Yonkers residents press ZBA to deny variance for 1999 Central Park Ave. storage project over rock removal and neighborhood impacts

The Yonkers Zoning Board of Appeals heard more than an hour of public comment and testimony July 17 on a proposed self‑storage facility at 1999 Central Park Avenue, with neighbors and Councilman Morante urging the board to deny the variance and the applicant saying the design minimizes rock removal and traffic.

The matter matters to residents because the site borders a cooperative’s neighborhood amenity, sits roughly 300 feet from a recently opened storage facility to the south and would require rock excavation and heavy equipment near apartments and a small park. Councilman Morante, Sixth District, said he spoke for neighbors who “do not want the property developed” and asked the board to deny the variance on their behalf.

Attorney James Venorusso, representing the applicant, told the board the project had been before the ZBA previously, that the applicant secured conceptual driveway approval from the New York State Department of Transportation and that the design was revised to “minimize rock removal.” Venorusso said the applicant spent more than $1.5 million redesigning…