Peekskill debates payment-in-lieu parking district as downtown redevelopment advances

The City of Peekskill opened a public hearing on an amendment that would create a downtown parking district and allow developers to pay a fee in lieu of building the full required number of parking spaces on-site.

Planning staff described the proposal as a zoning tool to support redevelopment and adaptive reuse in the downtown core. The draft calls for a $15,000 payment-in-lieu per parking space for conversions to residential use and a proposed annual maintenance fee of about $672 per space (roughly $56 per month) for new construction. The program would be optional for small developments (fewer than 40 spaces required) and mandatory for larger buildings requiring more than 40 spaces; those developments could provide 60% of required spaces on-site and pay into the PIL for the balance, with waiver options to the planning commission.

Several residents said the PIL could shift parking demand onto neighborhood streets and harm downtown businesses. "I think what's actually going to happen is people aren't gonna be going to the garages. They're gonna be parking on Broad And Howard and the streets around Broad And Howard," said Garrett Dowd, a resident who spoke during the hearing. Other speakers asked whether the city had modeled winter parking impacts and urged the council to consider protections for residents and merchants. Planning staff said the program would focus on off-street garage capacity and that an engineering and planning review would continue.

The council left the hearing open for further comment and requested planning commission input and written submissions from developers; it scheduled continued review to allow the CPL engineering memo and planning feedback to be considered.