CICERO — Lincoln Avenue residents received a Christmas gift from the town of Cicero last week: The Cicero Town Board voted unanimously Dec. 14 to deny Gabelry Development’s request for a zone change to build a cluster of multi-family homes and senior housing in their neighborhood.
Gabelry Development, LLC, had sought a change from Regional Commercial to Planned Unit Development (PUD) for the two parcels at 8010 and 8016 Brewerton Road next to the EchoPark Automotive dealership. The Apex at Metro North was being marketed as an “unparalleled luxury living experience” with as many as 300 residential units made up of townhomes, garden-style apartments and flats with ground floor garages.
At a public hearing in October, Lincoln Avenue residents voiced their opposition to the project, citing concerns about traffic, privacy and sidewalk maintenance.
In July, the Cicero Planning Board referred the matter to the town board with a number of comments and concerns. While the area’s existing traffic infrastructure and utilities could support the 278 apartment units with mitigation measures in place, the planning board concluded that “the layout of the multi-family portion of the project does not create and sustain a desirable and stable environment.” The planning board found the amount of impervious area in the site plan “excessive” and negatively impacting aesthetics, snow removal, landscaping and green space.
“In particular, the Flats units are considered to create development that is too intense and not consistent with other development in the Town of Cicero,” the planning board’s findings read.
The planning board suggested using the northeast corner of the site to “reduce the intensity of the development,” increase green space and landscaping, and allow for adequate parking for residents. Per town code, the planning board recommends a minimum of two parking spaces per multi-family unit of up to two bedrooms, three parking spaces for units with three or more bedrooms, and 1.5 parking spaces for senior units. Gabelry’s application includes parking spaces inside garages that are only accessible if vehicles in the surface parking spaces outside are moved. Town code “requires parking spaces to be directly accessible from an interior driveway.”
Councilor Jon Karp read the town board’s findings — six pages in total — at the Dec. 14 town board meeting. The town board’s report included many of the planning board’s concerns and expanded on the potential traffic implications of the proposal. Karp said a traffic study found no significant county-wide or inter-county traffic implications but the project would negatively impact local traffic. He said the Route 11 corridor between Lincoln Avenue and Caughdenoy Road is a “high-accident location” that ranks above the statewide average for similar facilities.
Allowing the Metro North PUD would add more trips at peak traffic hours and cause a downgrade in services at existing signalized intersections. The proposal also does not include the impact of Micron’s coming development.
“We do not believe the negative traffic impact due to increased accidents can be mitigated,” Karp said. “The potential disruptions to residents living near the project cannot be mitigated and therefore we find the proposed project impact to be unacceptable to our residents.”
The town board concluded that the site is “better suited for commercial purposes,” which is the parcels’ existing classification.
