CHAPPAQUA
ALMOST seven years after developers paid $59 million for the 114-acre Reader’s Digest property in this affluent hamlet, drafting plans for 348 condominiums and town houses next to the publisher’s former headquarters, the town board of New Castle has finally ruled on the application.
The board did not reject Summit Development and Greenfield Partners’ plans for residences on the property — since renamed Chappaqua Crossing — out of hand. But it strictly limited the number of units that may be built and the part of the property where development may occur.
The developers were aware of the town’s resistance to the scale they had in mind, twice reducing the size and scope of their plans, most recently seeking 199 units. But that was still too many for the board, which early this month announced that it would allow 111 condos and town houses, on just 31 of the 114 acres.
The reason, according to Barbara S. Gerrard, New Castle’s supervisor, is not that the board opposes affordable multifamily housing in Chappaqua, a hamlet of mostly single-family homes — though that is what the developer, known as SG Chappaqua, alleges in two lawsuits. Nor is it that neighbors at public hearings vehemently opposed the plans, citing concerns about increased traffic and overcrowded schools.
Ms. Gerrard said residential development was reined in to leave sufficient land for commercial development in a town where businesses — mostly the small shops in downtown Chappaqua and in Millwood, another hamlet — contribute less than 3 percent to the tax base.
With an eye toward generating more commercial revenue to support the town’s $36 million annual budget, the board also lifted restrictions on how many commercial tenants SG Chappaqua may house in the property’s central structure, a three-story red brick office building with a towering white cupola.
Occupied mostly by Reader’s Digest from 1939 until it declared bankruptcy in 2009 and broke its lease with SG Chappaqua, the structure now has only three tenants in 95,000 of the 700,000 available square feet. Town zoning had limited occupancy to a maximum of four tenants in no more than about 470,000 square feet of the building.
Clearly, the departure of the Digest, a major taxpayer for 71 years, has had a profound effect. Ms. Gerrard described the decision to allow 111 multifamily homes as “difficult but necessary.” Many residents had wanted the property to remain as rolling hills and manicured lawns.
“As a former tax attorney,” Ms. Gerrard said, “I know how hard it is to make everyone happy. I also know that if the two ends of the spectrum walk away from the table not really satisfied, then you probably did a fair job, and if one end is ecstatic, then you should review your decision.”
SG Chappaqua, which has refused to comment on the case, is dealing with its unhappiness in Federal District Court in Manhattan and State Supreme Court in White Plains. Both suits were filed in February, months before the board reached its decision.
Among other things, the state lawsuit accuses New Castle of discrimination for violating a settlement reached last year by Westchester County with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to create fair and affordable housing in 31 Westchester communities that have few black or Hispanic residents.
The settlement was designed to prevent the further concentration of affordable housing in cities like Mount Vernon and Yonkers, which already have a preponderance of low-income blacks and Hispanics. New Castle is almost 90 percent white, and its median household income is $193,866, among the highest in the county.
Also, SG Chappaqua, thwarted in its attempt to build upscale residences, is demanding that the town buy the property. In addition to the $59 million it paid Reader’s Digest for the acreage and the buildings, SG Chappaqua says it has spent $10 million on architects’ and lawyers’ fees and environmental reviews, among other things.
The other lawsuit charges the town with violating the federal Fair Housing Act.
New Castle is preparing its rebuttal and “expects to vigorously defend the action,” said Clinton B. Smith, a lawyer with Wormser, Kiely, Galef & Jacobs in Manhattan and White Plains.
Victor Siber, a longtime Chappaqua resident, called the developer’s accusations of discrimination a “red herring,” noting that 20 percent of the residences approved for Chappaqua Crossing are to be sold below market rate.
Robert Greenstein, a Chappaqua homeowner and a Manhattan lawyer who collected 900 signatures on a petition opposing the developers’ plan, approved the board’s decision. “This is not about a town being elitist,” he said. “I don’t buy the developer’s argument that we’re against affordable housing.” He noted that the hamlet also planned to build affordable units outside the Digest site.
Mr. Greenstein said commercial development would relieve the tax burden on homeowners.
A resident of Chappaqua for seven years, he said, he pays about $35,000 a year on his five-bedroom colonial, built in 2004. “Compared to other communities, our taxes are very high,” he said. For example, in Armonk, home to the corporate headquarters of I.B.M., the taxes on a comparable seven-year-old colonial are about $27,000.
“What we need is an I.B.M.- type company of our own,” Mr. Greenstein said.
But for now, as the legal actions work their way through the courts, most residents would like to see the property’s rolling hills and gardens better maintained, said Mr. Siber, who lives on nearby Cowdin Lane. “It’s not a wasteland, but it’s not maintained anymore like it was,” he said.
Geoff Thompson, a spokesman for SG Chappaqua, says the company employs four workers full time to maintain the grounds.
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