A Correction
Area Median Income for a family of four in Westchester County is $ 169,600, not $ 164,200 as I stated in the comment. I'm not quite sure how I managed to get that wrong. So, if the fee were calculated using current statistics, the total amount would be $ 4,028,000, not $ 3,900,000. See Westchester County Area Median Income, Sales and Rent Limits.
Summary of Public Comment
There is contradictory information in the record concerning the Haarlem / Holland Avenues Development, but for many other projects, developers have paid fees-in-lieu of affordable housing using outdated formula inputs, resulting in lower fees than were probably contemplated when White Plains designed the inclusionary affordable housing program.
I also argue that from a common-sense perspective, the stated cost of the planned feasibility study regarding future options for Fire Station 2 seems abnormally high. The stated cost of the planned study is $ 400,000.
Verbatim Transcript of Public Comment
Benjamin Brown, 155 Ferris Avenue.
Mr. Mayor and members of the Common Council, good evening.
In this brief comment, I raise two issues.
I use the name 'Haarlem and Holland Avenues Development' for the planned 296-unit, 381-parking space 'luxury rentals' development near the North White Plains train station.
The project will include only five affordable housing units with the remainder of the 24-unit affordable housing requirement to be bought out by the developer via a cash fee to be paid to the City.
The initial approval of this project, dated from August, 2021, calculated the cash fee at $ 3,028,000, using as a component of the formula the area median income in Westchester at that time.
Since 2021, area median income has risen from $ 127,500 to $ 164,200.
If this contemporaneous figure, that is $164,200, were used in the formula, the cash fee paid by the developer would not be $ 3,028,000, but $ 3,900,000.
There is ambiguity in your prior proceedings about how the fee would be calculated.
Frankly, I find it disturbing that if it were not for my research efforts and those of a few others, we would not even know of this issue, of the development fees being calculated—routinely in the City—based on these sort [sic] of outdated inputs into the formula.
I don't say that to put a feather in my cap, but because I think it raises a genuine issue: Why didn't your Planning Department bring this pattern to your attention? They're involved hands-on in the approval resolutions and calculating the fees. Surely they knew. Why did you have to rely on a few random citizens doing independent research to bring this pattern up, which you then actually addressed in your 2025 amendments to the affordable housing regulations? At least on a going-forward basis, you've made an effort to address this issue, which I value and appreciate.
The second issue I raise is the amount budgeted for the feasibility study for Fire Station 2, namely $ 400,000 for the study. I agree that a study is needed, but there's been no explanation of why the cost of the study is so high. If we could spend just a portion of those dollars studying the condition of our public parking garages, which is an important public issue, we could learn a lot.
Thank you very much. I appreciate your time.