Council considers next five years of capital projects
Beacon’s five-year schedule of capital projects, presented to the City Council on May 27, includes more than $6.5 million in equipment and infrastructure upgrades planned for 2026.
The city updates a five-year plan annually; it includes projects scheduled for the coming year, along with conceptual blueprints for the four subsequent years. Council members must approve capital spending for the coming year by the end of July. A public hearing on the 2026 plan is scheduled for June 16.
The most visible project will likely be the renovation and greening of the southwest corner of Memorial Park, estimated to cost $400,000. The city plans to resurface the basketball courts, install pickleball courts, construct a softball batting cage and renovate the bathroom at that end of the park for public use.
The adjacent skateboard park has been repaved and will have new skating elements and an “art wall” installed. Phase 2 of that work, including new lighting, is expected to cost $57,500. The parking lot in front of the skate park will be reconfigured, with tree cover added, and numerous trees will be planted in that corner of the park.
Further improvements being considered for Memorial Park, if budget allows, include exercise stations and tennis courts. In addition, the city could contract with a food truck to cater to teenagers and young adults.
“We’ve heard over and over again that they’re not always welcome in a lot of the restaurants, and they can’t afford the local places,” said City Administrator Chris White. “People say they don’t have a place to go, and the thought is that might be a place to go.”
Earlier this year, the city was tentatively awarded a $3 million federal grant to rehabilitate Beekman Street. If the funding comes through — confirmation is expected this month — the city plans to spend $245,000 next year on design and engineering. Later, in addition to repaving, crews would repair sidewalks, crosswalks and curbs and add sidewalks where there are gaps. A bike lane would be added on the uphill side of Beekman.
The most expensive project planned for next year is the $1.6 million construction of a water storage tank on Mount Beacon. Other high-dollar expenditures include a vacuum truck for the Water Department ($670,000), the ongoing milling and paving of streets and installation of Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible curb ramps citywide ($500,000), replacement of a sanitary sewer pump station near Monell Place ($400,000) and a street sweeper for the Highway Department ($340,000).
The city anticipates using about $1.73 million of its savings on the 2026 projects, which, if approved by the council, would leave a combined fund balance between the general, water and sewer funds of more than $15 million. State and federal aid is expected to contribute $1 million, while $200,000 from a recreation fund that developers pay into will be applied to the Memorial Park improvements. The city would borrow the rest, $3.59 million, through bonds.
Notable expenditures in subsequent years include nearly $3.5 million to complete the Beekman Street project in 2028 and $1.6 million in upgrades to Seeger Riverfront Park in 2027, although timing there will depend on whether a transit-oriented development at the Metro-North station proceeds, White said. Replacement of aeration tanks at the wastewater treatment plant is expected to cost $2.6 million in 2028.
As in the 2024 plan, the five-year schedule pushes a $5.25 million community center to its last year, now 2030. White cautioned that for it and other long-term projects, such as splash pads at Riverfront and Memorial parks and a new municipal pool, “we’re not sure how they fit right now, or, frankly, how we afford them.”
Realistically, he said, a community center could cost up to $15 million and, Mayor Lee Kyriacou added, that’s only if the city upgrades the Recreation Department building at 23 West Center St. “This is $10 million to $20 million for something new, depending on where it’s located,” Kyriacou said.
Public hearings
The City Council held three public hearings on Monday (June 2). The first, on revisions to the city’s law regulating accessory apartments, will remain open until the council’s June 16 meeting. Along with a handful of administrative changes, the revisions would remove the 1,000-square-foot cap on accessory apartments, instead requiring Planning Board approval for accessory units with floor space of more than 1,000 square feet. The revisions also would remove the requirement of one off-street parking space per accessory apartment.
Three residents spoke during Monday’s hearing. One questioned whether the changes, which the city says will streamline the approval process, would cut property owners’ costs, as intended. Two speakers suggested the city would have trouble enforcing an owner-occupancy clause, and that accessory apartments would be used as short-term rentals.
No one commented during a hearing on amendments to the city’s drought emergency plan. The changes would allow the mayor to declare a drought emergency without approval from the City Council.
The third hearing was on code updates that would bring the city’s anti-loitering law into conformance with state regulations, which in 2021 legalized marijuana use in public for adults over 21. The changes would update the code to allow marijuana use everywhere but in city-owned buildings and public parks, where smoking tobacco is already prohibited.
Two speakers asked the council to restrict marijuana use in public, but “state law doesn’t allow the city to regulate it,” City Attorney Nick Ward-Willis said. “It is permitted, so we’re preempted from banning it on public sidewalks.”
The council is expected to vote on the drought emergency and anti-loitering measures on June 16. It also will discuss and may vote on the accessory apartment law.
Self-storage
The council voted Monday to allow self-storage and warehouse storage facilities in the general business and industrial (both light and heavy) zoning districts, except on parcels that front Main Street, Fishkill Avenue, Beekman Street, Herbert Street or Tioronda Avenue, where the facilities will require a special-use permit.
If granted permits, self-storage and warehouse storage facilities on those streets would not be allowed along the street-facing property line and must be located behind active ground-floor uses, below grade or in a secondary structure that is set back at least 10 feet from the primary street-facing structure.
The vote was 6-1, with Amber Grant opposing it. Grant said she agrees with the Fishkill Avenue Concepts Committee’s finding that self-storage facilities do not contribute to “vibrant corridors.”
The council last month chose to separate measures it was considering to regulate self-storage and drive-thru facilities. It voted May 5 to prohibit drive-thrus citywide.
