Apartments, retail proposed for Beekman Street in Beacon

In some ways, a public hearing held Tuesday (April 8) on a proposal to construct two 4-story buildings with 64 apartments along Beekman Street at Route 9D in Beacon resembled a revolving door.

One by one, residents opposed to the 45 Beekman St. project registered complaints with the Planning Board, which has been reviewing the application since December 2023. As the speakers finished, Taylor Palmer, the applicant's attorney, approached the podium to challenge the complaints.

In addition to one- and two-bedroom apartments, the project at one of the gateways to Beacon (Interstate 84 is a few blocks away) is set to include 15,000 square feet of commercial space. Renderings show brick buildings with metal trim, although metal components may not be allowed in the city's linkage district, which connects the waterfront and Main Street. The building inspector will make a determination.

Streetscape elements would include benches, bicycle racks and a public area at the 9D intersection with sculptures and seating. A parking lot behind the buildings would sit close to the backyards of a half-dozen properties on High Street and Tompkins Avenue.

Some neighbors feel the proposal is out of scale with its surroundings and will detract from the 12 multicolored Victorian homes on High Street, part of Beacon's protected historic district. They also say trees the developer intends to plant at the site will not adequately screen their views.

Project officials contend that the linkage zone is meant for high-density, mixed-use development and say the proposal is in line with nearby developments such as The View and West End Lofts, and civic buildings such as City Hall and the recently completed central fire station.

However, "the fire station requires multiple vehicles exceeding 25 feet and weighing 12 tons to park inside," said Jim Zellinger, a West Church Street resident, on Tuesday. "Showing these buildings as comparable only demonstrates the oversized scale of the proposal."

Palmer countered, saying the linkage district was created to encourage residential development that will support Main Street businesses. "The comprehensive plan and its [2017] update explicitly call for this type of mixed-use development along Beekman Street," he said.

Palmer shared a letter from the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) indicating the agency did not believe the project would adversely affect the High Street-to-Tompkins Avenue neighborhood, which the agency said is eligible for the state and national Registers of Historic Places.

OPRHP conditioned its statement on the developer submitting a "construction protection plan" for historical resources within 90 feet and revising the rooftop design of the building closest to High Street.

Later in the hearing, Maryellen Case, a High Street resident, disputed the finding, even with its caveats. Case said she had called the state official who wrote the letter, and "she explained that the office is inundated with these types of evaluations. She also didn't realize that there was any public opposition, particularly from High Street residents."

Jill Reynolds, a former Planning Board member, also spoke, noting that the board's review of the application is likely nearing its end. "I don't know how you can stop that ocean liner before it hits the iceberg," she said. "I just want to keep Beacon from becoming downtown White Plains."

The project has been on the agenda for 14 meetings, Palmer said, and issues raised Tuesday "are important, but they're comments that the board considered throughout the review process."

The Planning Board typically holds public hearings on multiple elements of a project, such as environmental impacts or for site-plan approval, although speakers rarely distinguish their comments. It will continue the hearing on 45 Beekman next month while opening another on the subdivision of parcels at the site. "There's stil...