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Planning Board approves Beechmont house with archaeological protections
Summary
The New Rochelle Planning Board granted site‑plan approval for a single‑family home at 60 Beechmont on Nov. 25, subject to archaeological protections, DPW permits, tree‑removal compliance and a construction protection plan that includes an archaeological monitor.
The New Rochelle Planning Board on Nov. 25 approved a site plan to demolish an existing ranch and build a new single‑family home at 60 Beechmont Drive, with conditions intended to protect an on‑site historic burial ground.
Applicant Luke Petrucelli told the board the proposal combines three tax lots to create a through lot to North Avenue and that the design intentionally avoids disturbing the outline of a late‑18th‑century Pugsley family burial ground that appears on deeded maps and in the team’s Phase IA archaeological report. “The proposed house that we’ve designed has one major goal, which is do not disturb this site and do not put any permanent construction on or over it,” Petrucelli said.
Staff and board members said the applicant had proactively consulted city historian Barbara Davis, who reviewed the archaeology report and concluded the work ‘‘is being handled very professionally and according to accepted standards.’’ In response, the board attached a set of conditions to the approval requiring DPW permits for any work in the public right‑of‑way, compliance with New York State existing building code Chapter 15 for demolition, submission of a construction protection plan and an unanticipated discoveries plan, and presence of a qualified archaeological monitor meeting Secretary of the Interior standards with authority to pause work.
Benito Seja, senior project manager, read the conditions into the record and clarified that work in an affected area must halt if human remains or archaeological materials are encountered until procedures in the unanticipated discoveries plan are followed. The applicant agreed to return administratively if further sidewalk extensions are pursued, and accepted a standard city tree‑removal compliance condition.
The board moved and seconded the site‑plan approval and the motion passed. The approval is conditioned on the items read into the record; building permits will be subject to the archaeological protection plan and DPW signoffs.
