Mohawk Day Camp outlines master plan including 45,000-sq-ft field house; board asks for traffic, noise and outreach details

Representatives of Mohawk Day Camp presented a schematic master site plan at a Greenburgh town-board work session on April 21, laying out reconfigured bunkhouse areas, a relocated maintenance facility and a proposed 45,000-square-foot indoor field house that the camp says would be used primarily for local team practices and community rentals, not spectator tournaments.

The filing team — led by William Null, who identified himself as a partner representing Mohawk, and Adam Wallach, the camp director — said the plan uses existing impervious surfaces where possible, keeps improvements outside the 200-foot zoning setback where feasible and adds stormwater-management systems where the site currently lacks them. “This is to make the camp safer and to streamline operations,” Null said during the presentation.

Why it matters: The field house and related improvements change the camp’s built footprint and raise questions for neighbors about traffic, noise, tree removal and site drainage. Board members asked for specific occupancy and trip-generation numbers, line-of-sight drawings and a neighborhood outreach plan before the applicant files formal materials with the planning board.

Key details presented

- Size and siting: The presenters said the proposed field house would be about 45,000 square feet and no taller than the 30-foot zoning maximum. They emphasized relocating the facility outside the camp’s 200-foot setback to avoid the need for a variance.

- Use and access: Camp leaders said camp enrollment would not increase and the field house would be rented mainly to local youth-sports clubs for practices and programming; the applicants said they were not pursuing tournaments or spectator-centric events. “It’s not a spectator-centric facility,” the engineering presenter said, adding that rentals would help fund the building and allow it to operate year-round.

- Existing vs. new impervious surface: Presenters said much of the work is reconfiguration rather than new construction, and they estimated the net impervious-surface increase for the maintenance-area move at roughly 1,000 square feet. They also described plans to convert some existing impervious areas to permeable pavers and add stormwater controls.

- Maintenance and operations: The maintenance area would be relocated to a lower lot that already has an impervious surface, removing maintenance activity from the center of camp and creating a consolidated delivery area, the presenters said.

Board concerns and requested follow-ups

Town board members pressed the applicants to provide a traffic/occupancy report that shows maximum expected trips for practice hours and weekend use, and to provide explicit “guide rails” on rental hours and allowable uses. One commissioner asked whether the field house would be used for non-sports events such as weddings; the camp said it would not and repeated that acoustical design and limited openings on the side facing residences would be used to reduce noise.

Applicants agreed to additional neighborhood outreach, suggested an open-house forum for neighbors and said they would return with a written narrative, clearer parking and trip calculations and line-of-sight drawings to anchor the outreach discussion.

What happens next

The presentation was informal and intended to solicit board feedback; the applicants said they will prepare formal submission materials, schedule neighbor outreach and return with the requested technical reports and written narrative before any planning-board filing.