• Changes Ahead for Route 9 Roundabout

  • Jul 19 2024
  • Length: 3 mins
  • Podcast

Changes Ahead for Route 9 Roundabout By cover art

Changes Ahead for Route 9 Roundabout

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  • Annsville Circle rezoned for housing and retail The Town of Cortlandt is laying the groundwork to redevelop a mostly barren stretch of Route 9 just south of Philipstown with housing, businesses and a promenade along Annsville Creek. Cortlandt last year approved zoning for the Annsville Waterfront Enhancement District, which has 38 parcels on 41 acres along Route 9 north of Annsville Circle, the roundabout that connects Route 9 (Albany Post Road) and Routes 6 and 202. The district extends along Highland Avenue to the town's border with Peekskill. On Route 9 north of the Table 9 Restaurant and Mobil gas station, the roadside is lined with empty buildings with for-sale signs. There is also an auto repair center and a maintenance facility used by the state Department of Transportation. Under the revised zoning, residences, restaurants, retail stores and hotels will be allowed in the district and, with special permits, developers will be able to build mixed-use residential projects. Cortlandt is requiring projects having more than five units of housing to designate 10 percent as "affordable" under Westchester County guidelines. Property owners will be given incentives to build a 10- to 15-foot-wide promenade for pedestrians and bicyclists along Annsville Creek, which passes under the Jan Peeck Bridge and connects to the Hudson River. "There's talk about building a hotel," said Richard Becker, the Cortlandt supervisor. "And we have three developers interested in developing significant apartment-style housing because there's such a housing shortage." Cortlandt is nearly finished with a design for a water and sewer district covering the area, where properties rely on wells and septic systems, said Becker. Westchester County has allocated $7 million to the $14 million project and Rep. Mike Lawler recently announced $1 million in federal funding, said Becker. Cortlandt has applied for a grant to cover the balance. "We've met with many of the property owners and there's tremendous interest because many of their septic fields are failing and the properties can't be redeveloped without adequate water and sewer," he said. Another problem, flooding, is supposed to be addressed by a $26 million, two-year project to raise Annsville Circle by 4 feet and a half-mile section of Route 6 by 7 feet. Gov. Kathy Hocul announced the launch of that project on Monday (July 15). Those areas, which are increasingly vulnerable as climate change drives the Hudson River higher, will be raised with fill made from recycled glass, an environmentally friendly alternative that will reduce by a year the project's completion, according to the governor's office. The plan includes a path connecting Paddlesports Park with the Jan Peeck Bridge, new crosswalks and landscaping at the center of the roundabout. Contractors are nearly finished replacing a culvert over Putnam Creek on Route 6/202. "It'll be more compact, a smaller circle, and designed in a more modern fashion so there'll be less merging of traffic," said Becker. "It's a dangerous intersection now." He called the area the "gateway" to northern Westchester and an opportunity to fulfill the state's goal of building more housing, which is facing resistance in some municipalities. Cortlandt has submitted a letter notifying the state of its intention to seek certification under its Pro-Housing Community program. Certified communities, such as Beacon, receive preference for housing grants. "You don't want to change the nature of existing residential areas, so this is a way of putting some apartments into the community without impacting other communities," Becker said.
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