PLANNING
Continuing the short history of Croton retailing: In the 1950s, the lower end of Route 129 (Maple Street) became home to the Van Wyck shopping complex, anchored by a Grand Union supermarket. The 1960s brought a competing A&P supermarket complex immediately opposite. Opening a new Croton post office next to the Grand Union in 1966 added to the parking problems of that complex. After the A&P decamped, the building was divided into small shops and called Croton Commons. This marked Phase 4 of Croton’s retail development.
In the fifth and final phase, the area south of Croton Point Avenue became the site of the most ambitious retail development in Croton history. Anchored by a ShopRite supermarket, it was built in the early 1970s, occupying space that previously had been a drive-in movie and a bowling alley. This latest supermarket complex and its massive parking lot only compounded the problems caused in Croton by the two competing shopping complexes facing one another across Maple Street. Eventually, it hastened their demise.
This village made a fatal planning mistake by shortsightedly adopting zoning that allowed supermarkets to be built in the very center of Croton, instead of at its periphery. Hard to believe, but at one time three giant supermarkets and their unsightly parking lots occupied the vibrant heart of the village. Add the giant station parking lot to the mix, and you have an example of what can happen when planning runs amuck: acres upon acres of parked automobiles, the ultimate malignant Automobile Age eyesore. Misguided planners took a workaday village whose richly layered architectural history from Early Georgian to Modern could easily be explored on a short walking tour and converted it into a planning nightmare, a disaster from which we may never recover.
By making automobile parking so central and accessible, planners not only caused congestive traffic problems, they effectively destroyed the “butchers, bakers and candlestick makers” in each of Croton’s original shopping areas. I call it “sudden death by supermarket.” As readers can deduce from these comments, I do not worship at the altar of the Great God of Planning. Hasty, ill-considered planning and zoning changes like those described above have caused more problems in Croton than they have solved. Those worried about the Harmon project should remember the havoc wrought by the Gateway zoning changes and the adage, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Backing Into Zoning Change 4
PLANNING
It is almost impossible to understand Croton’s intractable planning and retailing problems without first understanding its retailing history. Croton has five separate, non-contiguous retailing areas, best described as “nodes.” The five areas, in the order of their creation, are (1) North Riverside Avenue, (2) Grand Street, (3) Harmon, (4) the lower end of Route 129, and (5) the retailing complex below Croton Point Avenue.
The first three of these developed to serve the basic needs of their surrounding residential neighborhoods. River travel antedated road travel in the Hudson Valley. Two “landings” (i.e., docks) at the foot of Grand Street and Brook Street attracted settlement. Successively called Collabaugh Landing, Cortlandt Town and Croton Landing, the area later became known as Croton’s “Lower Village.”
This first phase of Croton’s development thrived first on market sloops, then on steamboat commerce on the Hudson, and was augmented by railroad passenger and freight service after 1849, centered on what later would become Croton North station. Long before the Expressway opened in 1967, condemnation and construction essentially destroyed the Lower Village, leaving only an anemic remnant on the east side of North Riverside Avenue.
Another settlement, later called the Upper Village, came into being after stagecoach and mail service began on the Albany Post Road. It eventually became a regular stage stop, complete with inn and stables for horses. Residences and retail shops clustered nearby to supply basic goods. This marked the second phase of Croton’s development. Two steep roads, Upper Landing Road (now Brook Street) and Lower Landing Road (now Grand Street) connected the Upper Village to the Lower Village.
The third phase came after 1903, when real estate developer Clifford B. Harmon bought from the surviving Van Cortlandt heirs the land that became Harmon-on-Hudson, the original name of the new community he platted on the steep hills. Using advertising campaigns in New York City newspapers, he began selling building lots in 1907. Because Harmon was not within easy walking distance of Croton’s two original retail areas, shops opened along South Riverside Avenue to supply basic amenities to new arrivals who built homes in the growing community. Similarly, the Chapel of the Good Shepherd opened to take care the religious needs of Harmon’s Catholic residents.
Although the community of Harmon was absorbed by Croton in 1932, the Post Office Department continued to maintain a Harmon post office until the mid-1960s. So insular is Harmon, a few die-hard old-timers still insist that they live in Harmon, not Croton.
It is almost impossible to understand Croton’s intractable planning and retailing problems without first understanding its retailing history. Croton has five separate, non-contiguous retailing areas, best described as “nodes.” The five areas, in the order of their creation, are (1) North Riverside Avenue, (2) Grand Street, (3) Harmon, (4) the lower end of Route 129, and (5) the retailing complex below Croton Point Avenue.
The first three of these developed to serve the basic needs of their surrounding residential neighborhoods. River travel antedated road travel in the Hudson Valley. Two “landings” (i.e., docks) at the foot of Grand Street and Brook Street attracted settlement. Successively called Collabaugh Landing, Cortlandt Town and Croton Landing, the area later became known as Croton’s “Lower Village.”
This first phase of Croton’s development thrived first on market sloops, then on steamboat commerce on the Hudson, and was augmented by railroad passenger and freight service after 1849, centered on what later would become Croton North station. Long before the Expressway opened in 1967, condemnation and construction essentially destroyed the Lower Village, leaving only an anemic remnant on the east side of North Riverside Avenue.
Another settlement, later called the Upper Village, came into being after stagecoach and mail service began on the Albany Post Road. It eventually became a regular stage stop, complete with inn and stables for horses. Residences and retail shops clustered nearby to supply basic goods. This marked the second phase of Croton’s development. Two steep roads, Upper Landing Road (now Brook Street) and Lower Landing Road (now Grand Street) connected the Upper Village to the Lower Village.
The third phase came after 1903, when real estate developer Clifford B. Harmon bought from the surviving Van Cortlandt heirs the land that became Harmon-on-Hudson, the original name of the new community he platted on the steep hills. Using advertising campaigns in New York City newspapers, he began selling building lots in 1907. Because Harmon was not within easy walking distance of Croton’s two original retail areas, shops opened along South Riverside Avenue to supply basic amenities to new arrivals who built homes in the growing community. Similarly, the Chapel of the Good Shepherd opened to take care the religious needs of Harmon’s Catholic residents.
Although the community of Harmon was absorbed by Croton in 1932, the Post Office Department continued to maintain a Harmon post office until the mid-1960s. So insular is Harmon, a few die-hard old-timers still insist that they live in Harmon, not Croton.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Backing Into Zoning Change 3
PLANNING
Unfortunately, Croton is not what entrepreneurs consider a hot prospect for retail investment. Since the Croton Expressway opened, our village has been a backwater, bypassed by a 12.9-mile stub of limited-access highway. Originally intended to be part of a superhighway along the east bank of the Hudson connecting the Tappan Zee Bridge with the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, its purpose was to take traffic pressure off the Saw Mill and Taconic parkways.
The Croton Expressway was the only portion built. Unlike many other Hudson Valley post-industrial communities, Croton was suddenly relieved of the north-south traffic that once passed through on Riverside Avenue (formerly Route 9, now 9A). Motorists on the Expressway bypassing Croton at better than 55 miles an hour are oblivious to what its shops have to offer—or that it even has shops. With the Expressway’s diversion of through traffic a reality, Croton’s retail customer base was diminished, leaving Croton’s population as its shops’ principal customers.
This has had a significant effect on the kind and number of retail establishments that can start up and flourish here. It’s also the reason we should all shop locally lest more shops fail. Croton welcomed the Expressway, but paid dearly for the tradeoff in reduced retail business. Even in times of prosperity, total occupancy of Croton’s existing retail space has been difficult to achieve. According to the New York State Department of Transportation, the Expressway handles approximately 40,000 motor vehicles per day. Had they been traveling on Riverside Avenue, a fraction of these potential customers might have been inclined to stop and make purchases in shops along Riverside Avenue, including in Harmon.
In creating three gateways with the idea of welcoming motorists exiting the Expressway to shop in Croton, planners made a fatal error. They neglected to gather marketing data by stationing one person with a clipboard at each “gateway” for a day or two to ask motorists, “Are you coming to Croton to shop?” Had they done this they would have discovered that few cars exit the Expressway for the purpose of shopping. Wishful planning created imaginary gateways on paper to accommodate phantom motorcades of shoppers that will never appear. Proponents of zoning change and a revamped Harmon are simply closing their eyes to the existence of the Expressway and its attenuating effect on retail trade in Croton.
Unfortunately, Croton is not what entrepreneurs consider a hot prospect for retail investment. Since the Croton Expressway opened, our village has been a backwater, bypassed by a 12.9-mile stub of limited-access highway. Originally intended to be part of a superhighway along the east bank of the Hudson connecting the Tappan Zee Bridge with the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, its purpose was to take traffic pressure off the Saw Mill and Taconic parkways.
The Croton Expressway was the only portion built. Unlike many other Hudson Valley post-industrial communities, Croton was suddenly relieved of the north-south traffic that once passed through on Riverside Avenue (formerly Route 9, now 9A). Motorists on the Expressway bypassing Croton at better than 55 miles an hour are oblivious to what its shops have to offer—or that it even has shops. With the Expressway’s diversion of through traffic a reality, Croton’s retail customer base was diminished, leaving Croton’s population as its shops’ principal customers.
This has had a significant effect on the kind and number of retail establishments that can start up and flourish here. It’s also the reason we should all shop locally lest more shops fail. Croton welcomed the Expressway, but paid dearly for the tradeoff in reduced retail business. Even in times of prosperity, total occupancy of Croton’s existing retail space has been difficult to achieve. According to the New York State Department of Transportation, the Expressway handles approximately 40,000 motor vehicles per day. Had they been traveling on Riverside Avenue, a fraction of these potential customers might have been inclined to stop and make purchases in shops along Riverside Avenue, including in Harmon.
In creating three gateways with the idea of welcoming motorists exiting the Expressway to shop in Croton, planners made a fatal error. They neglected to gather marketing data by stationing one person with a clipboard at each “gateway” for a day or two to ask motorists, “Are you coming to Croton to shop?” Had they done this they would have discovered that few cars exit the Expressway for the purpose of shopping. Wishful planning created imaginary gateways on paper to accommodate phantom motorcades of shoppers that will never appear. Proponents of zoning change and a revamped Harmon are simply closing their eyes to the existence of the Expressway and its attenuating effect on retail trade in Croton.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Backing Into Zoning Change 2
PLANNING
In 2004, an elaborate “Gateway Law” was concocted by consultants to rezone and make retail areas in Croton more inviting to new businesses. Its local sponsors assured us, “Pass it and they [new businesses] will come.” Well, we passed it, and five years later they haven’t come. And they won’t be coming. Apparently, no one noticed that the new law’s discriminatory zoning changes were actually inimical to new business.
Hardly a testament to the free-enterprise system, the Gateway Law definitely was not Croton’s finest hour. In fact, it has been a disaster. Yet the head of the ad hoc committee, Kieran Murray, calls this law “brilliant.” In what can only be described as the Sovietizing of Croton business, the Gateway Law shamelessly dictated what entities can and cannot operate here. Among the five banned categories were “fast-food restaurants”--although no definition of the term was offered.
When I quizzed then-trustee Georgianna Grant, my friend and a prime mover of this legislation, about what constituted a fast-food restaurant, she alluded to “Golden Arches” and said bluntly, “We don’t want places like McDonald’s or Burger King here.” Obviously, Croton emulates Humpty Dumpty in "Alice in Wonderland," who, pressed by Alice for a meaning, says, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean.”
Despite the Gateway Law’s prohibition of fast-food establishments, it was selectively enforced. Pizza parlors, a Dunkin’ Donuts, a Subway sandwich shop and the Mex-to-Go blossomed. All clearly fall under the rubric of “fast-food restaurants.” My beef isn’t with these establishments, a plus for any community, but with Croton’s deliberately anti-business legislation. In their misapplied zeal to brand certain legitimate businesses as taboo, the authors of the Gateway Law were curiously blind to socially undesirable businesses. Body-piercing salon? Yes! McDonald’s or Burger King? No! Brilliant, indeed!
We sowed the wind with the Gateway Law and inevitably reaped the whirlwind and are still reaping it. How many potentially tax-paying businesses were turned off by that Law’s unfriendliness to business can never be known. Instead of portraying Croton as snooty and anti-business, we should have welcomed any legitimate business willing to come here and invest its dollars in this community.
Croton can consider itself lucky that some national chain of fast-food restaurants with deep pockets hasn’t challenged this inequitable legislation in court as an unconstitutional denial of its due process rights. (For reasons why, see next installment)
In 2004, an elaborate “Gateway Law” was concocted by consultants to rezone and make retail areas in Croton more inviting to new businesses. Its local sponsors assured us, “Pass it and they [new businesses] will come.” Well, we passed it, and five years later they haven’t come. And they won’t be coming. Apparently, no one noticed that the new law’s discriminatory zoning changes were actually inimical to new business.
Hardly a testament to the free-enterprise system, the Gateway Law definitely was not Croton’s finest hour. In fact, it has been a disaster. Yet the head of the ad hoc committee, Kieran Murray, calls this law “brilliant.” In what can only be described as the Sovietizing of Croton business, the Gateway Law shamelessly dictated what entities can and cannot operate here. Among the five banned categories were “fast-food restaurants”--although no definition of the term was offered.
When I quizzed then-trustee Georgianna Grant, my friend and a prime mover of this legislation, about what constituted a fast-food restaurant, she alluded to “Golden Arches” and said bluntly, “We don’t want places like McDonald’s or Burger King here.” Obviously, Croton emulates Humpty Dumpty in "Alice in Wonderland," who, pressed by Alice for a meaning, says, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean.”
Despite the Gateway Law’s prohibition of fast-food establishments, it was selectively enforced. Pizza parlors, a Dunkin’ Donuts, a Subway sandwich shop and the Mex-to-Go blossomed. All clearly fall under the rubric of “fast-food restaurants.” My beef isn’t with these establishments, a plus for any community, but with Croton’s deliberately anti-business legislation. In their misapplied zeal to brand certain legitimate businesses as taboo, the authors of the Gateway Law were curiously blind to socially undesirable businesses. Body-piercing salon? Yes! McDonald’s or Burger King? No! Brilliant, indeed!
We sowed the wind with the Gateway Law and inevitably reaped the whirlwind and are still reaping it. How many potentially tax-paying businesses were turned off by that Law’s unfriendliness to business can never be known. Instead of portraying Croton as snooty and anti-business, we should have welcomed any legitimate business willing to come here and invest its dollars in this community.
Croton can consider itself lucky that some national chain of fast-food restaurants with deep pockets hasn’t challenged this inequitable legislation in court as an unconstitutional denial of its due process rights. (For reasons why, see next installment)
Backing Into Zoning Change 1
PLANNING
Croton residents are being importuned to get behind legislation to rezone the Harmon area. Two-story mixed-use buildings are now permitted there. In essence, the change would permit three-story mixed-use with retail stores at street level and increased residential density on two stories above. The Democratic minority trustees are plumping for this plan, arguing that we will reap additional taxes from the change. But if anyone asks, “Why the hurry?” the answer is always the same: “The Committee has been working on this for three years.”
I find this argument hollow. “The Committee” is an ad hoc group, mostly made up of Democrats who are also residents of Harmon. By way of disclosure, I live at the northern margins of Harmon. I am a registered Democrat. I cast my first vote in 1940 for FDR, having turned 21 the year before. I was not aware that Harmon’s problems were unique or that its business climate was different from other retailing neighborhoods in Croton. I’m not a lawyer, but I do recall that under the law of New York (and other states) “spot zoning”--changing zoning to accommodate an individual or narrow group of individuals--is illegal. If spot zoning is illegal, “spot planning” that leads to an attempt at spot zoning should be discouraged. If we are going to spend taxpayers’ dollars for planning studies, as was done here, these should encompass all of Croton instead of addressing the problems of an individual neighborhood.
Moreover, if retail occupancy in Harmon is the most urgent problem requiring immediate resolution by the Village, then Croton is indeed in a bad way. I can think of a half-dozen more pressing problems that need attention. The truth is Croton’s residential taxpayers have been bearing a disproportionate share of the tax burden for almost 39 years. On June 21, 1970, Croton’s tax base became catastrophically unbalanced. I can identify the date so specifically because on that day Croton’s largest taxpayer, the Penn-Central Railroad, filed for bankruptcy protection. Croton residents have borne an unfair share of the tax burden ever since.
Instead of chasing will-o’-the-wisp instant panaceas, we ought to be hunkering down to see how the current recession/depression plays out in Croton and how many businesses (and residents) survive. So I, too, ask, “Why the hurry?”
Croton residents are being importuned to get behind legislation to rezone the Harmon area. Two-story mixed-use buildings are now permitted there. In essence, the change would permit three-story mixed-use with retail stores at street level and increased residential density on two stories above. The Democratic minority trustees are plumping for this plan, arguing that we will reap additional taxes from the change. But if anyone asks, “Why the hurry?” the answer is always the same: “The Committee has been working on this for three years.”
I find this argument hollow. “The Committee” is an ad hoc group, mostly made up of Democrats who are also residents of Harmon. By way of disclosure, I live at the northern margins of Harmon. I am a registered Democrat. I cast my first vote in 1940 for FDR, having turned 21 the year before. I was not aware that Harmon’s problems were unique or that its business climate was different from other retailing neighborhoods in Croton. I’m not a lawyer, but I do recall that under the law of New York (and other states) “spot zoning”--changing zoning to accommodate an individual or narrow group of individuals--is illegal. If spot zoning is illegal, “spot planning” that leads to an attempt at spot zoning should be discouraged. If we are going to spend taxpayers’ dollars for planning studies, as was done here, these should encompass all of Croton instead of addressing the problems of an individual neighborhood.
Moreover, if retail occupancy in Harmon is the most urgent problem requiring immediate resolution by the Village, then Croton is indeed in a bad way. I can think of a half-dozen more pressing problems that need attention. The truth is Croton’s residential taxpayers have been bearing a disproportionate share of the tax burden for almost 39 years. On June 21, 1970, Croton’s tax base became catastrophically unbalanced. I can identify the date so specifically because on that day Croton’s largest taxpayer, the Penn-Central Railroad, filed for bankruptcy protection. Croton residents have borne an unfair share of the tax burden ever since.
Instead of chasing will-o’-the-wisp instant panaceas, we ought to be hunkering down to see how the current recession/depression plays out in Croton and how many businesses (and residents) survive. So I, too, ask, “Why the hurry?”
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