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TARRYTOWN, N.Y. A proposed demolition and expansion of Tarrytown Honda has several Tarrytown residents up in arms over a building and business they say is too big for the neighborhood.
It's a scale issue, Tarrytown resident Lori Hrbek said. The building is so out of proportion with the scale of the neighborhood I'm not going to feel like I'm in a residential neighborhood.
Proposed plans for the car dealership include tearing down the existing white, 47,300-square-foot building and constructing a two-story, $75,000 stone building on the same lot. The new building would have more room for mechanics to diagnose car problems and more space to keep cars inside rather than outside.
Project consultants outlined a number of potential benefits for the site during Monday night's planning board meeting, including making it easier for car carriers to unload cars and turn into the dealership. The proposed plans, traffic engineer John Collins said, would mean there would be no servicing of vehicles on the street or in parking areas and all deliveries would be made on site.
The consultants also noted several benefits to customers and employees of the dealership since the project would bring the building up to the car industry's standards and provide more parts storage, servicing bays and offices.
Residents in Tarrytown's Pennybridge neighborhood said the car dealership has caused continued problems and expressed fears over the proposed project's impact, saying it would cause increased traffic in the area.
Tarrytown resident Audrey Capra lives just behind Tarrytown Honda and said during Monday's meeting she was extremely concerned with the project.
Do any of you live next to a dealership? Capra said to the business' consultants while on the verge of tears. Or am I the only one who's supposed to live like this?
Other neighborhood residents, such as Alison Boldyrev, protested the number of carriers dropping off cars and suggested the dealership find an off-site location to do this.
Planning Board Chair Stanley Friedlander and board member Ronald Tedesco both encouraged residents to bring up issues with the proposed project in the hopes that it could be modified to decrease potential concerns. Tedesco said he thought many of the serious problems brought up with residents would be addressed within the proposed plans.
The Tarrytown Planning Board will discuss the Tarrytown Honda proposal at its next public meeting on May 17.
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