The Yonkers Planning Board heard a public hearing Sept. 10 on a site-plan and special-use permit application from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to renovate and repurpose an existing office building at 750 McLean Avenue (also addressed as 81 Cumberland Drive) into a DEP police and operations precinct.

DEP representatives described a largely interior renovation with a small two-story rear addition to provide an elevator for ADA access. Chief Frank Malazo (DEP Police) and project architect Alex Santos explained the facility would house DEPs local policing and fleet operations, include an on-site secure parking lot for DEP vehicles and approximately 16 electric-vehicle chargers to support a transition to an electric fleet. The applicant told the board the building would not hold detainees and would operate as a secure DEP precinct and operations facility.

The board opened a public hearing after neighbors registered to speak. Multiple nearby residents expressed safety and quality-of-life concerns. Neighbor Daniel Cipollone, who said there is no sidewalk on his block, warned that a new curb cut on Cumberland Drive would increase traffic through a residential stretch where pedestrians now walk in the street. Ernest Uwe and other residents said curb-cut and exit movements would change neighborhood circulation and could worsen street parking. One resident, John Hermans, asked about construction timing and urged that construction follow Yonkers noise and staging regulations.

DEP representatives said the site will be gated and secured with sliding gates controlled by card readers, that contractor staging and parking would be required off-site, and that they would install a solid privacy fence and plantings along the rear property line to screen adjacent homes. Chief Malazo said vehicles will be electric and that the facility will not be open as a public police station or receive walk-up complaints. The applicant said construction would follow Yonkers hours and noise rules and that no nighttime construction is planned.

Board members asked technical questions about lighting, fence height and the relationship between the lot and the abutting properties. The applicant said a lighting plan and landscaping plan were included in the application and that the team would provide specifications and fixture details requested by staff. Chair Pauline Galvin kept the record open to allow further outreach and asked the applicant to work with neighbors to refine fencing, planting and the proposed curb-cut design. The board did not close the public hearing and left the item open for further technical review and community engagement.