Village board sets July 15 hearing on 150-unit 34 State Street redevelopment that would restore historic Smith Robinson House

The Ossining Village Board agreed to call a public hearing on July 15 after hearing a presentation on June 24 from the applicant team for a proposed 150-unit redevelopment at 34 State Street.

Jan Harris, attorney for WPT Development, told trustees the project would build three new buildings on about 5.9 acres: two condominium buildings totaling 100 affordable for-sale units (marketed under New York's AHAP program) and a 50-unit rental building, for a total of 150 multifamily dwelling units. The proposal includes about 283 on-site parking spaces, roughly 12,000 square feet of indoor amenity space (about 10,000 square feet to be located in the Smith Robinson House), an outdoor pool and multiple infrastructure improvements. Harris said the applicant is seeking a planned waterfront special permit to increase baseline density from 22 units per acre to 25.2 units per acre to accommodate the proposed layout.

Architect Michael (presented as the lead architect) said design changes since earlier filings include eliminating a below-grade parking deck (which lowered building heights), consolidating access to a single entrance from State Street, and arranging surface parking around an internal courtyard so the restored Smith Robinson House can be more prominent in the streetscape. Michael described the Smith Robinson House preservation approach as focused on restoring the facade and side wings where possible and re-creating significant interior rooms "to the extent we can" as amenity and historical-display space.

Trustees and neighbors pressed the applicant on site-specific concerns. Trustee Bob Richie confirmed the main vehicle entrance is proposed at 20 feet wide. Representatives of the nearby children's center and its executive director, Howard Mil, said they are still reviewing revised plans and asked the applicant to demonstrate that the project will not reduce sunlight to infant play areas, will not worsen traffic or school-bus drop-off conditions, and will address past pest issues tied to site activity. The applicant responded that regrading and detention systems were designed to redirect stormwater away from the children's center, that the design incorporated fire-department-requested platforms and that runoff will not increase overall; applicants also noted coordination with the village and the fire department on turning radii and staging.

Harris said the site is a brownfield and that remediation will be conducted under New York State Department of Environmental Conservation oversight; the applicant will submit required hazardous‑site information as part of the review and remediation permitting.

The board did not make a final determination on the special permit at the meeting. Village staff advised that, per the site's processing history and planning-board referral, the next formal step is a resolution calling for a public hearing; trustees voted to place that resolution on the agenda and to hold the hearing on July 15. The planning board will later resume site-plan review after the special-permit process.

What happens next: the village will hold a public hearing on July 15 on the planned waterfront special permit for 34 State Street. The applicant's application and supporting materials remain on the planning record; remediation plans will follow DEC protocols and additional design details will be provided to the planning and zoning review process.