Peekskill planners propose parking payment-in-lieu to ease downtown housing development

Carol Sammel, Peekskill’s planning director, laid out a menu of payment‑in‑lieu scenarios designed to give developers options on constrained downtown sites while increasing shared garage use. She illustrated a small infill example "let's say it's a 5 story building with 24 units... and that would be a fee of $450,000 for parking in the James Street garage," and larger examples that ranged into six‑figure sums, depending on how many required spaces were moved off‑site.

Sammel told the council the concept is exploratory, not a formal proposal, and emphasized the need for a garage management plan if the city moves forward. Council members pressed for details about the proposed boundary, permit structure and whether in‑lieu spaces would be dedicated to residents. Sammel said the early focus would be the downtown garages within roughly a 1,000‑foot radius of the two parking facilities and that buildings buying space would purchase permits to use the garages rather than reserving spaces exclusively for one building.

Elected officials raised financial and operational questions. One council member noted that building deck parking can cost "30 to 40,000 per space," suggesting the in‑lieu fee (presented in examples as roughly $15,000 per space) could make marginal projects more viable. Sammel and the mayor also described a potential annual maintenance charge — discussed at $200 per space — to fund garage upkeep. City Manager Matt Alexander and Sammel said staff would return with the previously circulated map and seek input from developers and the public before any regulation changes.

What happens next: staff will re‑share the memo and map used in the presentation and hold further conversations with developers and the public before drafting ordinance language or a formal policy for council consideration.