how efforts to preserve buildings can still fail, he has said.