Planning Board to review development plans
The Beacon Planning Board will hold a public hearing on Tuesday (Jan. 11) to hear feedback on a development proposed for 364 Main St. and continue its review of plans to convert the former Reformed Church on Route 9D into a performance space.
The board held hearings in November and December to review any environmental impact of the 364 Main St. proposal. It could sign off on those this month while holding public hearings on the project’s subdivision and site plans.
According to materials submitted to the board, the developer proposes to “further activate the Main Street frontage” of the former Citizens Bank site with benches and green space. In all, the development, if approved, would be 35,000 square feet, with 8,800 square feet of commercial space on the first floor and 20 apartments on the second and third floors. A 1,600-square-foot common residential area is also planned for the first floor.
The original proposal had included four floors but was scaled back in August to three, eliminating the need, under local law, for the City Council to issue a special-use permit.
The board on Tuesday will also continue its review of plans to renovate the former Reformed Church of Beacon into a 350-person event space with restaurant and bar and replace the adjacent parsonage with a 30-room hotel. The overgrown cemetery behind the church would be restored and opened as a public park with a path connecting Beekman Street and 9D.
Because the church is included in the city’s historic district, the developer will need a special-use permit from the Planning Board.
The Prophecy Theater group, which purchased the 162-year-old building last year, has proposed 31 parking spaces for the site, saying it would rely on public parking nearby, including at the Metro-North station, for overflow.
The city’s zoning code does not allow for event venues in the area but does allow for hotels and “hotel-related” accessory uses. However, the board and its planning consultant, John Clarke, have said the submitted plans suggest the hotel would be an accessory to the event space, not the other way around.
