Last summer, the proposed "Depot District" was divided into three phases. Phase One was the historic train station, whose restoration was already complete. Earlier this week, Upper Depot Brewing Co., located in the restored depot, announced that its Grand Opening would happen on Wednesday, December 28.
Councilmember Ryan Wallace (Third Ward), who chairs the IDA, observed that the rents in the building were "not dissimilar to the rents at The Falls in Greenport." Others were quick to point out that The Falls did not have a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement. This project, however, has a 20-year PILOT. For the first ten years, the property tax on the residential portion of the building will be 25 percent of the assessed value. For the next ten years, the PILOT will increase by 5 percent every year, reaching 95 percent in the final year and 100 percent when the PILOT agreement is over, which will be in 2042.
The members of the IDA present for the meeting--Ryan Wallace, Dominic Merante, Heather Campbell, Theresa Joyner, and Richard Wallace--voted unanimously to enter into the regulatory agreement.
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What any professional traffic planner would readily notice and warn the city about is the lack of stop signs on State Street at 7th street. With all the additional traffic on 7th north of State utilizing that intersection and making its way to and from the brewery (and possibly GALVAN's mega apartment project), there will be accidents as a result of the heavy and speedy State Street Speedway traffic that does not have to stop at 7th - especially at night. The additional cars which will be parking on both sides of State in front of the brewery (another brewery is on the way, too!) will only add to the congestion and poor visibility for those drivers on 7th attempting to pull into the intersection to turn or go straight ahead. Adding lots of traffic to a quiet, narrow street intersecting a busy street and not making any changes to the traffic pattern is short-sighted and, frankly, DUMB. It's a 3-way intersection - there should be 3 stop signs there BEFORE any additional traffic is added there.
ReplyDeleteI correct myself - It does not take a traffic professional to see what needs to be done at State and 7th to prevent accidents and injuries or deaths, just someone with some common sense and observation skills. Traffic and Vehicle issues, according to our City Code, fall under the purview of the Police Commissioner and only the Police Commissioner. If the Commissioner can't be bothered with attending Informal Council meetings, one has to wonder if he is even aware of where 7th and State is located. Or if he even cares what is and will be going on there and what is missing.
Bill Huston