Dear Neighbors:

The redevelopment of 41-51 Maple Street (“Katz Property”) recently passed two key milestones. With site approval by the Village’s Planning Board and approval from the Town of Cortlandt of the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT), we are closer than ever to addressing the need for affordable housing in our community and rebuilding our Village’s fiscal strength as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

After months of careful review, the Planning Board granted site plan approval to Regan Development at its meeting last week. The approved site plan is for a multifamily residential development consisting of 33 apartments within two 2-story buildings. To minimize impacts on the neighbors and comply with the Village Code, the project will feature 50 ft. vegetated borders between it and adjacent residential properties. RDC’s buildings will both contain elevators, and all apartments will either be built as fully accessible for people with physical disabilities or will be convertible to full accessibility, at RDC’s cost. A percentage of the apartments will be fully accessible at construction completion.

Four of the 33 proposed units will be at market rates. The remainder will be affordable for those earning incomes of between 50% and 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) for Westchester. For the purposes of example: for a single person household, 50% of AMI is $44,050 and 80% of AMI is $70,480.

Also last week, the Town of Cortlandt’s Board approved a PILOT agreement for Maple Street. The Board of Trustees joined them in ratifying the PILOT on Monday.

Under the PILOT agreement, the local taxing jurisdictions will be paid an initial amount of $70,000/year, increasing 3% per year for the term of the PILOT agreement, which will be 30 years. Regan has also agreed to the payment of a User Fee to the Village of Croton-on-Hudson in the amount of $20,000/year for the 30-year term. 

The PILOT for 41-51 Maple Street will generate more revenue than similar PILOTs for affordable developments in New Rochelle, Somers and Tarrytown. Currently, the publicly-owned but vacant parcel produces no revenue for any of the taxing entities.

Regan has agreed to pay the Village $2M for the property–an increase of $250,000 from the initial offer accepted by the Board of Trustees in February. 

The Regan development is the first affordable housing that will be built in our Village since 2009, and it is an important downpayment on addressing the housing crisis in our community. There is an acute need for affordable housing in our community. The 2019 Housing Needs Assessment conducted by Westchester County found 200 households in Croton-on-Hudson paying more than 50% of their annual gross income on rent. 

It is rare that a single project can do so much to meet a community’s financial and social needs. I greatly appreciate the partnership of our friends on the Town Board and our colleagues on the Planning Board in helping to move this forward.

Sincerely,

Brian Pugh

Mayor of Croton-on-Hudson