Development Proposal Would Remedy Longstanding Traffic Bottleneck, Provide Vital Housing, Supply Parking for Senior Center and Parks & Recreation Office and Refresh and Restore the Historic Underhill House
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. (March 21, 2023) – The developer of Underhill Farm, a transformational mixed-use development proposed for the former Soundview Preparatory School property, has submitted an Environmental Assessment Form (EAF) to the Town of Yorktown as part of its plan to ensure a development that ignites new vitality downtown while providing millions of dollars in crucial benefits and services at no cost to taxpayers.
Underhill Farm, at 370 Underhill Ave. in Yorktown Heights, would offer a park-like walkable community with 148 homes, including 72 senior restricted units for ages 55 and older. The campus will include public walking trails, ponds and open space to be enjoyed by all, as well as 17,000 square feet of retail and office space. The property, a short walk from Yorktown Heights’ Central Business District, would return to tax rolls after three decades and generate $1 million in annual tax revenue, as shown in the submitted EAF.
The project offers many significant benefits and amenities for the community, including:
- Underhill Farm will preserve and restore the Underhill House to its 19th-century elegance, honoring the structure’s history and providing a substantial, inspirational benefit for the neighborhood. The Underhill House’s first floor will have retail/office and possibly a restaurant. The second and third floors will host office space.
- Underhill Farm will fund traffic improvements, and additional funding for future enhancements, for the Route 118-Underhill Avenue intersection. These upgrades, at long last, will alleviate the congestion that has plagued drivers during peak travel times. The improvements will make the intersection safer, more efficient and more pedestrian-friendly. The upgrades also will surpass what’s required to address vehicular additions from the new Underhill Farm community. “Underhill Farm is contributing over 50% of the estimated cost of improvements, but generating less than 5% of the traffic at the intersection,” project spokesman Josh Sommers said. Since 2019, there have been 27 accidents at this intersection. This includes 10 during 2019, an alarming rate of almost one a month, and there already have been two this year (as of March 13, 2023).
- Underhill Farm will construct a road to the adjacent Beaver Ridge Senior Apartments, which will provide significantly improved access for emergency vehicles. Underhill Farm also will provide 30 parking spaces for a new senior center and Parks & Recreation office. Without the new parking, the structure housing the senior center and Parks & Recreation office will not be built.
- Underhill Farm’s housing plans align with the New York State Governor’s recently announced Housing Compact, which calls for building 800,000 housing units in the next decade. Underhill Farm proposes a variety of housing types. Housing diversity will include apartments, condominiums and townhouse options for seniors and younger families.
- The project aligns with the Town of Yorktown’s “Yorktown Heights Overlay District,” which encourages economic development and permits an increase in housing diversity through the construction of multi-family housing.
“Underhill Farm will be a vibrant, transformational development and we remain committed to closely collaborating with our community and Town of Yorktown leaders,” spokesman Sommers said. “We deeply care about Yorktown’s future, which is why we are significantly investing in our community by providing traffic solutions, a walkable, park-like community and parking for what will be the senior center and Parks & Recreation office. All will amplify economic opportunity, pride, tax revenue and quality of life.”
On March 8, several Town of Yorktown municipal boards met as a group to coordinate information as each reviews the proposal. The Planning Board was joined by the Town Board, Heritage Commission, the Housing Board, Conservation Board and Parks and Recreation Commission. The Planning Board compiled comments and will determine what additional information is needed to respond to Underhill Farm’s submitted Environmental Assessment Form.
The EAF was submitted as part of the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process. Overall, the EAF outlines how Underhill Farm “would be compatible with surrounding land use patterns in the vicinity of the project site. The construction of the proposed development would increase the diversity of housing options in the Town of Yorktown and would serve to expand the Town’s tax base with additional ratables. A diversity of housing is necessary to provide both entry-level housing opportunities and housing for seniors who wish to remain in their community and age in place without the demands of a single-family home. No significant adverse impacts are expected from the proposed action on adjacent land uses. No significant land use impacts are anticipated. In addition, the project is consistent with the goals of the Town Comprehensive Plans.”
In addition, the EAF also notes that the project complies with open space and recreational requirements. It further states that “no significant archaeological sites were identified” through methodical evaluation of the property and that outbuildings on the property are not historically significant because “they have been substantially altered through the use of the property by (previous) owners, to the extent that they no longer retain integrity of form or function of the period of historic significance (1821-1888).”
Underhill Farm’s developer continually has accepted community feedback and has significantly evolved the site plan. Underhill Farm has reduced housing from 165 to 148 units; withdrawn plans for an amenity building; moved a proposed pool closer to the condominium building; and relocated four townhouses into an apartment building to bolster the buffer between the townhouses and Underhill Avenue. This move increases the buffer between the townhouses and a stream, and decreases density near neighboring single-family houses.
Learn more at underhillfarmsyorktown.com.
