RAC/Request for zoning change

February 9, 2025

To the Planning Commission,

Thank you for taking time on 2/8 to conduct a site walk of 25 Milton Road (the Yellow House). The secondary house now “owned” by the Rye Arts Center, for which they have requested a change of its zoning designation to commercial use with the further goal to convert it to a fee based (classes, fundraisers, weddings) special events mixed use (including a coffee shop and lounge) property.

It is not a benign re-zoning request with de minimis impact.

Straight away, before, during, and after construction, the new building would add an inordinate amount of stress to the City’s infrastructure – traffic congestion and flow, safety related to that traffic for: emergency vehicles, pedestrians (including nursery age school children through high school), cyclists, and motorists, pollution (air, noise, light emissions), PSI/hydrant support, and flood mitigation issues due to run-off impacting an already strained drainage system in the immediate area. Flooding would be further exacerbated by the likely eradication of the environmentally significant oak trees that line the street.

Allowing the property to be re-zoned for a commercial use building would negatively impact the daily lives of over 135 private homeowners next door, and just across the street, in perpetuity.

For those who may not know, Blind Brook is a cooperative of 130 privately owned apartments.

This is NOT a transient rental property neighborhood.

In addition to the design being completely out of step with the surrounding homes, and Christ’s Church, the scale of this NEW commercial usage building would not be appropriate.

At the City Council meeting on 1/29, it was observed that original usages can change. True. However, many buildings in Rye have done so within their original architectural structure unobserved to passerby, or additions have been made in keeping with the same style.

City Hall was referenced as an example of such a scenario. The Wainwright House is also an example of original usage shifting. In a residential neighborhood, the Wainwright House runs its programs, and events, but hasn't altered the zoning, structure, or the landscape. Yet, even with its long driveway, high walls, and as far set back as the house is from Stuyvesant, it is still a traffic and noise issue for its neighbors.

This new building would neither be repurposed within its original footprint nor removed from the road. What it would be is huge, modern, and right on top of its neighbors as well as the street.

If you weren’t able on Saturday, perhaps you will have a moment before 2/11 to stand across the street on the Christ’s Church side at the corner of Rectory and Milton. Visualize in your mind the enormity of the building, and all the stress issues I have already articulated.

Inextricably linked to this application is the question of why? Even at this stage that question has to be considered – perhaps even more so.

In its (segregated) presentations to its neighbors, its own 2022-2025 Strategic Plan, and then at the two January City Council meetings, there has been a conflation by the Rye Arts Center between an understandable goal to upgrade the existing facility, and statements of needing to provide more opportunities to the “Sound Shore” region, and beyond, through this new building. The subtext being that there is a dearth of arts, and programs, in the Westchester/Rye area, and RAC should alter that somehow.

The Sound Shore region writ large is not an arts desert.

Of the multiple organizations offering varying arts options to all ages – including 2 full scale museums – RAC falls roughly in the middle. The proximity of the Bruce Museum is most often referred to, but there is another even bigger, municipally accessible, (teaching) arts center also a scant 4 miles away.

The Neuberger Museum of Art.

The Neuberger is home to over 7,000 dedicated pieces of contemporary, modern, and African art. It offers classes for K-12 cohorts as well as those in the 55+ category. Its membership categories, and fees in many of them, rival those of RAC's with several offering access to even more through other museums in its network. As importantly, it is situated in an environment already designated to absorb scores of mixed-use clienteles, and the requisite transportation needs such a facility requires – be it for private cars and/or buses/vans.

Many homes have converted their extra spaces to “home offices”. Why not in this instance as well?

Rehabilitate the house on #25 Milton Road. The backyard, and wetlands, can still be used for the teaching, and natural art space they want to introduce. Convert the bedrooms to shared office spaces for staff. Reimagine the space of its two-car garage for something else. The living and dining rooms can be used for receptions and presentations.

Doing something like that would make room for upgrades in the existing facility, and substantially minimize so many of the other issues this new building presents.

While I appreciate the RAC has 2027 in mind for completion, they have taken four years to get to this point. Most of all of us have only had weeks to learn about any of this.

It is important that time is taken. We get one chance to make this as right as possible.

And, away from this particular property, changing the zone designation, should it happen, could be a domino for several others in Rye to try the same thing.

Thank you for your time.

Heather Sweeny