Fishkill Avenue Rezoning Could Be Scaled Back

Council weighs its options on development of corridor

It’s unclear when a vote will take place, but the Beacon City Council must soon decide whether to rezone a mile-long stretch of the Fishkill Avenue corridor; to rezone it, but in a scaled-back manner; or, in the least likely scenario, to enact a short-term building moratorium while it studies potential impacts.

The council discussed all three options during its Monday (Oct. 2) workshop and appeared to be leaning toward the scaled-back option, although council members said they hoped to hear from the public at their Oct. 10 meeting. While there is no hearing scheduled, residents can provide feedback during time set aside at the beginning and end of the meeting for public comment.

A group of more than 60 residents has already submitted a petition asking that parcels in the corridor abutting Mead Avenue remain residential.

The discussion of rezoning about 30 properties between Memorial Park and Mill Street began in earnest last month after the city received inquiries about four lots, totaling 3.5 acres, that are for sale in the corridor.

The lots, owned by the Healey Brothers auto dealerships, were listed after the company announced in April that it was moving its Ford dealership to a larger location on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie. Construction is also underway on a Healey Hyundai facility on Route 52 in Fishkill that is expected to open in December.

Rezoning, council members have said, would encourage mixed-use development that could include affordable housing and would complement a rail trail that the city hopes Dutchess County will construct along the dormant Beacon Line, which runs parallel to portions of the corridor.

Dutchess has yet to commit to building the trail but said last month that it has hired a firm to conduct a feasibility study. Over the summer, a federal agency denied Metro-North’s application to abandon the line over an apparent technicality, but the commuter railroad is free to reapply to pause usage along the line, which would allow the creation of a trail.

On Monday, the council seemed close to bringing its rezoning proposal to a public hearing when Mayor Lee Kyriacou suggested tapping the brakes. Rather than create a new zoning district, Kyriacou said the council could enhance the building-design standards in the industrial and general-business districts in the corridor and require new buildings to be two stories — a strategy that planning consultant John Clarke said would ward off fast food and limit automotive uses.

(Two fast-food establishments have inquired about the parcels on the market, City Administrator Chris White told the council.)

The city is “going faster than we would otherwise” to create a zoning district, Kyriacou said. “If we just want to limit that [fast food-type] activity and do the minimum changes that would put that in place, and allow us the time to do a more systematic review, then all we would have to do is require a minimum of two stories and impose design standards [in the existing zones].”

The creation of a district, he said, would be more appropriate to discuss during the city’s next update to its comprehensive plan, tentatively scheduled for 2027.

Clarke cautioned that tweaking the existing zones “changes a lot of things,” and would force the council to require the same design standards of parcels zoned for industrial and general-business use elsewhere in Beacon. Other council members said that most of the work for a creating a zone had already been finished.

Wren Longno, who represents Ward 3, asked if the council could proceed but create a scaled-back Fishkill Avenue zone. The council also briefly discussed creating a committee to study the corridor and enacting a moratorium while that group does its work, but the idea did not appear to have significant support.

While the council considers its options, the Beacon school board weighed in with an opinion this week. In a letter to the council, school board President Meredith Heuer said that development in the corridor could affect the school district’s enrollment and transportation plans.

If new residential buildings are to be built in the Fishkill Avenue area, Heuer asked that the zoning make it “easier and more friendly for students traveling by foot or bicycle to and from school” and “address current traffic congestion that our buses and families experience.”

Meanwhile, Thomas Wright, a member of the city’s Conservation Advisory Committee, sent the council a letter urging it to hold a public planning session where community members could give feedback. “In order to create the best possible result for this zone, the process needs to be more than just encouraging members of the public to speak during public-comment sessions” during meetings, he wrote.

Doing nothing in the corridor is not an option, Council Member Dan Aymar-Blair said on Monday, referring to a three-story, mixed-use building recently approved on Conklin Avenue.

“With the current zoning, unless we change something, you’re going to have that Conklin Avenue building all up and down Fishkill Avenue,” he said. “I don’t think that’s what the people who live in that neighborhood want.”