Council accepts $5.55 million Westchester County grant for McLean Avenue affordable housing; neighbor raises tree and parking concerns

The Yonkers City Council adopted an ordinance to accept a $5,555,000 Westchester County Housing Implementation Fund site development grant for an affordable housing project on McLean Avenue and amended the city's grant budget for fiscal year 2024–25.

Why it matters: The grant funds site development for an affordable housing project on McLean Avenue; neighbors raised concerns at public comment about tree removal and parking impacts around the new units.

The ordinance was introduced by the administration and discussed at the rules committee on March 18; the council voted to adopt the grant acceptance by a 6-0 roll call.

During public comment, Philip Armstrong identified several items on the agenda and specifically raised concerns about the McLean Avenue project, saying the funding "is going for that new affordable unit there that we we're gonna be building, right next to the park. Gonna cut down all those trees. And, we're gonna have absolutely no parking, which means the neighborhood is gonna be crowded with cars." Armstrong asked that neighborhood associations be brought into consultation for the South Broadway rehabilitation project as well and requested follow-up from the council on neighborhood outreach.

Also during general public comment, Jessica Gordon, who said she had worked on the district project, thanked council members for their role in securing the funding and urged approval of the South Broadway allocation as well.

The council adopted the McLean Avenue grant acceptance and budget amendment with no recorded debate; minutes show the measure was introduced by the administration and referred from committee.