Residents urge board to re-review Knowles/Bethel expansion over flood, traffic and disclosure concerns

Dozens of residents used the town’s five-minute public-comment period on June 24 to contest the Knowles (Bethel Communities) expansion proposals, telling the town board that the project’s public filings understate size and omit downstream neighborhoods that would be affected by additional storm runoff.

Sherry Yuji, who lives on Stevens Lane near the Knowles property, said the public record repeatedly described the expansion as a 41,240-square-foot footprint while the applicant’s plans show a much larger total increase in building area. She said architectural drawings reflect top floors that do not meet the town’s definition of a half-story and that, in her view, the plans amount to a single connected building that could require a five‑story variance. Yuji urged the board to re-notice the application and refer it back to the planning board and commenting agencies — including Westchester County — for a full re-review.

Other speakers from Valimar, Lawrence Drive and Hillside Avenue described decades of flooding in downstream neighborhoods and pointed to examples of recent erosion and road closures on Grasslands Road. Robert Ronny and Kathy Madison said storm drains and basements have flooded repeatedly and argued additional impervious surface would worsen conditions. Residents also questioned the applicant’s traffic assumptions; one neighbor asked why the traffic study referenced a different nearby facility rather than the closer Brightview project, which he said would more accurately affect near-term trip generation.

Hector Yuji requested a site-specific night-time noise and headlight analysis for a proposed service/circulation road near residences; he and others said the town’s noise ordinance and driveway geometry require closer study to avoid repeated disturbances. Several speakers asked that the application be re-examined because of what they described as selective data usage (for example accident data that included COVID years) and unexplained map omissions that hide adjacent communities in applicant illustrations.

Town officials acknowledged the concerns and said the town intends to re-notice the application to correct the square-footage discrepancy. Multiple board members suggested that the application may need to be sent back to the planning board for additional agency review if the scope or description of the project changes materially.

The public record contains several technical claims that residents asked the town to resolve: (1) the correct total added square footage, (2) whether the buildings should be treated as connected with greater height than publicly advertised, (3) the adequacy of stormwater controls to protect downstream communities, and (4) whether the traffic analysis used appropriate comparable projects and non-COVID baseline accident rates. Residents urged the board to require corrected filings and additional independent or agency studies before moving toward variances or approvals.

Board members did not vote on the Knowles application during the meeting; staff said they would follow up on re-noticing and next steps in the agency review process.