Planning Board Meeting & Work Session — 2026-01-06 — Minutes

Page 1 TOWN OF CORTLANDT PLANNING AND ZONING BOARDS PLANNING BOARD MEETING Town Hall 1 Heady Street Cortlandt Manor, New York 10567 January 6, 2026 6:30 p.m. - 8:45 p.m. Page 2 Page 2 January 6, 2026 MEMBERS PRESENT: Steven Kessler, Chairman Thomas A. Bianchi, Vice Chairman Peter McKinley, Member Kevin Kobasa, Member Katen Timko, Alternate MEMBERS ABSENT: Jeffrey Rothfeder, Member Nora Hildinger, Member Kellan Cantrell, Alternate ALSO PRESENT: Chris Kehoe, AICP, Director of Planning Michael Cunningham, Esq., Deputy Town Attorney Heather LaVarnway, CNU-A, Planner Chris Lapine, P.E., Engineer Catherine Brosnan, P.E., Assistant Civil Engineer. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 3 Page 3 1 January 6, 2026 2 (The board meeting commenced at 6:30 p.m.) 3 MR. STEVEN KESSLER: Everybody, welcome 4 to the planning board meeting for January 6th. If 5 you’re able, please rise for the pledge. 6 MULTIPLE: I pledge allegiance to the 7 flag of the United States of America and to the 8 republic for which it stands, one nation under 9 God, indivisible with liberty and justice for 10 all. 11 MR. KESSLER: All right, thank you. Roll 12 please, Chris. 13 MR. CHRISTOPHER KEHOE: Mr. Kobasa? 14 MR. KEVIN KOBASA: Here. 15 MR. KEHOE: Ms. Timko? 16 MS. KAREN TIMKO: Here. 17 MR. KEHOE: Mr. Kessler? 18 MR. KESSLER: Here. 19 MR. KEHOE: Mr. Bianchi? 20 MR. THOMAS BIANCHI: Here. 21 MR. KEHOE: Mr. McKinley? 22 MR. PETER MCKINLEY: Here. 23 MR. KEHOE: Mr. Rothfeder, Mr. Cantrell 24 and Ms. Hildinger noted as absent. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 4 Page 4 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. We have no 3 changes to the agenda this evening. Can I please 4 have a motion to adopt the minutes from our 5 meeting of December 2nd? 6 MR. BIANCHI: So moved. 7 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. Second, please? 8 MR. MCKINLEY: Second. 9 MR. KESSLER: And on the question, all 10 in favor? 11 MULTIPLE: Aye. 12 MR. KESSLER: Opposed? Okay. First item 13 tonight is under correspondence, it’s a letter 14 dated December 23, 2025 from David Steinmetz, 15 requesting the eighth 90-day time extension of 16 final plat approval for the Evergreen 17 Subdivision, located at 2003 Crompond Road. 18 Kevin? 19 MR. KOBASA: I’d like to make a motion 20 to adopt Resolution 1-26 for the 90-day time 21 extension of the final plat approval. 22 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. Second, please? 23 MR. BIANCHI: Second. 24 MR. KESSLER: On the question, all in Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 5 Page 5 1 January 6, 2026 2 favor? 3 MULTIPLE: Aye. 4 MR. KESSLER: Opposed? 5 MR. DAVID STEINMETZ: Thank you. 6 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. Next item is a 7 resolution. It is the application of Teatown Lake 8 Reservation, Incorporated. For the record, Ms. 9 Timko is recusing herself from this application. 10 It’s the application of the Teatown Lake 11 Reservation for renewal and medication of a 12 special permit for a private nature preserve to 13 conduct summer camp programs and weekday public 14 programs and for a tree removal permit to 15 implement a meadow management plant at Cliffdale 16 Farm for property located on the north side of 17 Teatown Road, approximately 3,000 feet east of 18 Quaker Ridge Road. Good evening, I think we have 19 a resolution for you. Peter? 20 MR. MCKINLEY: Yes, thank you, Mr. 21 Chairman. I’d like to adopt Resolution 2-26, for 22 the Teatown Lake Reservation special permit to 23 conduct summer programs, camp programs. 24 MR. KESSLER: Second, please. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 6 Page 6 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. BIANCHI: Second. 3 MR. KESSLER: And on the question, all 4 in favor? 5 MULTIPLE: Aye. 6 MR. KESSLER: Opposed? Okay, good luck. 7 MR. ALAN SORKIN: Thank you. 8 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. Next item, also 9 a resolution, it’s the application of 77 Montrose 10 Station, LLC for preliminary plat approval and 11 for tree removal and steep slope permits for a 12 proposed three-lot major subdivision of 13 approximately 9.7-acre parcel of property located 14 at 77 Montrose Station Road, latest drawings 15 dated November 20, 2025. Good evening, David. We 16 have a resolution, we discussed this at the work 17 session. There were a number of changes that we 18 made during that. I don’t know if you’ve had a 19 chance to see it? 20 MR. STEINMETZ: I did the resolution and 21 I did hear Katie’s suggestion regarding the bond 22 requirement. 23 MR. KESSLER: Yes, so just for the 24 record, Katie, do you want read that into the Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 7 Page 7 1 January 6, 2026 2 record? We’re going to add this to condition 3 number eight. 4 MS. CATHERINE BROSNAN: Sure. So, is 5 this on? 6 MR. STEINMETZ: You’re on. 7 MS. BROSNAN: The landscape security 8 shall be two times the cost of plant material and 9 labor. Trees and shrubs shall grow for two 10 growing seasons and they, if any die, they should 11 replaced at a ratio of one to one. 12 MR. KESSLER: Okay, thank you. 13 MR. KEHOE: And then also, I didn’t send 14 David the resolution again. There were some 15 whereas clauses that were changed, but no 16 conditions, some additional information at the 17 request of the board. 18 MR. STEINMETZ: Appreciate the 19 correction or the acknowledgement and I 20 appreciate the courtesy of seeing the resolution 21 before you voted on it. 22 MR. KESSLER: Okay, so we have a 23 resolution in front of us. Tom? 24 MR. BIANCHI: Mr. Chairman, I’ll move Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 8 Page 8 1 January 6, 2026 2 that we adopt Resolution number 3-26 -- 3 MR. KESSLER: Can I have a second? 4 MR. BIANCHI: -- with changes that we 5 discussed in the draft resolution. 6 MR. KEHOE: I’ll, sorry, go ahead. On 7 the question, I’ll say something. 8 MR. BIANCHI: Okay. I was just going to 9 say to approve the three-lot major subdivision. 10 MR. KESSLER: Second, please. 11 MR. MCKINLEY: Second. 12 MR. KESSLER: And on the question? 13 MR. KEHOE: So, David, at the last 14 minute, Chris Lapine did send over two additional 15 conditions that he wanted. They’re not 16 substantial, but I just want to read them. 17 MR. STEINMETZ: Would you read those, 18 yes? 19 MR. KEHOE: Yeah, the applicant is to 20 provide a comprehensive tree planting plan for 21 lot one, which incorporates the required 22 plantings as part of ZBA case 25-5 and permit A- 23 24-739 for review and acceptance by the planning 24 department. And I don’t know if you were involved Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 9 Page 9 1 January 6, 2026 2 in the ZBA case associated with the garage. 3 MR. STEINMETZ: I was not, but I’m 4 familiar with and Jim Annicchiarico -- 5 MR. KEHOE: But there’s some additional 6 plantings -- 7 MR. STEINMETZ: -- our project engineer 8 is here. 9 MR. KEHOE: Yeah, and then a general 10 comment that, to address all the comments to the 11 town planning board engineer, consulting engineer 12 dated December 22, 2025. Is that what -- 13 MR. STEINMETZ: I assume all of this is 14 before the chair would sign the final plat map? 15 MR. KEHOE: Yes. 16 MR. STEINMETZ: Understood. 17 MR. KESSLER: Okay. We’re on the 18 question, all in favor? 19 MULTIPLE: Aye. 20 MR. KESSLER: Opposed? Okay. Thank you. 21 MR. STEINMETZ: Thank you. 22 MR. KESSLER: All right, we’re on to, oh 23 no, one more resolution, I’m sorry. It’s the 24 application of Richard Williams on behalf of JAM Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 10 Page 10 1 January 6, 2026 2 Storage, LLC for the property of Francisco 3 Portillo, for site plan approval and for wetland, 4 steep slope and tree removal permits for the 5 construction of an approximately 60,000 square 6 foot self-storage facility and related site 7 improvements for property located at 2059 Albany 8 Post Road, drawings latest revised October 23, 9 2025. Okay, we do also have a resolution for 10 that. So with that, Kevin? 11 MR. KOBASA: Yeah, I’d like to make a 12 motion to adopt Resolution 4-26, with a change 13 added to advise that final fire department 14 signoff will be needed for site plan approval. 15 MR. KESSLER: Second, please. 16 MR. BIANCHI: Second. 17 MR. KESSLER: And on the question? All 18 in favor? 19 MULTIPLE: Aye. 20 MR. KESSLER: Opposed? 21 MR. STEINMETZ: Thank you. 22 MR. KESSLER: One second. Okay. On to 23 the public hearing portion of the agenda, our 24 first public hearing is an adjourned public Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 11 Page 11 1 January 6, 2026 2 hearing. It is the application of Yeshiv Ohr 3 Hameir for site plan approval and amended special 4 permit for a university, college or seminary and 5 a wetland permit for a proposed 51,730 square 6 foot dormitory building, the repurposing of other 7 buildings on site, and site improvements, 8 including stormwater, landscaping and building 9 façade renovations located at the existing 10 Yashiva Ohr Hameir campus at 141 Furnace Woods 11 Road, latest drawings dated December 17, 2025. 12 Mr. Steinmetz, good evening again. 13 MR. STEINMETZ: Good evening, Mr. 14 Chairman, members of the board, David Steinmetz 15 from the law firm of Zarin and Steinmetz, pleased 16 to be here for the continuation of the public 17 hearing on behalf of Yeshiva Ohr Hameir. I’m 18 joined by our entire development team. My client, 19 Rabbi Yaakov Rothberg, the executive director of 20 the yeshiva, my colleague Vincent Pedone, our 21 project engineer, Dan Ciarcia, our project 22 architect Chana Weisz and our project 23 environmental and wetlands consultant, Steve 24 Marino. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 12 Page 12 1 January 6, 2026 2 We conducted the initial session of the 3 public hearing, we received comments from your 4 board, we received comments from the public. We 5 received comments from staff. We made submissions 6 to your board for the record. Number one, we 7 submitted a legal response largely for purposes 8 of answering things that had been raised for 9 purposes of addressing it in the record. I’m not 10 here tonight to go into that in any detail unless 11 you wish. I did feel compelled in light of the 12 petition your board received to correct the 13 record, to make sure that the adequate case law 14 and statutory references were cited and that we 15 responded to some of those issues. We felt 16 largely they were not relevant to the ultimate 17 disposition of the matter and the issues before 18 you, but they were raised. And they ought to be 19 addressed and closed out in the record. 20 More importantly, we did make a rather 21 extensive submission on some site plan 22 improvements, a pedestrian pathway or walkway on 23 the property was shown, a parking table was 24 illustrated. We updated the occupancy chart to Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 13 Page 13 1 January 6, 2026 2 address questions that your board raised at the 3 meeting, and staff raised in a technical 4 discussion. 5 I know you discussed in your work 6 session the question of fire access and fire 7 turnaround. Dan Ciarcia did utilize standard 8 truck, fire truck templates and placed those on 9 his site plan. That information is on the plan. 10 It has been submitted to DOTS. I understand from 11 the work session that that is still going to be 12 reviewed by the fire department and the fire 13 district. You should know we have reached out, 14 where is Dan sitting, why am I like, there he is. 15 We have reached out several times to the fire 16 department trying to get some input. I guess 17 somebody was out. I appreciate Katie you sharing 18 that during the work session. We were wondering 19 why we were not hearing back. We’re perfectly 20 fine and we’d like the fire department to review 21 and sign off on that material. 22 We also updated our environmental 23 assessment form. I heard some questions from 24 Chris Lapine this evening about some narrative or Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 14 Page 14 1 January 6, 2026 2 some further explanation that he wants in the 3 EAF. And one of you responded, it might have been 4 Chris, that we did submit all of the updates for 5 the entire campus on the plans. But if there 6 needs to be something somehow built into the EAF, 7 we can do that. I don’t see that as a problem. 8 And lastly as the result of some 9 discussions with your professional staff, we 10 realized that we needed to identify a maintenance 11 or storage building on the property. That has 12 been shown on the site plan as well as an 13 architectural illustration of that. 14 So as far as we’re concerned, Mr. 15 Chairman and members of the board, you now do 16 have everything from us. We believe you have a 17 complete submission in terms of engineering, 18 architectural, Steve Marino in wetlands. We think 19 you’ve got it all. Whether your staff has 20 completed its review, that’s obviously between 21 you and staff. We’re hoping that you have gotten 22 some meaningful input from staff. But we are here 23 tonight, Mr. Chairman, to progress with the 24 application and to address any issues your board Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 15 Page 15 1 January 6, 2026 2 may have that you wish to discuss. 3 MR. KESSLER: Okay. Well let’s open it 4 up to the public. Okay. So again, it’s a 5 continuation of the last public hearing, is there 6 anybody that wishes to comment on this 7 application? Please come on up to the microphone. 8 Yes, your name and address for the record please. 9 MR. GREGORY GALE: Gregory Gale, 80 10 Furnace Woods Road. Good evening. I was here, 11 excuse me, a little frog in my throat. I was here 12 at the last meeting that we discussed this. And I 13 remember there was a discussion about how many 14 students there was going to be there. And that 15 they want, the applicant wants to open it up to 16 more than is currently there. And I think, it 17 seemed like they had the hardware, or the space, 18 to put up to 450 kids in there, you know. I don’t 19 remember the exact number, but it seemed like it 20 was over 400. And they currently have, I think 21 it’s around 250. 22 And I think the question is, you know, 23 do we want to give them basically carte blanche 24 pretty much whatever they want. Or do we want to Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 16 Page 16 1 January 6, 2026 2 keep the restriction? I would say, from my 3 perspective, I’m comfortable with it the way it 4 is. 5 I mean I can tell you that recently 6 there hasn’t been much pedestrian traffic. But in 7 the past, there’s been plenty of it. And, you 8 know, and when I say recently, I mean within the 9 last couple weeks, maybe a month, when the 10 weather gets cold. But when the weather gets 11 warm, those kids are walking up and down the 12 road, three or four abreast, you know, and 13 there’s no street lights. And I really think it 14 would be a hazard to have a whole lot more 15 students walking up and down around there. 16 I mean if they want to build what they 17 want to build, I would say have them come back 18 and we can revisit it. But to just do it now, I 19 think that we need to wait and see what happens. 20 And secondly, I know that the fire 21 department or somebody does inspections there. I 22 think it’s the town does inspections. And I guess 23 my question is how often are they done and is 24 there notice that the inspections are being done? Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 17 Page 17 1 January 6, 2026 2 I would say there shouldn’t be notice. They 3 should just, you know, arrive on site whenever 4 they feel that it’s warranted. I don’t see -- 5 because if we give them notice and they are 6 violating it, they’ve got plenty of time to hide 7 whatever they want to hide. 8 So I would say if we’re going to go 9 forward with this, keep the cap as it is, we can 10 revisit it in due time. And as far as the 11 inspections go, there should be no notice. The 12 town shows up when the town wants to show up. 13 That’s pretty much it for now. 14 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. And just so 15 we’re all on the same page here in terms of the 16 numbers. Let’s just be clear. So currently the 17 population of the yeshiva is 217 students. The 18 proposal for the dormitory right now, with their 19 96 -- I’m sorry, your 64 rooms with four people 20 in a room would be 256 people. So 217, 256, all 21 right, two key numbers. They are also proposing 22 that they have the ability to put five beds into 23 those 64 rooms, which would then make a 24 population of 320. So what we’re discussion here Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 18 Page 18 1 January 6, 2026 2 are the merits of 217, 256 and 320. 3 MR. GALE: Wasn’t there a question of 4 another building? 5 MR. KESSLER: Yes. That -- 6 MR. GALE: That is currently empty and 7 that they had the ability to put other students 8 in that? 9 MR. KESSLER: You know, this would be a 10 good time to go over that chart. Do you have that 11 chart, David, to show? 12 MR. STEINMETZ: So maybe you want to let 13 the public finish their comments and then we can 14 go over it? 15 MR. KESSLER: Well, but there’ll be 16 other -- 17 MR. STEINMETZ: Whichever way you wish. 18 MR. KESSLER: I think we should, this is 19 an important issue here. I think if you have that 20 chart, I think it would be instructive for 21 everybody to see that charge, and understand what 22 you’re proposing in terms of both the student 23 population and the staff and support staff 24 population. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 19 Page 19 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. STEINMETZ: When Mr. Gale is 3 finished, I’m happy to do that. 4 MR. GALE: Go ahead. 5 MR. CHRIS LAPINE: David, we brought 6 that up, the chart for you. 7 MR. STEINMETZ: Got it. 8 MR. KESSLER: That’s easy to see. 9 MR. STEINMETZ: I can’t see it, so if I 10 can -- 11 MR. KESSLER: Cover your right eye and 12 read it. 13 MR. STEINMETZ: You should definitely 14 come up here in case I need you. So, Mr. 15 Chairman, you’re correct. We are proposing a 16 dormitory building, as the board well knows, and 17 as the chair indicated both in the work session 18 and now, just now, 64 rooms, all of which meet 19 New York State building, fire and dormitory 20 regulatory codes for five beds and a maximum of 21 320 students inside that dormitory building. That 22 is, that is what we are seeking, is to build a 23 building that would accommodate 320 students in 24 that building. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 20 Page 20 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. KESSLER: You want to talk about 3 their other buildings, please? 4 MR. STEINMETZ: Sure. 5 MR. KESSLER: Just so that everybody is 6 on the same page here. 7 MR. STEINMETZ: I kind of definitely 8 would love some participation here. Got it. So we 9 have the pool building, which is, which has in 10 the past been used as a dormitory and we have 11 talked about it throughout this application as 12 being the building that would accommodate three 13 staff members who would reside full-time on the 14 property with families. That’s indicated in the 15 chart. You can see it would be approximately 16 three, three staff members and roughly 22 family 17 members. 18 MR. KEHOE: And currently, that building 19 has 101 students in it? 20 MR. STEINMETZ: Correct. 21 MR. KEHOE: Yeah. 22 MR. STEINMETZ: The sanctuary is also 23 known as the chalet, that building does have 24 historically some sleeping rooms in it. It is Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 21 Page 21 1 January 6, 2026 2 really primarily utilized as the primary 3 sanctuary or place of education and prayer. It is 4 proposed to now be exclusively the sanctuary. 5 Chana explained at prior meetings, how we were 6 moving the, how we were improving that building, 7 making it more functional, taking some of the 8 office space and moving it into the dormitory 9 building. So the sanctuary now would have no 10 residential space, sleeping quarters inside that 11 building. 12 The Dallas building is presently a 13 dormitory. It has 16 rooms, currently 14 accommodating 80 students. We have talked about 15 that being essentially a staff and guest 16 building. It would be a building that would be 17 allowed for many of the staff come on occasion. 18 Why do they come on occasion? They attend Sabbath 19 throughout the year on occasion and they attend 20 the high holidays. When they come, they will come 21 with family members and they would have a place 22 to reside. 23 I would note, and we can go into the 24 weeds if we need to. My understanding from our Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 22 Page 22 1 January 6, 2026 2 architect, and this has been discussed at a 3 technical meeting with staff, that constitutes an 4 R-2 classification under the New York State 5 building code. That is the same classification as 6 the dormitory building. That too is being built 7 to an R-2 standard. That building, we are not 8 proposing any students to be in that building. 9 And as the chair indicated in the work 10 session, I will start by saying I stand by my 11 proposition that I put in writing and that I made 12 before your board, that I don’t believe you have 13 the legal authority to impose a cap on students 14 under New York State law unless you can 15 demonstrate by empirical evidence that there is a 16 life safety issue. 17 Having said that, as the chair 18 indicated, there have been a series of 19 discussions that I’ve conducted over the last 20 several weeks with the town’s attorney’s office 21 and the yeshiva is prepared to accept 22 voluntarily, as it did 15 years ago, a voluntary 23 cap on student residential occupancy of 320 24 students. Why, 320 students are precisely the Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 23 Page 23 1 January 6, 2026 2 number that would fit inside the dormitory 3 building. Do we want to max, do we want to 4 indicate that students would only be in the 5 dormitory building? We believe they will be. But 6 whether they, whether 280 are in the dormitory 7 building and 40 end up in the Dallas building, it 8 is the same use classification. 9 So as I said to you two months ago, we 10 don’t believe that we would need a change of use. 11 I’m not, Mr. Chairman, I don’t want to argue the 12 point, because I want to get an amended special 13 permit that you know we have discussed and you 14 apparently have discussed with the town attorney, 15 an amended special permit with a cap of 320. That 16 is a rational and fair number that we are 17 voluntarily willing to accept despite the fact 18 that Summit School v. Nugent and a host of cases 19 that are not related that are not RLUIPA cases, 20 they are New York State law cases that go beyond 21 RLUIPA and that tell us quite clearly that you, 22 as a planning board, can’t impose the cap. 23 The building department may be able to. 24 They may even be able to look at things that you Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 24 Page 24 1 January 6, 2026 2 can’t in terms of life safety, etc., but from a 3 special permits standpoint, I actually don’t 4 think you have the authority to do it. I told you 5 that 15 years ago. But 15 years ago, as you put 6 in your negative declaration 15 years ago, 7 whereas in conjunction with and in consultation 8 with the town, the yeshiva has voluntarily capped 9 its student population at 225. 10 Once again, with the cooperation of the 11 executive director of the yeshiva, in light of 12 the fact that it’s a new building, fully 13 sprinklered, designed by an architect to have 14 adequate ingress, egress, doors, windows, and a 15 sewer system that now allows them to have 16 effluent that is not capped at 225. We are 17 prepared to have an understanding of a student 18 cap at 320. So I hope that’s clear. I hope, Mr. 19 Chairman that is what you heard from the town 20 attorney, because that is the discussion that has 21 been taking place. 22 MR. KESSLER: Just to follow along with 23 that, David. If you’re suggesting we have no 24 authority on the cap and you could have come in Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 25 Page 25 1 January 6, 2026 2 here with a 10-story building? That’s what you’re 3 saying? 4 MR. STEINMETZ: No. I couldn’t come in 5 with a 10-story building because Chris Kehoe told 6 me when we first met with him what my maximum 7 height was, so and it’s not 10 stories. 8 MR. KESSLER: Okay. So there are 9 limitations then. 10 MR. STEINMETZ: That has nothing to do, 11 that has nothing to do with Summit School v. 12 Nugent and student cap. That has to do with 13 zoning parameters. 14 MR. KESSLER: I thought, I thought 15 RLUIPA sort of eliminated all zoning issues. 16 MR. STEINMETZ: So, no. And it’s -- 17 MR. KESSLER: It does. 18 MR. STEINMETZ: Let me, let me, I don’t 19 want to have a debate with you, but I will if you 20 wish. I’m not standing here, Mr. Chairman and 21 members of the board and town attorney’s office 22 arguing RLUIPA. I don’t need to argue RLUIPA. The 23 Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons 24 Act was codified in the ‘90s. New York State law, Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 26 Page 26 1 January 6, 2026 2 Cornell v. Bagnardi and a legion of cases that 3 your town attorney’s office is familiar with go 4 back well before RLUIPA. 5 So it’s New York State law that tells us 6 that religious and educational institutions are 7 entitled to a degree of leniency. They are 8 favored under the law. They’re allowed to be in 9 residential areas. We’re not discussing that 10 right now because right now, what we’re 11 discussing is whether or not we can have a cap of 12 320. I don’t think you have the authority to 13 mandate it. You absolutely can ask for it. And 14 more importantly, my client can voluntarily offer 15 it. We are prepared, Mr. Chairman to do that. 16 And I understand your concept of the 17 256. Let’s talk about that. I heard from the town 18 attorney’s office that you had raised that issue. 19 And you talked about that in the work session. 20 Yes, the current occupancy of -- the current 21 student enrollment is 217. It’s not, even if the 22 building was built today, it’s not jumping to 320 23 any time soon. It may never jump to 320. It may 24 not jump beyond 250, 260, 280. It will, if it Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 27 Page 27 1 January 6, 2026 2 happens, like any school, it will happen and 3 absorb gradually, intelligently. 4 So what are prepared to acknowledge, I 5 know you made, someone made the request, 256 6 occupants once the building is completed. And 7 there would be a subsequent administrative review 8 in the future, if at any point in time the 9 yeshiva said, you know, we actually would like to 10 put the fifth bed in there. Chana, can you speak 11 just very briefly to the dormitory regulation and 12 the building cod as to why we can put five beds 13 in each of those rooms? 14 MS. CHANA WEISZ: Good evening. The 15 building code requires us to classify every 16 building by its use and occupancy. The use of the 17 space determines how many students we have to -- 18 how many people we would have to account for in 19 every space. Once we have that occupancy number, 20 the rest of the building elements, such as path 21 to egress, distance to egress, parameters for 22 whether or not a sprinkler system would be 23 required, what then capacity of means of egress 24 to stairs, all of these items, even plumbing Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 28 Page 28 1 January 6, 2026 2 fixtures, is based on the determined occupant 3 count of a building. 4 So if we wanted to submit a building 5 just say for eight students per room, and say 6 that these were bunk beds, right, and not change 7 the building footprint, and not change the 8 building height, but say we can provide adequate 9 exit doors, adequate corridor widths, not exceed 10 maximum required travel distances, meet 11 thresholds for whether or not sprinklers are 12 required or not required, which sometimes is 13 related to occupant number, all of those code 14 requirements, which are determined by occupant 15 count, if we could meet those for pretty much any 16 occupant number and demonstrate compliance with 17 safety, that’s what caps a building. 18 So there’s no limit in the code other 19 than saying that I believe you need to have a 20 minimum of seven square foot per person, just for 21 not having like overcrowding which would become a 22 safety issue. But other than that, if you have a 23 building and you can accommodate a number of 24 occupants with your egress components, with your Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 29 Page 29 1 January 6, 2026 2 other code required components, again, it 3 requires us to do certain things and upgrade 4 certain systems. For example, you may need an 5 extra staircase for 300 that you didn’t need when 6 you had 150 students. But assuming that we are 7 providing all of those accommodations which the 8 code now requires because you’re at a higher 9 occupant level, there’s nothing in the code that 10 says you cannot take a room and put more students 11 into it, provided all of those new occupancy 12 requirements are then met. 13 MR. STEINMETZ: Does the building, as 14 you’ve designed it, safely and lawfully 15 accommodate five students per room if there were 16 five students per room? 17 MS. WEISZ: Yes, yes. And just for 18 argument’s sake, even if you had a number of 256, 19 and you had say a certain number of ninth graders 20 or tenth graders and you didn’t want to mix, one 21 room has four beds in it and the next room has 22 four, but you wanted to say you have an odd 23 number of ninth grade students, you could put a 24 fifth bed into a ninth grade class dorm room and Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 30 Page 30 1 January 6, 2026 2 keep four beds or three beds even in the tenth 3 grade. So saying that 256 number still doesn’t 4 limit you to four beds in a room. So if you were 5 to say we’re going to volunteer to a cap of 256, 6 that still doesn’t give us a code requirement 7 that says you now cannot have five beds in this 8 room. If the room can safely accommodate more 9 occupants -- 10 MR. STEINMETZ: And that’s the question 11 before the board. 12 MS. WEISZ: Which it can, which is the 13 way that it’s designed. 14 MR. BIANCHI: I think that statement has 15 to be backed up by our fire department inspection 16 when they do it. 17 MR. STEINMETZ: That’s fine. 18 MS. WEISZ: It’s going to be backed up 19 by the building department when -- 20 MR. BIANCHI: You can go on about what’s 21 safe, but I don’t listen to it unless I hear it 22 from the fire department. 23 MS. WEISZ: Yeah, well we would never be 24 able to get building permits for a set of Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 31 Page 31 1 January 6, 2026 2 drawings that did not -- we put an occupant chart 3 on a drawing set and then we have to be governed 4 by the parameters which we set. 5 MR. STEINMETZ: Tom, we agree with you. 6 We welcome the fire department inspection. You 7 may not realize, but there was a rather extensive 8 that was meeting by the technical folks, no 9 lawyers, just technical people analyzing DOTS, 10 your outside engineering firm, your in-house 11 planners, we all there. We’re all well aware that 12 the yeshiva does not want to operate, and this 13 building will not be designed by a professional 14 architect, that doesn’t meet code. So please help 15 us, help Katie to get somebody to return the 16 phone call that you heard in the work session 17 we’re all waiting to get so that these various 18 fire inspections can take place on these 19 projects. I totally agree, we are together on 20 that. It’s going to be a safe, lawful and 21 extremely attractive building. It’s going to be 22 designed to accommodate up to 320 students. 23 If the town is asking for us to 24 acknowledge 256 when it’s completed and have some Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 32 Page 32 1 January 6, 2026 2 administrative review process that would be 3 undertaken by DOTS to confirm lawful occupancy, 4 everything in the plans that was designed by the 5 architect was actually fully completed to the 6 satisfaction of the building department, we’re 7 fine with all of that. At which time, once you 8 complete, once DOTS completes that administrative 9 review, the building would be allowed to be used 10 as its been designed, for up to 320, because Mr. 11 Chairman, we are prepared to acknowledge a cap of 12 320. Your hypothetical about the 10-story 13 building is sort of off track, because I can’t 14 build a 10-story building. I could build higher 15 than we’re proposing. But more importantly, we’re 16 not seeking to put 400, 500 students in the 17 building, even if she tells me we possibly could. 18 MS. WEISZ: Even if our rooms could 19 potentially accommodate more students and we had 20 enough egress and stairs and we met all the 21 requirements for, just for argument’s sake, eight 22 students in a room, that’s not the intention, 23 that’s not what the yeshiva wants, and that’s not 24 what we’re going to design the building to, Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 33 Page 33 1 January 6, 2026 2 because that’s not how they want to set this up. 3 That’s why they’re offering a voluntary cap. 4 MR. STEINMETZ: And maybe one of the 5 more important issues that we made at the last 6 meeting and I hope it didn’t fall on deaf ears. 7 Programmatically, it’s a school. It’s an 8 intensive school. It’s a school. It doesn’t have 9 the other space for hundreds of people to come 10 there and be educated. The cafeteria is only so 11 large. The administrative is only so large. The 12 on campus supervision in terms of professors or 13 teachers is only so large. So the number of 14 classrooms that are being designed that you know 15 exist on the property and will be in the building 16 are only so large. It can only accommodate a 17 certain number. 18 And there was, someone made a comment 19 about, and Tom I think it was you during the work 20 session, about periodic inspections. I just want 21 to remind you and make the record clear, 22 especially for the public. This, in the 15 years 23 since I received the original approval from your 24 board, there are annual inspections. Holly Haight Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 34 Page 34 1 January 6, 2026 2 goes out there and she’s no long with the DOTS. 3 MR. BIANCHI: Fire inspections. 4 MR. STEINMETZ: Fire inspections take 5 place every single year. Every year, I have to 6 come before this board and get renewals. Every 7 three years, I have come before this board and 8 got, received special permit extensions. Because 9 we come before this board, you get a report from 10 your staff and you determine and you learn that 11 there have been no violations, there are no life 12 safety concerns. And somebody has actually gone 13 through and counted the beds on the campus. So, 14 having said all of that, and I don’t want to 15 belabor the point, there would be no other 16 students in other buildings on the property. 17 There would be a maintenance building, the 18 rabbis’ building, Texas would remain as is. We’ve 19 already talked about the staff housing. 20 So in terms, and I should say and I 21 think you all saw this in our submission, state 22 law, I was surprised to see this when I did the 23 research and response to some comments that were 24 made, state law, actually court cases say Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 35 Page 35 1 January 6, 2026 2 universities, campuses, seminaries, churches, 3 convents, are expected to have guests, they’re 4 allowed to have guests. It’s actually, the word 5 guest is in the case law, because having this 6 accommodation is contemplated under New York 7 State law. 8 So we’re not asking for anything 9 improper, we’re not asking for anything that 10 violates state code in terms of building, fire, 11 etc. And whether you all want to agree with my 12 characterization, we are, the yeshiva is 13 voluntarily agreeing to cap its student 14 residential occupancy number at 320. 15 MR. KESSLER: Mm-hmm. 16 MR. STEINMETZ: It can absolutely be 17 accommodated safely. Who knows if they’ll ever 18 get there. I hope they do. I hope they’re 19 successful. I hope the town feels the same way. 20 MR. KESSLER: Okay. Can we go back to 21 the chart please, David? 22 MR. STEINMETZ: Yes. 23 MR. KESSLER: So, it looks though, in 24 looking at this, you have three staff members Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 36 Page 36 1 January 6, 2026 2 today and no change. But it also says you have no 3 staff family members there today on the chart in 4 the existing. And you have 22 proposed in the -- 5 are you suggesting -- 6 MR. STEINMETZ: Yep, correct. 7 MR. KESSLER: So you’re saying there’s 8 no family staff members there today? 9 MR. STEINMETZ: Correct, because if I 10 understand it correctly, it’s because they’ve 11 largely aged out of the family. So, in the 15 12 years, those staff members have had children who 13 have grown up and they have left, they are no 14 longer residing with their parents. There are 15 younger staff members who actually now can reside 16 on campus rather than commuting to campus and 17 they can actually reside there with their 18 families. It’s not a static world. And some of 19 the rabbis, Mr. Chairman were probably a little 20 younger than we are now when we got these 21 approvals 15 years ago, and they are now older 22 than we are now, and they don’t have any family 23 living with them. 24 MR. KESSLER: Okay. And just clarify Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 37 Page 37 1 January 6, 2026 2 again, for the public hearing please, the 3 weekend, holiday staff housing. So you expect 4 people to come up on weekends -- 5 MR. STEINMETZ: Yeah. 6 MR. KESSLER: -- and certain religious 7 holidays? 8 MR. STEINMETZ: Correct. And that is 9 again, that is a number that it fluctuates. 10 There’s the capability of having these people 11 remain and stay as guests on campus. They don’t 12 come every weekend, they don’t want to come every 13 weekend. As you all either know or should know, a 14 staff member who arrives Friday late in the day 15 and remains for the Sabbath cannot, for religious 16 purposes, leave and drive off the campus from 17 Friday at sundown until Saturday at sundown. So 18 having a safe accommodation is what this is for. 19 And some of the older staff members, who 20 now will reside elsewhere and want to visit the 21 campus and see the students that they have been 22 training for some time and know, will want to be 23 able to come and experience the Sabbath on 24 campus. That’s been happening for decades at the Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 38 Page 38 1 January 6, 2026 2 yeshiva. So none of that’s changed. 3 MR. KESSLER: Yeah, and just to put a 4 fine point on it, you’re comfortable designating 5 the usage of each of the building as you’ve 6 designated them here? 7 MR. STEINMETZ: Yeah. I think that, the 8 answer to that is yes, we’re comfortable 9 designating the use. I want to say something that 10 I raised about ten minutes ago, and maybe saw 11 some eyebrows raised. We’re agreeing to a 320 12 cap. I can tell you that -- student cap, Rabbi 13 Rothberg would like the flexibility, if we can 14 get that flexibility in the R-2 Dallas building 15 to, if he decided that the older students, 40 of 16 them should be in that building, and 280 of them, 17 if we had maximum student occupancy, should be in 18 the new dormitory, that he as the executive 19 director should have the ability to do that. 20 Note, if he does that, he’s essentially 21 eliminating rooms that would otherwise be 22 available to visiting staff and guests. 23 But the 320 student cap I think is what 24 you all have been focused on, have signaled to us Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 39 Page 39 1 January 6, 2026 2 that you’re focused on, and you have a right to 3 do it and to ask. That should be the governing 4 issue, not whether we call Dallas the guest 5 building and we call Dodge City the primary 320 6 dormitory. 7 So you heard me saw that at a prior 8 meeting. It has been explained to me more 9 clearly. And again, Chana explained to me, both 10 buildings, I did this on the fly two months ago, 11 and I apparently was right. Both buildings are 12 constructed to the same R-2 classification. As 13 such, there is no use change. It’s sleeping 14 accommodations that are allowed. So, and that’s 15 different from the pool building which is going 16 to have families and firewalls dividing that 17 building. That is a different building with a 18 different use category. 19 MS. WEISZ: That is not a different use 20 category. It’s constructed in a way that it 21 doesn’t have fire separation between every 22 bedroom, it would be between every unit. 23 MR. STEINMETZ: Every unit. 24 MR. KESSLER: Do you file a report with Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 40 Page 40 1 January 6, 2026 2 the state on the student population periodically. 3 MR. STEINMETZ: Yes, beds and a FISP 4 report if I recall correctly, rabbi? No 5 [unintelligible] [00:37:39] we file annually with 6 the state in terms of students’ enrollment? 7 MR. YAKOV ROTHBERG: Yes. 8 MR. STEINMETZ: BEDS and FISP. 9 MR. ROTHBERG: BEDS and FISP. 10 MR. KESSLER: It’s an annual report? 11 MR. STEINMETZ: Yes. And that’s 12 something that you may remember from 15 years 13 ago. That’s when I learned it. But you had asked 14 that, that question was asked by the town 15 15 years ago, and every year, we have submitted BEDS 16 and FISP reports. 17 MR. KESSLER: Really, I’ve never seen 18 that. Have we seen those? 19 MR. STEINMETZ: No? 20 MR. KEHOE: No. 21 MR. KESSLER: Well, we should. 22 MR. STEINMETZ: We submit it to the 23 state. 24 MR. KESSLER: To the state? Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 41 Page 41 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. STEINMETZ: Yes. 3 MR. KESSLER: I thought we asked, I 4 thought we were going to get a copy of those 5 also? 6 MR. KEHOE: You might have gotten BEDS 7 reports earlier. 8 MR. ROTHBERG: Okay, so last time 9 around, the problem with the BEDS and the FISP is 10 it becomes quite confusing. The BEDS report is 11 the high school. FISP is the, is the seminary and 12 they, they’re filed at two different times of the 13 year. The 12th grade of the high school, for 14 example, halfway through the year, they become 15 part of the seminary. So they get -- if you’re 16 looking at a calendar year, they end up getting 17 counted twice, which happened last time and 18 they’re saying they have X amount, but if you 19 look at the BEDS and you look at the FISP, 20 there’s another 35 boys here, what’s going on. 21 And it gets to be confusing. Those are things 22 that we have to file, for regulatory reasons, 23 with the state and with the federal government. 24 It’s not our registration, you know, that doesn’t Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 42 Page 42 1 January 6, 2026 2 accurately depict the exact registration, if 3 that’s what you’re asking. 4 MR. KESSLER: Is there an actual 5 registration report that’s issued, that you issue 6 to any governing body? 7 MR. ROTHBERG: No. 8 MR. KESSLER: State body, nothing? 9 MR. ROTHBERG: It’s BEDS and FISP. 10 MR. KESSLER: Well we’re still, let’s, I 11 don’t want to shortchange the public here. Is 12 there anybody else from the public that wishes to 13 comment? Yeah, please come on up. 14 MR. BIANCHI: Before we leave the 15 subject, could I -- 16 MR. KESSLER: Tom, yeah, sure. 17 MR. BIANCHI: -- just to continue on 18 this one subject. 19 MR. KESSLER: You can come on up, 20 please. 21 MR. BIANCHI: There seems -- 22 MR. KESSLER: One second, please. Tom, 23 go ahead. 24 MR. BIANCHI: Just to continue on this Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 43 Page 43 1 January 6, 2026 2 subject, there seems to be two sizes of dorm 3 rooms. 298 square feet and a few that are 391 I 4 guess square feet. Could we get, include it maybe 5 on sheet D3, or D4, a typical layout -- 6 MS. WEISZ: There’s a few -- there are a 7 few rooms -- 8 MR. BIANCHI: -- of the room with four 9 and with five beds? 10 MS. WEISZ: I believe we’ve had a blowup 11 submitted at one point showing both 12 configurations. Some of the rooms are bigger 13 because they’re in the corners. 14 MR. BIANCHI: Right. 15 MS. WEISZ: So just to access the door 16 to the room. But we’ve submitted a layout for the 17 room with four and five beds I believe. 18 MR. BIANCHI: Are they in, in this 19 drawing packet? 20 MS. WEISZ: If they’re not in this one, 21 they’re in previous ones. We could resubmit 22 those. 23 MR. BIANCHI: Okay. Yeah, I’d like to 24 see that. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 44 Page 44 1 January 6, 2026 2 MS. WEISZ: Just practically, five was 3 the maximum number that made any sense for the 4 students to still have storage space. 5 MR. BIANCHI: You have show beds, desks, 6 chairs? 7 MS. WEISZ: Yes, exactly. We have a full 8 furniture closet. 9 MR. BIANCHI: And this may help the fire 10 department too, for that matter. 11 MS. WEISZ: Yes, furniture, closet, 12 desk, whatever it is for the students to store 13 their belongings. 14 MR. STEINMETZ: But you have those, 15 correct? They were, we did a whole architectural 16 layout submission. 17 MR. KEHOE: Previous? 18 MS. WEISZ: Yes, previously. 19 MR. KEHOE: Yeah, because the one that I 20 have currently have I don’t think has that. 21 MS. WEISZ: Yes, it may have been on a 22 previous -- it got so confusing when we were 23 showing four beds and we were talking about five, 24 that we removed it, but we can certainly -- Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 45 Page 45 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. STEINMETZ: It would be the October 3 submission. 4 MR. KEHOE: Okay. I’ll track that down, 5 and if I sent it to you all, I’ll let you know 6 that I sent it. 7 MS. WEISZ: Because we were showing the 8 layout with four not intending to be misleading 9 about the -- 10 MR. BIANCHI: It should be part of this 11 drawing set. 12 MS. WEISZ: -- potential for five, it 13 caused so much confusion that we -- 14 MR. STEINMETZ: Tom, I’m happy to make 15 sure that it’s part of the record. 16 MR. BIANCHI: It should be part of this 17 drawing set that was just sent out to us. 18 MR. STEINMETZ: Got it, no problem. 19 MR. BIANCHI: Okay, thank you. We can 20 continue with the -- I’m sorry, the public 21 hearing. 22 MR. KESSLER: Yes, please. 23 MS. LINDA MCMANN: Linda McMann, 14 24 Lakeview Avenue West. Good evening, chairperson Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 46 Page 46 1 January 6, 2026 2 and members of the board. Thank you for the 3 opportunity to speak this evening. I’ve been a 4 resident of this community for over 25 years and 5 live in close proximity to the subject property. 6 I am here to respectfully oppose this 7 application. My opposition is based entirely on 8 land use, environmental, fiscal and neighborhood 9 impact concerns, not the identity or mission of 10 the institution. 11 This property is located in an area that 12 is overwhelmingly single family residents in 13 character. Residents purchased homes here with 14 the reasonable expectation that future 15 development would reflect that character. The 16 proposed expansion, particularly a large multi- 17 story dormitory constructed in a brick and mortar 18 style is fundamentally inconsistent with the 19 surrounding neighborhood. 20 The existing buildings, dating back to 21 the property’s use as a dude ranch blend into the 22 area due to their scale, architecture and setback 23 from the road. An institutional structure that’s 24 proposed does not fit that character. Approving Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 47 Page 47 1 January 6, 2026 2 this amendment would permanently alter the visual 3 and functional character of the neighborhood in a 4 way that cannot be done. 5 The proposal requires a wetlands permit, 6 which raises serious concerns. Historically, this 7 property has experienced septic system failures, 8 including leaching that impacted Lake Rose and 9 the fields in front of the middle school. It took 10 years to remediate this problem, polluting these 11 areas the entire time. 12 These impacts demonstrate the site 13 conditions and sensitive and vulnerable. 14 Construction, especially in our near wetlands 15 creates a risk of contaminating Lake Rose and 16 middle school fields again. Any construction 17 errors or problems put public property and 18 children at risk. 19 Separately, it is important to note that 20 there are mature trees along the roadway. These 21 serve as a critical visual and environmental 22 buffer that helps soften the impact of the 23 existing buildings. If trees are removed, the 24 character of the street is permanently changed. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 48 Page 48 1 January 6, 2026 2 I’m not sure if the application adequately 3 addresses what trees on the property will be 4 removed, how long replacement landscaping would 5 take to mature, whether the neighborhood would be 6 exposed to direct views of large building 7 structures. 8 There’s also concerns regarding family 9 housing and the potential of school aged 10 children. If families reside on site and children 11 attend private schools, taxpayers are required to 12 fund the transportation of these students to the 13 private schools. This represents a direct cost to 14 the Hen-Hud taxpayers without any offsetting 15 community benefit. Speaking of community 16 benefits, this expansion provides no clear 17 benefit to the surrounding community. It does not 18 improve public infrastructure, aside from a few 19 who may tap into the new sewer line. It does not 20 expand public access and it does not contribute 21 meaningfully to the tax base. Instead, it risks 22 lowering surrounding property values, increasing 23 municipal service costs, setting a precedent for 24 continual expansion. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 49 Page 49 1 January 6, 2026 2 History suggests that approvals of this 3 nature are rarely the final request. Once 4 expanded, they will inevitably be pressured to 5 expand again until all available land is built 6 upon. Residents who currently live here accepted 7 living near the dude ranch buildings. They did 8 not agree to live next to large institutional 9 dormitories. 10 While I understand the desire of any 11 institution to grow, growth must occur in the 12 appropriate location. A one family residential 13 neighborhood with wetlands and small, narrow 14 roads is not that location. I ask the board to 15 consider this question. If this expansion were 16 proposed next to your home, or a block away from 17 your neighborhood, would you support it? 18 Respectfully, this proposal is not 19 suitable for this area and approving it would 20 have lasting negative impacts on environmental 21 safety, neighborhood character, municipal costs 22 and quality of life. Thank you for your time and 23 consideration. 24 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. [applause] Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 50 Page 50 1 January 6, 2026 2 MS. SHERI ANN COOK: Good evening ladies 3 and gentlemen of the town of Cortlandt planning 4 board. My name is Sheri Ann Cook, I live in the 5 town of Cortlandt, as you are all aware. I was 6 glad and hopeful with some of the discussions I 7 heard with the working session. I wanted to have 8 a couple of -- I have a couple of questions. One 9 is I am still waiting for my FOIL request from 10 the Department of Health, Westchester County, and 11 the Department of Homeland Security for the 12 grants that were applied. I would like to reserve 13 my rights to submit any documents that I receive 14 in response to those. Homeland Security isn’t 15 responding to me until January 28th, allegedly. 16 I’m still waiting for the Department of Health. 17 So I would like the, to reserve my right to 18 submit for the paperwork. 19 But I’m glad to see that some questions 20 that were raised have been addressed or discussed 21 and it seems that some things are still up for 22 debate. So I was pleased with hearing that. 23 My daughter went to Binghamton 24 University. Her first year was in dorms. Okay. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 51 Page 51 1 January 6, 2026 2 Five students in the room, two bedrooms. It was 3 insanity. While we can talk about maximum 4 capacity per room per building code, you have to 5 understand that these kids are going to be coming 6 in with all of the things that they have to live 7 their lives with. And while the building code 8 might be there, I don’t believe it might be 9 functional. It certainly wasn’t in my daughter’s 10 situation. There were two bedrooms, five 11 students, two students in two bedrooms, one 12 person had the pull out couch, which was the 13 community living space. It ended up being a 14 horror. So are there going to be separate 15 bedrooms with certain amount of students per 16 bedroom and a community living space? I mean is 17 that even been addressed or requested or 18 articulated? 19 MR. KESSLER: Well, they can respond if 20 they want. Why don’t you put all your questions 21 out there and -- 22 MS. COOK: With regard to their plans, 23 what I’m still hearing is they’re going to be 24 looking for eventual 320 students. But with the Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 52 Page 52 1 January 6, 2026 2 other buildings still being operational, what is 3 the total number of human beings to be on the 4 property at all times? Because maximum occupancy 5 about my understanding was 250 total was, was the 6 standard before this current petition. So I’m 7 unsure if that has been taken off the table. And 8 I’d like to know. And those were my questions, 9 but thank you for your time. 10 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. 11 MS. COOK: And thank you for your 12 consideration of everything. 13 MR. KESSLER: Okay. 14 MS. COOK: Good day. 15 MR. KESSLER: Anybody else wish to 16 speak? Yes. Well, it’s up to the applicant if 17 they wish to answer, but yeah. But please, come 18 on up. 19 MR. JOEL BENEDICT: Joel Benedict, 11 20 Lakeview West. I have some questions. Oh, there’s 21 Chris. Can someone tell me the difference between 22 the lot’s zoning designation and what a property 23 site class and a site class listed on the 24 property card is? What’s the difference between Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 53 Page 53 1 January 6, 2026 2 those? It’s in an R-40 class. If you look at the 3 property class -- 4 MR. MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM: R-40 is the 5 zoning district. 6 MR. BENEDICT: Is the zoning. But the 7 property site class is religious and property 8 class states religious. What’s the difference and 9 what are the implications to that? 10 MR. CUNNINGHAM: On the property card? 11 MR. BENEDICT: Yes. 12 MR. CUNNINGHAM: We can take a look at 13 that for next. I don’t know on the fly right now, 14 but we could take a look at that before the next 15 meeting. 16 MR. BENEDICT: All right. So it’s still 17 R-40. 18 MR. CUNNINGHAM: Mm-hmm. 19 MR. BENEDICT: That’s never changed. I 20 imagine there would be hearings if they were 21 going to try and change the zoning on the 22 property? 23 MR. KESSLER: That would be a town board 24 issue. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 54 Page 54 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. CUNNINGHAM: That would be the town 3 board. 4 MR. KESSLER: The town board changes 5 zoning. We do not. 6 MR. BENEDICT: Okay. Is this board still 7 lead agency on this matter? 8 MR. KESSLER: What’s that? 9 MR. BENEDICT: Are you still the -- 10 MR. KESSLER: Yes, we are the lead 11 agency, yes, yes. 12 MR. BENEDICT: You’re still the lead 13 agency. I previously inquired in writing about 14 the anticipated power requirements for these 15 buildings. I don’t know if we’re going to have 16 electric heat, electric hot water, oil heat, oil 17 water. How much of a drain is this going to be on 18 the infrastructure and what would be the cost of 19 improvements to satisfy that? How much power is 20 this place going to suck up from the 21 neighborhood? We don’t have the best utility 22 lines in the area, we’re subject to frequent 23 blackouts. Is there any solar component to the 24 plan? I don’t see any obviously solar panels and Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 55 Page 55 1 January 6, 2026 2 I’m wondering if there’s any battery storage 3 that’s going to be on, or if they do plan to do 4 solar. 5 The sewers, for years we’ve been talking 6 about putting in a four-inch sewer main. Now I 7 see it’s a six-inch main. When was that changed? 8 Who made that change and why was that change 9 made? 10 MR. KESSLER: It’s a town board issue, 11 not -- we don’t approve sewers. 12 MR. BENEDICT: So there’s no explanation 13 as to why this is there? How many sewer districts 14 in this town have four-inch mains and how many 15 have six-inch mains? 16 MR. CHRIS LAPINE: I think the main 17 you’re referring to is a force main. 18 MR. BENEDICT: Yeah, force main. 19 MR. LAPINE: Not the gravity main. 20 MR. BENEDICT: Yeah, how many, how many 21 districts have four-inch force mains and how many 22 have six-inch force mains? 23 MR. LAPINE: I couldn’t tell you. 24 MR. BENEDICT: And then how many people Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 56 Page 56 1 January 6, 2026 2 are serviced by each of those? 3 MR. LAPINE: I think in terms of a six- 4 inch force main, it’s based upon what an 5 anticipated flow is, based upon a sewer district 6 that would flow to it, and that’s probably how it 7 was sized accordingly. 8 MR. BENEDICT: So then they’re 9 anticipating a lot larger of a sewage flow than 10 what was originally called for? 11 MR. LAPINE: No, what I’m saying is if 12 it’s a six-inch force main -- 13 MR. BENEDICT: Yeah. 14 MR. LAPINE: -- based upon a certain 15 size of the sewer district. So if you, your sewer 16 district is not only this project area, it would 17 include a number of other parcels in the area 18 that may contribute to it. 19 MR. BENEDICT: That’s if anyone is going 20 to hook up to this, which is to me, to pay two to 21 three times as much to hook up to this sewer line 22 as opposed to getting a new sewage field and then 23 have the privilege of paying yearly taxes, I 24 really wonder how many people are going to be Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 57 Page 57 1 January 6, 2026 2 hooking up to this sewer line. 3 MR. LAPINE: I can only tell you from a 4 technical perspective why the line was sized. I 5 can’t speak to the cost implications of 6 connecting to it versus your sewer. That was a 7 town board action. But, you know, obviously, to 8 go from four to six is typically proper planning 9 for future use, if people do decide they want to 10 connect to it. 11 MR. BENEDICT: Well let’s say like Red 12 Oak sewer district. 13 MR. LAPINE: I’m sorry, if you could 14 repeat. 15 MR. BENEDICT: The Red Oak sewer 16 district. 17 MR. LAPINE: Okay. 18 MR. BENEDICT: Does that got a four-inch 19 force main? 20 MR. LAPINE: I could not tell you off 21 the top of my head. I’m a consultant engineer. 22 I’m not in the sanitary department. 23 MR. BENEDICT: Can someone tell me how a 24 sewer district is financed? Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 58 Page 58 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. KESSLER: We’re here -- 3 MR. CUNNINGHAM: By the users, but I 4 mean that’s not an issue before the planning 5 board right now. 6 MR. KESSLER: The issue here is not the 7 sewer district, obviously. 8 MR. BENEDICT: The issue here is the 9 expansion and the cost that’s going to be borne 10 by the residents of the town of Cortlandt. 11 MR. KESSLER: My understanding, and 12 again, this was a town board decision to create 13 the sewer district and build the sewer, which was 14 done, I’m understanding without town funds. Is 15 that correct? 16 MR. CUNNINGHAM: There was one, the town 17 board only attributed 500,000 so others on the 18 route could connect, because that led to some 19 design differences then if it was just the 20 yeshiva being able to connect into the county 21 infrastructure. 22 MR. KESSLER: They, you know, I can make 23 a joke here. 24 MR. CUNNINGHAM: Besides that, I mean Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 59 Page 59 1 January 6, 2026 2 the only user right now on the sewer improvement 3 area is the yeshiva, so they’re bearing all 4 costs. 5 MR. BENEDICT: So if there’s only one 6 user in that sewer district, they’ve got to pay 7 the whole cost. 8 MR. CUNNINGHAM: They pay all the costs. 9 MR. BENEDICT: Pay the whole cost for -- 10 MR. CUNNINGHAM: They’re paying the 11 whole cost and -- 12 MR. BENEDICT: -- the pump house. 13 MR. KESSLER: Right. 14 MR. BENEDICT: They pay labor. 15 MR. CUNNINGHAM: They’re paying the 16 whole cost. 17 MR. BENEDICT: Everything like that. 18 MR. CUNNINGHAM: They put up escrow 19 payments, they put up almost a million dollars to 20 start, plus they have to pay all the financing 21 costs. 22 MR. LAPINE: And the ONM. 23 MR. BENEDICT: I have heard several 24 times, it’s 19 years we’ve been doing this. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 60 Page 60 1 January 6, 2026 2 Steven and Tom, you’ve been here the whole time. 3 MR. KESSLER: Yep. 4 MR. BENEDICT: I’m constantly hearing, I 5 know the student cap isn’t going to be 6 [unintelligible] [00:55:53]. But I’m constantly 7 hearing that that student cap was based upon 8 sewage requirements. That was never based on 9 sewage requirements. That was an accepted number 10 based upon FISP and there was BEDS reports. 11 That’s how that number came up. It had nothing to 12 do with we were limited to this many students 13 because of a sewage cap. That’s totally false. 14 There’s been no pushback on that at all. 15 It’s always been about a density issue. Has any 16 other proposal for this site been given to the 17 board? Have we seen plans for a smaller building? 18 No. 19 MR. KESSLER: They, we are evaluating 20 what they proposed. That’s what they proposed. 21 MR. BENEDICT: I think the building 22 needs to be smaller than it’s proposed as now. 23 There would be one legal way to limit the number 24 of students that could be in this building. It’s Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 61 Page 61 1 January 6, 2026 2 by reducing the number of rooms. I also see 3 there’s a big push to get the wetlands re- 4 designated. Is that merely because we’re inching 5 into the buffer zone, or is it for some 6 alternative future plans? 7 MR. KESSLER: The plans are the plans. 8 Future plans would come back to this board. If 9 there was any change to what they’re proposing -- 10 suppose we’d approve this tonight, which we’re 11 not. But if we were, if there were any changes to 12 that plan, they would have to come back and 13 reapply to this board for an amended site plan. 14 So what we’re evaluating tonight is exactly what 15 they proposed, with the changes that have taken 16 place over these many months based upon 17 discussions with the planning staff and the 18 technical staff, you know, which led to a number 19 of changes that Dave outlined tonight and there 20 are other changes that were made in previous 21 meetings in terms of encroachment on the wetlands 22 and other things, reducing the scale of some 23 buildings, like the sanctuary. So there were 24 other changes that were made based upon Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 62 Page 62 1 January 6, 2026 2 discussions with staff and the applicant. And now 3 we have the latest revised plans and that’s what 4 we’re discussing together with of course the 5 student cap, which is obviously a key issue. 6 MR. LAPINE: And the wetlands that 7 you’re referring to, I think what you’re 8 referencing is that they’re DEC wetlands? 9 MR. BENEDICT: Yes. 10 MR. LAPINE: Yes. And that was due to 11 the DEC site visit and flagging of the wetlands. 12 MR. BENEDICT: And they want to reduce 13 the size of the wetlands? 14 MR. LAPINE: What you’re seeing on the 15 plans is based upon the DEC’s field visit and 16 flagging of the wetlands. 17 MR. BENEDICT: But there’s a push to 18 reduce the wetlands. 19 MR. KESSLER: To remove encroachment 20 into the wetlands. 21 MR. LAPINE: That’s what the applicant 22 said at the last meeting. 23 MR. BENEDICT: I know what they said at 24 the last meeting. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 63 Page 63 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. LAPINE: The DEC, and it’s reflected 3 on their plans, that they were asked to remove 4 some of the encroachments within the buffer. 5 MR. BENEDICT: All right. There’s no 6 plans to close this hearing tonight? 7 MR. KESSLER: No. 8 MR. BENEDICT: Okay. So the loophole, 9 you don’t want to get into that? We’re not. I’ll 10 save it for another day. 11 MR. KESSLER: No. 12 MR. BENEDICT: I will save that for 13 another time then. Thank you. 14 MR. KESSLER: Okay. Thank you. Anybody 15 else wish to comment? Come on up. 16 MR. JOHN DEBENEDICTUS: Good evening, 17 John Debenedictus. I am still unclear as to who 18 is going to live in this thing? In other words, 19 the instructor ratio of instructor to students 20 and family living situations and how many, and 21 how does that change as the number of students 22 increases, which, I mean the way I’m 23 understanding it and I could be wrong on this 24 one, you’re not going to have much to do with the Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 64 Page 64 1 January 6, 2026 2 capping of this. So as, if it increases in 3 student population what is the ratio? I mean is 4 it, you know, is there ten students to an 5 instructor? 6 And I know, I think I heard this right, 7 but, you know, sometimes I may not have. It 8 happens once in a while. But it seems like Mr. 9 Steinmetz said they would be younger instructors, 10 so of the impression I got, you know, that they 11 wouldn’t have a family. Well, that works for a 12 while, but young instructors get married, okay. 13 And are they going to live there? And what 14 happens to their families? And as you go down the 15 road, and I asked the question last meeting, what 16 happens to the children in this family situation? 17 And I’m not clear as to how many people or 18 families, units, are going to live there? And 19 what happens with the increase in students as it 20 goes along? 21 Because I don’t know, again, I’m not a 22 legal eagle or nothing. But we talk, I’ve, you 23 know, there’s a lot of talk about what New York 24 State says you’ve got to have, you’ve got to Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 65 Page 65 1 January 6, 2026 2 have. I also think New York State says you’ve got 3 to educate children, okay. And if there was young 4 children there, or middle school children, I 5 don’t know what age they are, I would think that 6 the state would say you have to educate these 7 people. 8 And it runs back to what I said last 9 time at the meeting. Those of us who are 10 strapped, living in the Hendrick Hudson school 11 district, which is completely out of control, it 12 doesn’t take a lot of students to go in there and 13 have it, the budget go sky high, okay. All you’ve 14 got to do is have one kid walk in there, it hits 15 the cap, and now you’ve got another teacher that 16 has to be hired. And if you have two or three, I 17 mean we, you know, it just snowballs. 18 So like I say, I don’t seem to have a 19 good handle as to how many families, quote, are 20 going to live there and the size of those 21 families and what happens to the children? And 22 like I said, if you’re strapped living in the 23 Hendrick Hudson school district, this is 24 something you want to know, because they’re out Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 66 Page 66 1 January 6, 2026 2 of control as it is and I don’t think that’s been 3 addressed here, tonight. 4 MR. KESSLER: Okay. Thank you. 5 MR. DEBENEDICTUS: Okay. I mean that’s 6 it. I don’t, I haven’t heard is there going to be 7 for every 250 students, are there 15 instructors, 8 are there 20 instructors? 9 MR. KESSLER: Okay. 10 MR. DEBENEDICTUS: And are they going to 11 live there? I mean, I’ve had to put three kids 12 through college. And I’ve yet to have, you know, 13 any one of those schools house the instructors, 14 okay. And, you know, so this here now is you’re 15 setting up to have instructors live there, and 16 again, I repeat and I don’t want to keep 17 repeating it, but that means families. And 18 families mean children and children mean schools 19 and that means a district like Hendrick Hudson 20 will just want to build another school district 21 for that. I mean they’re crazy over there. So, 22 again, that hasn’t, in my opinion, it hasn’t been 23 addressed and you haven’t, you haven’t gotten a 24 real answer on that. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 67 Page 67 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. KESSLER: Okay, thank you. 3 MR. DEBENEDICTUS: I’d like to know. 4 MR. KESSLER: Okay. I mean -- 5 MR. DEBENEDICTUS: Thank you. 6 MR. KESSLER: -- in a second, I will 7 rephrase your question and ask it. 8 MR. DEBENEDICTUS: I’m sorry? 9 MR. KESSLER: I’ll rephrase your 10 question and ask it in a minute once we hear from 11 everybody else. 12 MR. DEBENEDICTUS: Thank you. 13 MR. ROBERT McMANN: Yes, good evening. 14 My name is Robert McMann. I live at 14 Lakeview 15 Avenue West and I’m objecting to the proposed 16 expansion of the Yeshiva Ohr Hameir and 17 requesting that the planning board deny the 18 application based on a documented history of 19 inconsistent representations, unresolved 20 infrastructure impacts and clear public safety 21 concerns. 22 Over the course of many years, the 23 applicant has made varying and inconsistent 24 representations to the town regarding the number Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 68 Page 68 1 January 6, 2026 2 of students housed at the property and the 3 intensity of its use. A review of prior planning 4 board minutes and application materials reflects 5 ongoing disagreement and the lack of clarity 6 concerning actual onsite residency levels. These 7 discrepancies raise serious concerns about 8 whether prior approvals were granted based on 9 complete and accurate information and whether 10 current representations can be relied upon. 11 Despite these unresolved issues, the 12 applicant is now seeking approval for additional 13 residential housing as part of a proposed 14 expansion. Allowing new dormitory or residential 15 facilities before the town has conclusively 16 determined existing compliance would effectively 17 reward past ambiguity and eliminate meaningful 18 oversight of occupancy levels. Residential 19 housing is not an incidental issue. It directly 20 drives population density, traffic, 21 infrastructure demand and neighborhood impact in 22 a district zoned primarily for single family 23 residential use. 24 In addition, the board must address the Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 69 Page 69 1 January 6, 2026 2 ongoing public safety impacts that already exist 3 under the current operations. On Saturdays, large 4 numbers of students regularly walk along local 5 residential roads outside the yeshiva grounds. 6 These roads are narrow, curving and lack 7 sidewalks. The volume of pedestrian traffic under 8 these conditions creates a foreseeable and 9 ongoing safety hazard for both pedestrians and 10 motorists. Any expansion that increases onsite 11 residency will necessarily intensify this risk, 12 yet no adequate mitigation has been demonstrated. 13 Compounding these concerns is the 14 current sewer installation project associated 15 with the yeshiva. Public roads have been 16 excavated and to date, have been inadequately 17 repaved. The condition of the roadways reflect 18 substandard restoration and raises additional 19 safety concerns. It’s inappropriate to consider 20 expansion while the infrastructure work tied 21 directly to the applicant’s use remains 22 incomplete, poorly executed and unacceptable. 23 The planning board is obligated to 24 ensure that the special use approvals are based Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 70 Page 70 1 January 6, 2026 2 on accurate information, the conditions are 3 enforceable and that public safety is protected. 4 The record here demonstrates unresolved 5 compliance, questions ongoing adverse impacts and 6 a pattern of expanding intensity before prior 7 obligations are fully satisfied. 8 So for these reasons, I respectfully 9 request that the planning board deny the proposed 10 expansion application, decline to approve 11 additional residential or dormitory housing, 12 required a fully accounting and verification of 13 existing onsite residency levels and require 14 complete, permanent and town-approved restoration 15 of all impacted roadways before entertaining any 16 future expansion proposals, and to fully evaluate 17 pedestrian and traffic safety impacts under both 18 the current conditions before considering any 19 increase in use. So thank you for your 20 consideration and for ensuring that zoning 21 standards and public safety protections are 22 meaningfully enforced. Thank you. 23 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. [applause] Any 24 other comments from the public? Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 71 Page 71 1 January 6, 2026 2 MS. VALERIE FRISCIA: Good evening. My 3 name is Valerie Friscia. I reside at 19 Shaw 4 Highway and I oppose the expansion of -- the 5 removal of the special cap. I know that you’re 6 discussing that they’re voluntarily going to keep 7 256. The lack of their adhering to the cap has 8 caused the problems that exist today. Their 9 septic system failed. Their septic system failed 10 due to the lack of adhering to the number of 11 students that resided there. And this septic 12 system is being replaced by their sewer. And this 13 sewer has been a terrible disruption to the 14 community, and we are now left with uneven roads 15 and potholes that we have to get through, through 16 the winter until they complete this project in 17 the spring. 18 I think that the biggest thing is that 19 the lack of communication that this sewer project 20 was going to be done, that we were told four 21 months after the fact that the sewer was being, 22 was happening. We already knew that because we 23 see the construction. On Lafayette is a parking 24 lot of huge machinery that we have to drive past Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 72 Page 72 1 January 6, 2026 2 and look at. I just thank God I don’t live next 3 door to them. 4 I don’t oppose the yeshiva being in 5 existence. I think it’s wonderful that they are 6 religious and that they want to instruct young 7 men to have a strong foundation in religion. I 8 really believe everyone should have some kind of 9 religious basis. 10 What I do oppose is the impact on the 11 community. The traffic studies, we need traffic 12 studies, the septic has ruined our wetlands, and 13 I want a guarantee, you know, that they’re not 14 going to build something else on this property 15 later on. 16 The other thing is that I think the 17 building is way out of sorts for the area. I 18 think it’s way too big. The middle school, it’s 19 almost the size of the middle school, which is 20 right next door. I want to know what the traffic 21 studies are going to be. I’d like to know if 22 anybody visited the site as it is right now and 23 gone into the dormitories and guaranteed that 24 these young men are safe as it is right now, you Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 73 Page 73 1 January 6, 2026 2 know, that there’s no fire hazard and I mean I’ve 3 met them on the street. They’re lovely young men. 4 I haven’t, I’m not opposed to them. You know, 5 they chit-chat, they’re very friendly. They’re 6 very nice, you know. I’m concerned about their 7 safety, you know. Are they safe in where they’re 8 living right now? 9 The other thing is that their septic 10 failed in 2006. So while we’re waiting for this 11 sewer to be installed and their septic has 12 failed, where is their waste products going? So, 13 I’m trying to keep this brief, because I know 14 everyone has, everyone that has spoken already, 15 you know, I firmly support, you know, that the 16 town stays on top of this. 17 I recently received a fine for $100 18 because I put in a driveway without getting a 19 permit. I had no idea I needed one. My neighbor 20 also got a fine. So we as residents do what we 21 have to do. I was wrong. I came, I paid my fine. 22 And I expected the same thing to be upheld 23 throughout the community. And their institution 24 is the only institution that has people living Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 74 Page 74 1 January 6, 2026 2 there. There’s other churches in the area. They 3 do not have residents. So, with that being said, 4 I really hope that you’re going to give this 5 serious thought and really look into this. Thank 6 you. 7 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. [applause] 8 Anybody else wish to speak? So David, a question. 9 Again, going back to the population table and to 10 what Mr. Benedict has said, currently you have 11 nine staff members there for 217 students. You’re 12 proposing, if you take out the weekend and 13 holiday staff, which I presume are not part of 14 the staffing, you still have nine people for 320 15 people. So you’re saying that you’re existing 16 staff, well, not you, but the rabbi, you’re 17 saying the existing staff of nine people for 217 18 people is sufficient to teach, instruct 320 19 people? 20 MR. STEINMETZ: I’ll let the rabbi 21 respond to that. 22 MR. ROTHBERG: Good evening once again. 23 No, we have traveling staff members as well, that 24 come every day. So we have currently three that Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 75 Page 75 1 January 6, 2026 2 live on site, three staff members with their 3 spouses that live on site. There are instructors, 4 rabbis. We’re proposing for three more on site. 5 And then there will be, there’s also continuous - 6 - there’s about I think roughly 28 or 29, I 7 forget the exact number, it should be on this 8 table, 28 or 29 staff members that commute daily 9 at different times of the day, some in the 10 morning, some in the afternoon, some in the 11 evening. They’re not all there at the same time, 12 but those would be the rest of instructing staff. 13 MR. STEINMETZ: Approximately how many 14 additional staff, if any, as a result of the 15 increase in student cap? 16 MR. ROTHBERG: I don’t think any, as of 17 now, no. 18 MR. STEINMETZ: I think that was really 19 the question. 20 MR. ROTHBERG: No, there’s no. 21 MR. KESSLER: Okay. So now again, we’re 22 back to not having complete information here I’m 23 sorry to say. So you have three, you have three 24 instructors that come in traveling every day? Is Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 76 Page 76 1 January 6, 2026 2 that what I’m hearing? 3 MR. ROTHBERG: We have, right now, what 4 we -- okay. Currently, we have three instructors 5 living on campus. We are proposing for another 6 three instructors to move on campus. 7 MR. KESSLER: Okay. 8 MR. ROTHBERG: But in addition to that, 9 we have roughly 28 staff members that commute 10 daily, some in the morning, some in the afternoon 11 and some of them in the evening. Some of that is, 12 you know, cleaning staff, but for the most part 13 it’s instructors that teach at different times of 14 the day. This is a very long day, some in the 15 morning, some in the afternoon, some at night. So 16 with the new three homes that we’re proposing for 17 three of the instructors, that would bring down 18 the traveling staff by three. 19 MR. KESSLER: The three existing staff 20 members are in Dakota, that live there? 21 MR. ROTHBERG: Two live in Texas, and 22 one lives in Dakota. 23 MR. KESSLER: Two live in, Texas is 24 listed as your residence? Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 77 Page 77 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. STEINMETZ: That’s, no, that’s Rabbi 3 Kanarek. 4 MR. ROTHBERG: That’s Rabbi Kanarek. 5 MR. KESSLER: Okay. 6 MR. STEINMETZ: There’s one there, 7 there’s two in the other, and now there would be 8 three in the new pool -- in the revised pool 9 building. 10 MR. KESSLER: In the revised pool 11 building. 12 MR. ROTHBERG: The Dakota has two. 13 MR. STEINMETZ: Correct. 14 MR. ROTHBERG: No, Texas has two. Dakota 15 has one, I’m sorry. 16 MR. KESSLER: Texas has two, Dakota has 17 one, three are going in there. But you also said 18 you are going to have three new ones. 19 MR. ROTHBERG: In the pool building. 20 MR. STEINMETZ: When you just said three 21 going in there, that’s the, that’s the pool 22 building. 23 MR. KESSLER: And the others stay where 24 they are in Dakota and Texas? Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 78 Page 78 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. STEINMETZ: Correct. 3 MR. ROTHBERG: Correct. 4 MR. KESSLER: Got it. Okay. 5 MR. KOBASA: And then you have 6 approximately -- 7 MR. KESSLER: And then you have 28 staff 8 commuting currently? 9 MR. ROTHBERG: At different times, 10 correct. 11 MR. KESSLER: Which is not shown 12 anywhere here, correct? 13 MR. STEINMETZ: Because they don’t 14 reside there. 15 MR. ROTHBERG: Right. They don’t reside 16 on campus. It was shown on a chart, I think 17 Heather asked for how much traveling staff we 18 have at the last technical meeting. 19 MR. KESSLER: And then there’s parking 20 shown on the plans for those 28 staff 21 sufficiently I would think. 22 MR. STEINMETZ: Yes, because they’re not 23 all there at the same time, and we’ve never had a 24 parking, anyone who has ever visited the campus Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 79 Page 79 1 January 6, 2026 2 knows there’s never a parking issue. 3 MR. KESSLER: Okay. 4 MR. STEINMETZ: None of the students 5 have cars. 6 MR. KESSLER: So the 28 staff, what is 7 that two shifts, three shifts? 8 MR. ROTHBERG: I would characterize it 9 as three shifts. 10 MR. KESSLER: Three shifts, okay. Okay. 11 That was my question. Any -- 12 MR. STEINMETZ: Mr. Chairman, I want to 13 just respond. You had asked some of the public to 14 finish their comments. I just wanted to respond 15 to some of them. 16 MR. KESSLER: Oh, I’m sorry, thank you 17 for reminding me. 18 MR. STEINMETZ: I think it would be 19 useful for the record. In no particular, probably 20 in reverse order, the last speaker, and I didn’t 21 get Valerie’s last name, I apologize. There was a 22 reference to not adhering to the cap. I want to 23 just state categorically for the record, in the 24 15 years that I’ve been involved in this matter, Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 80 Page 80 1 January 6, 2026 2 never once, never once has there been an 3 allegation or an assertion by the town that there 4 was a failure to adhere to the cap. So I don’t 5 know where that information comes from, but I 6 don’t want the record to contain false 7 information. 8 MS. FASCIA: No, but that was -- 9 MR. STEINMETZ: In terms of traffic 10 studies, we submitted information to the town 11 about the number of commuters and the number of 12 vehicles and there are no students that drive. In 13 terms of Mr. McMann’s comments, and hers as well, 14 I think the record needs to be clear, that the 15 sewer work -- 16 MR. KESSLER: Please. 17 MR. STEINMETZ: Thank you. That the 18 sewer work is all being done not by the yeshiva, 19 it’s being done by the town and the town’s 20 contractor. It is a public process and a public 21 bid project. And it is being supervised by the 22 town and its professionals. The infrastructure 23 work may be incomplete, but it’s underway at a 24 substantial expense to the yeshiva. And whoever Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 81 Page 81 1 January 6, 2026 2 said it, I think it might have been maybe one of 3 the staff people, it might have been Mr. 4 Cunningham, at the moment, the entire cost of 5 that, servicing that bond by that sewer district 6 falls solely on the yeshiva until such time as 7 anyone else joins that district. 8 My understanding and I would defer to 9 Chris Lapine and others, and Katie, my 10 understanding from my involvement in this is that 11 the town, its professionals and the county health 12 department required the sizing of that pipe. So 13 the six-inch pipe was not something that the 14 yeshiva said hey, let’s spend even more money and 15 have a six-inch pipe. It was foist upon this 16 project by a series of professionals. 17 And in terms of public safety, we keep 18 hearing this issue about students walking and 19 obviously public safety is as important to the 20 yeshiva as it is to the town and the community. 21 We appreciate the fact that the town has finally 22 and recently installed signage on Furnace Woods 23 Road indicating that there’s a school zone in 24 that area. And that’s something that probably was Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 82 Page 82 1 January 6, 2026 2 a long time coming and we all probably should 3 have dealt with that. The town has now 4 implemented that. 5 And my understanding is that the yeshiva 6 is prepared, Mr. Chairman and members of the 7 board, and this is the first time you’re hearing 8 this, because I don’t think I put this in my 9 written submission, we are, the yeshiva is 10 prepared to fund the installation of one of those 11 speed signs on Furnace Woods Road that would be 12 solar powered and indicate when folks in the 13 community might be driving along those winding 14 roads a little quicker than maybe they should be, 15 so happy to deal with that. 16 In terms of Mr. Debenedictis’ question, 17 I think we got an answer to the ratio to the 18 ratio of students to instructors. But the only 19 thing I would mention is in terms of school 20 children, if this property were developed in 21 accordance with the R-40 within which it is 22 located and houses were built and students were 23 residing in those houses, I think there would be 24 a far, far, far greater impact to the Hen-Hud Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 83 Page 83 1 January 6, 2026 2 school district than the zero number of students 3 who will matriculate in the Hen-Hud school 4 district as a result of -- 5 MR. KEHOE: David, I think that was 6 mentioned last meeting as well. I just want to 7 clear that up. I think what the question is would 8 staff members at the yeshiva have children that 9 would attend the public school system. 10 MR. ROTHBERG: No. And the three staff 11 members that are currently residing on campus all 12 had large families years ago, 40 years ago when 13 we moved on to the -- when we moved into 14 Cortlandt. None of their children attended the 15 school system. They have gone to Monsey, Mt. 16 Kisco, wherever they’ve gone and our, we took 17 care of that. Nothing on the town, no busing, 18 none of that, none of that, and none of that is 19 proposed right now either. 20 MR. STEINMETZ: When you say you took 21 care of that, no busing, you mean it was all -- 22 MR. ROTHBERG: It was all the yeshiva 23 that took care of it. We pay for our own 24 transportation, yes. There’s nothing on the town. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 84 Page 84 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. STEINMETZ: And I was going to ask 3 that and I appreciate getting that cleared up. 4 So, the school issue is sort of a bit of a red 5 herring. On the issue of the reduction of the 6 wetlands, Steve will correct me if I’m wrong, 7 that came from the town’s wetland consultant. 8 That was the town’s wetland consultant who came 9 out and said I actually think the wetlands have 10 gotten smaller in the last 15 years. That 11 differed from what the DEC said. The DEC was more 12 conservative. But the notion of the reduction in 13 the wetland line, and we talked about that 14 probably three meetings ago, four or five months 15 ago, that was Paul Jaehnig’s re-designation of 16 the line. And I just wanted the record to be 17 clear about that. 18 Another comment that was made by Ms. 19 Cook was about a total number of 250 people. The 20 existing special permit that we have today is for 21 225 students and 75 staff and family members, for 22 a total of 300. And the other thing that I 23 probably should have stated at the outset, 24 especially for folks who spoke tonight who may Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 85 Page 85 1 January 6, 2026 2 not have been here at prior meetings, this is an 3 application for an amended site plan approval. We 4 have, and have had for 15 years, approval to 5 build the dormitory building. I see the chair 6 nodding. The chair obviously knows. He voted in 7 favor of that 15 years ago. We went through the 8 SEQR process 15 years ago. We went through the 9 site plan review process 15 years ago. We went 10 through the special permit review 15 years ago. 11 So why are we back? We’re back as I 12 said, and you’ve heard it, but I’ve got to say it 13 again for people who may not have heard it, 14 because the night I got my approval, the vice 15 chairman of the planning board said don’t build 16 the onsite sewage treatment plant, please try to 17 build a sewer line. And we have spent ten years 18 working with the county, the town, the state, 19 trying to effectuate the improvement in this 20 section of Cortlandt with a sewer line that may 21 well service 135 other properties that are 22 currently on the same aged and aging septic 23 systems that the yeshiva is on. So we’re really 24 pleased that the town chose to do it. And we are Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 86 Page 86 1 January 6, 2026 2 unfortunately saddled with all of the expense for 3 the time being. So that having been said, Mr. 4 Chairman, we are happy to answer any further 5 questions. I know the public hearing is going to 6 be held over. 7 MR. KESSLER: Yes. 8 MR. STEINMETZ: I understand Mr. Bianchi 9 asked for some information from the architect. 10 You’ve all provided us with some questions. I 11 believe we’ve answered the fire issue, but we 12 need to confirm that with the fire chief, and I 13 will look forward to working with Katie to try to 14 effectuate that as soon as possible and certainly 15 before the February meeting. And I did hear 16 Chris’ lamentation earlier about they’re going to 17 get us a memo and we’re going to have to respond 18 to the memo and it’ll come in right about at the 19 same time as the meeting. As soon as you can 20 possibly, all of you, provide us with any more 21 technical information and comments, our team will 22 be charged by the yeshiva to deal with that as 23 soon as possible and get that back to all of you. 24 And I hope at the February meeting, we’re able to Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 87 Page 87 1 January 6, 2026 2 answer your questions and you all have enough 3 time to study that. We appreciate your time, we 4 appreciate your patience. And Mr. Chairman, I 5 look forward to working with staff and with the 6 town attorney’s office to see if we can tease out 7 the details of the student cap issue, which I 8 understand is important to your board. 9 MR. KESSLER: Yeah. 10 MR. LAPINE: David, there was one 11 comment. 12 MR. KESSLER: It’s important to the 13 residents as well. 14 MR. STEINMETZ: Understood. 15 MR. KESSLER: Not just this board. And 16 this board is reflecting the concerns of the 17 residents, so let’s be clear. 18 MR. STEINMETZ: I see the reflection. 19 MR. KESSLER: Good. 20 MR. LAPINE: There was one comment from 21 the public, if you were considering solar for 22 this project. 23 MR. STEINMETZ: Chana, or anyone? Any 24 solar installation? Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 88 Page 88 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. ROTHBERG: We’re willing to look 3 into it. 4 MR. STEINMETZ: We’ll respond in writing 5 in our next submission. I think we are looking 6 into it, we do have flat room capability. I will, 7 I hear the question. 8 MR. LAPINE: I know there’s a study that 9 you have to do, an economics study for it and it 10 takes a little time, that’s why I was just asking 11 the question -- 12 MR. STEINMETZ: Understood. 13 MR. LAPINE: -- because someone brought 14 it up. 15 MR. STEINMETZ: Yeah. 16 MR. KESSLER: Okay. Any last questions 17 from the staff or the board? 18 MR. KOBASA: No, I’m good. 19 MR. KESSLER: No? Great. So let’s move 20 on. Karen? 21 MS. TIMKO: Hi, I’d like to make a 22 motion regarding the application of the Yeshiva 23 Ohr Hameir to adjourn this matter to the February 24 3, 2026 planning board meeting. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 89 Page 89 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. Hope to see you 3 all then. Can I have a second please? 4 MR. KOBASA: Second. 5 MR. KESSLER: And on the question, all 6 in favor? 7 MULTIPLE: Aye. 8 MR. KESSLER: Opposed? Thank you. All 9 right. Wow. 10 (CROSSTALK) 11 MR. KESSLER: Okay, let’s, if we can, 12 let’s move on. Our next item is another public 13 hearing. It’s a brand new public hearing. It’s 14 the application of VS Construction Corporation 15 for site plan approval and for tree, wetland and 16 steep slope permits for a proposed 96,860 17 assisted living facility located in the Medical 18 Oriented District at 2003 Crompond Road, drawings 19 latest revised November 20, 2025. Mr. Steinmetz, 20 good evening again. 21 MR. STEINMETZ: Good evening, Mr. 22 Chairman and members of the board. David 23 Steinmetz here on behalf of VS Construction and 24 one of the critical lots in their Evergreen Manor Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 90 Page 90 1 January 6, 2026 2 proposed subdivision to be developed, as you 3 indicated, by an assisted living provider. This 4 is not the first time we’ve talked about this 5 particular issue. But we’re really pleased to be 6 here tonight, specifically with regard to 7 proposed future lot one, which is in the south, 8 the northwest, northeast corner of the Evergreen 9 Manor property, which is within the medical 10 oriented district. 11 The proposal is for one of the 12 preeminent providers of assisted living and 13 senior care in the region, Benchmark Senior 14 Living. And I’m pleased that Eric Gardner, one of 15 the principals of Benchmark Senior Living, along 16 with his project architect, Michael Stein, are 17 present. We have talked about this previously. 18 I’m going to let Matt Steinberg from our project 19 engineering and planning firm go through the 20 details. But we are here to present a state of 21 the art senior assisted living residence of 100 22 units, 118 beds. We have provided you with a 23 number of materials throughout the last several 24 months. There is, continues to be strong demand Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 91 Page 91 1 January 6, 2026 2 in the Cortlandt area for a state of the art 3 modern assisted living facility. 4 This is not skilled nursing care. This 5 is an assisted living residence, which provides 6 assistance with the activities of daily living, 7 distribution of medication, assisting folks who 8 may need work with dressing, toileting, 9 activities can be conducted in terms of fitness, 10 meals, congregating within the building. This is 11 a rental model program and this is not 12 Benchmark’s first rodeo. They have a substantial 13 number of facilities and residences throughout 14 the northeast, are very excited to enter the 15 Cortlandt market. 16 And the only other thing I will say and 17 kind of hand it off to Matt, we presented this 18 application initially, or the proposal of the 19 location of this building, we walked the property 20 with a number of you several months ago. Comments 21 were provided by your board about the location of 22 the building, its importance relative to Route 23 202 and the entrance to this subdivision. And 24 together, DTS and Eric’s team were able to modify Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 92 Page 92 1 January 6, 2026 2 the building’s orientation. We think it works 3 better. We think it’s far more attractive and I 4 will let Matt talk about those details. 5 MR. MATT STEINBERG: Good evening, DTS 6 Provident. So as David mentioned, so this project 7 is located along Crompond, the Crompond Road 8 portion of the Evergreen Manor site. The, it’s 9 approximately six acres of the site. The building 10 is pulled to the front of the site, near Crompond 11 Road, which is consistent with the MOD zoning and 12 what was reviewed during the SEQR process, the 13 extensive SEQR process. And the site is largely 14 influenced by the site’s topography and a number 15 of zoning constraints. 16 One of the key ones is the 100 foot non- 17 disturbance buffer along the eastern side of the 18 property. As you can see, it might be a little 19 hard to see, but that strip along that side of 20 the property is 100 foot non-disturbance area, 21 that the trees within that area will be 22 preserved. 23 The steepest sections of the site are 24 within that eastern portion of the site and then Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 93 Page 93 1 January 6, 2026 2 on the western side, along the proposed Evergreen 3 Manor roadway. The elevations of the site go from 4 approximately elevation 350 near the Crompond 5 Road intersection of Evergreen Manor to about 430 6 along the eastern property line. So you can get a 7 sense of the topographic change. By pulling that 8 building forward, it gives us a chance to place 9 that parking to the rear and side of the 10 building. 11 As David mentioned, one of the other 12 redesigns that we went through was to move the 13 loading area to that rear portion behind the 14 building as well. So essentially the building 15 screens the parking and the loading. Access would 16 be from the Evergreen Manor roadway. You can see 17 it, it’s sort of at the top of this screen. That 18 provides access to the parking lot, to a covered 19 entryway at the back of the building, which 20 essentially is the main entrance to the site, a 21 series of sidewalks that would connect to the 22 rest of the Evergreen Manor development, along 23 with a series of outdoor patios and garden spaces 24 for the residents and their guests to enjoy. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 94 Page 94 1 January 6, 2026 2 Heather, if you could move on to the 3 next? So the building complies with the maximum 4 45 foot maximum under the MOD zoning. The 5 building was designed to fit into that Evergreen 6 Manor site that I was talking about with that 7 stepping topography, so that it appears as a 8 three-story building on the Crompond Road side, 9 and a two-story side and a two story building on 10 the reverse. 11 The building, as you can see, it’s 12 articulated in a number of materials and 13 features, such as stone and siding. But as, you 14 know, I discussed, a number of retaining walls 15 are required in order to make that site work and 16 provide that access to the front. So those block 17 retaining walls, which were shown partially in 18 this image and the image before would be done in 19 a natural earth tone color to complement the 20 site’s architecture. The applicant proposes to 21 carry that throughout the site to have a cohesive 22 master plan. 23 At the top of the wall, where it faces 24 Crompond Road, it would be topped with a metal Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 95 Page 95 1 January 6, 2026 2 decorative fence. And as this depicts, a use of 3 plantings, both evergreen and shrubbery would be 4 placed at the bottom of the walls to partially, 5 to screen that and soften the look. 6 The parking, there are 66 parking spaces 7 are proposed, 59 are required. This is also 8 consistent with the Institute of Transportation 9 Engineers parking standards. The parking layout 10 has been refined as we’ve gone through this 11 process, to accommodate fire apparatus and to 12 respond to comments that we received from the 13 fire department. 14 There would be a gated emergency access 15 to Crompond Road from the parking lot. The 16 lighting would be a full LED lighting system. 17 We’ve provided photometrics in our latest 18 submission. It shows that there would be no 19 spillover into any adjacent properties, 20 particularly because of that 100 foot non- 21 disturbance area. The landscaping would be 22 predominantly native plantings, a number of new 23 trees, plus extensive shrub plantings and as I 24 mentioned, evergreen wall -- evergreen trees Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 96 Page 96 1 January 6, 2026 2 along the front of the walls to soften that look. 3 The project is consistent for coverage 4 both on its own and as part of the overall master 5 plan. The coverage is considered based on the 6 master plan. And that’s essentially that’s an 7 overview of the project. I’d be happy to answer 8 any questions, or obviously, this is a public 9 hearing. 10 MR. KESSLER: Just again, how far is the 11 building from Crompond Road? 12 MR. STEINBERG: The setback is 30 feet, 13 so it’s at least 30 feet back. 14 MR. KESSLER: Thirty feet from Crompond 15 Road? 16 MR. STEINBERG: Correct. 17 MR. MICHAEL STEIN: The retaining wall 18 is 30 feet from the right of way and then the -- 19 MR. KESSLER: I don’t see a retaining 20 wall in the front. Can you go back to the front 21 of the building? Oh, that retaining. So now I’m 22 talking when you go to the building, that 23 building, you know, the building, you’re saying 24 is 30 feet from Crompond Road? Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 97 Page 97 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. STEINBERG: The retaining wall 3 itself is 30 feet to the right of way to the 4 road. 5 MR. KESSLER: Okay. 6 MR. STEINBERG: So it fluctuates 7 probably between 20 to 24 feet. 8 MR. STEIN: Right, sorry, yes. Right. 9 The retaining is 30 feet from the proposed right 10 of way. And the building is another 20 feet back. 11 MR. STEINBERG: Twenty to 24 feet. 12 MR. KESSLER: So basically 50 feet from 13 the road? 14 MR. STEINBERG: From Crompond Road, yes. 15 MR. KESSLER: Okay. 16 MR. STEINBERG: Sorry, I stand 17 corrected. 18 MR. KESSLER: All right, so you guys 19 done, so we can open it up? Yeah. 20 MR. STEINMETZ: The only thing I want to 21 add, we’re not here on anything else in the MOD 22 on the Evergreen Subdivision, but I want you all 23 to know, because you’ve heard us talk about it a 24 little bit. As a result of attracting Benchmark Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 98 Page 98 1 January 6, 2026 2 and this assisted living of this quality to the 3 site, VS Construction has also been successful in 4 attracting Lennar Home Builders, one of the 5 nation’s largest home builders, branded by the 6 name U.S. Homes. Actually the branding is Lennar, 7 U.S. Homes owns Lennar. We will be coming in 8 shortly and staff knows this, with a townhouse 9 proposal that’s consistent with what we studied 10 under SEQR and went through the whole MOD. 11 I wanted you to know that, because we 12 have the ability now bring high quality 13 developers, high quality product to the town and 14 it’s something that I think both Lennar and the 15 town should be extremely pleased. They were happy 16 to see that Benchmark was coming in with this 17 building. And that allowed for the synergy that 18 the Santuccis have brought to the Evergreen 19 Manor. 20 MR. KESSLER: Hopefully, you’ll file a 21 two-lot subdivision before you do that? 22 MR. STEINMETZ: We, so we’ve been -- in 23 fairness, we’ve been working and I heard some of 24 this in the work session and I don’t want to Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 99 Page 99 1 January 6, 2026 2 overstate it. 3 MR. KESSLER: All you have to do is say 4 yes. 5 MR. STEINMETZ: Steve, we’ve been 6 working with DOTS and waiting for some input on 7 some things for a while, which we finally got. We 8 are working with Katie, Mike and Chris. And we’re 9 spending a lot of time trying to get that 10 subdivision finalized so that we can come back -- 11 MR. KESSLER: That’s my point. 12 MR. STEINMETZ: -- with another 96 lots. 13 MR. KESSLER: Maximum of, yes. Right, 14 that was the town board approval, maximum of? 15 MR. STEINMETZ: Ninety-six lots. 16 MR. KESSLER: Maximum of, yes, thank 17 you, maximum of. Okay. So this is a public 18 hearing. Who wishes to comment on this 19 application? Oh, come on. Yes, come on up, 20 please. 21 MR. SALVATORE FARINA: Hello everyone. 22 My name is Salvatore Farina. I’m a resident of 23 the town of Cortlandt since 1986. I’ve raised two 24 children here. In the Hudson Valley Hospital they Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 100 Page 100 1 January 6, 2026 2 were born, which is now Presbyterian Hospital. 3 And now I’m raising two grandchildren here in the 4 Presbyterian Hospital. 5 It’s hard to believe that so many years 6 have gone by already, being involved with the MOD 7 project. As a resident, I expressed concerns, 8 along with my fellow residents, about the scale 9 and the scope of the project. I spoke with fellow 10 residents on many occasions. I invited some to my 11 yard to discuss their concerns. I, at one point, 12 invited Supervisor Becker and town board member 13 Creighton to come and look first hand at my 14 concerns, living so close to the project. 15 Through the years, I have expressed my 16 grievances here in this room before the board. I 17 discussed these concerns with our previous 18 supervisor, Linda Puglisi, and continue with our 19 present supervisor Richard Becker. They were 20 willing to listen and understood the seriousness 21 of those grievances and expressed their own 22 reservations and concerns. 23 Our present supervisor and town 24 officials through emails and face to face Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 101 Page 101 1 January 6, 2026 2 meetings, listened and had positive feedback. We 3 spoke about what we seen as overreach and need 4 for modifications in these conversations. They 5 were always informative and constructive, 6 constructive meetings and I thanked them. 7 A fellow resident involved with the 8 town, Mr. Tom Walsh, reached out to me, speaking 9 with one of the builders involved with the 10 project, Val and Armando Santucci, and if I was 11 interested in speaking with them. And of course, 12 I said yes. 13 After that initial meeting, we continued 14 to speak on many occasions. In those 15 conversations, I told them my grievances and 16 concerns. They took the time to listen and 17 understood my view in this situation. 18 Since then, there have been many changes 19 to the initial plans presented. I have two quotes 20 that I use in my way of thinking, one by John 21 Peters, who said if you always say no, you killed 22 a good idea. And one by John F. Kennedy who said 23 change for the sake of change is not good. 24 I think the willingness to exchange our Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 102 Page 102 1 January 6, 2026 2 ideas and produce a responsible compromise was 3 achieved. Like I said in the beginning, I felt 4 the scope of the project would change the 5 complexion of the town too much. But changes have 6 been made and there have been amendments to the 7 plan. I think we’ve reached an inflection point 8 where the town is ready to step and create 9 something that’s for the betterment for the town 10 and the residents of Cortlandt. 11 The first step is the assisted living 12 project. We have a responsible town board 13 overlooking that project. We have a responsible 14 builder overlooking that project. Everyone has 15 been working together, businessmen, town 16 officials and fellow residents. I think the 17 project is on the right track and thank you. 18 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. 19 MR. FARINA: And Happy New Year. 20 MR. KESSLER: Happy New Year. Anybody 21 else wish to speak? Any other comments from staff 22 or the board? 23 MR. KEHOE: Well, I think, as we 24 discussed at the work session and I think Chris Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 103 Page 103 1 January 6, 2026 2 Lapine mentioned and Chris and Katie correct me 3 if I’m wrong, but this one is a little further 4 along in your engineering review than the 5 yeshiva? 6 MR. LAPINE: Yes. 7 MR. KEHOE: But I still think there’s 8 some more technical review work that needs to be 9 done. And plus, even though there is very little 10 public comment, a project like this size and 11 scope probably should get a second opportunity 12 for a hearing. 13 MR. KESSLER: Yeah, I agree. 14 MR. KEHOE: So, with that, I just want 15 to reiterate that I think we’re going to 16 recommend that this be adjourned for one more 17 month. 18 MR. KESSLER: Sounds fine to me. Any 19 last comments from anybody before we do that? No. 20 Okay. 21 MR. STEINMETZ: I think, before you, 22 before you move on and I’m not here to oppose the 23 adjournment, I heard you say you were going to do 24 it in the work session. You’ve got one of the key Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 104 Page 104 1 January 6, 2026 2 representatives of Benchmark here who came in 3 from Massachusetts. If you have questions about 4 assisted living and operation, feel free to ask. 5 If you want to ask it at the next session, that’s 6 fine. I hate to make him come out, especially 7 since there was literally no public comment 8 besides Mr. Farina. If you have any additional 9 continued concerns about the retaining walls, we, 10 those of us who walked the property several 11 months ago, we talked about it, we went out 12 there. I know you were concerned. Mr. Santucci 13 took great pains to erect strings and posts to 14 depict it. We have since really broken it into 15 two terraced areas and landscape. I hope we’ve 16 assuaged and addressed your concerns, those of 17 you who raised them. 18 And I guess I’d love Mr. Stein and Mr. 19 Gardner to go away thinking the planning board 20 seemed with what they’re seeing in this Benchmark 21 building. If you’re not willing to do that, 22 you’re not. But I made them come so I’d like you 23 to tell them you like their building. 24 MR. KESSLER: Honestly, I don’t know Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 105 Page 105 1 January 6, 2026 2 enough to know to ask a question about, you know, 3 the assisted living. As you said, they’ve been in 4 the business for a while, and far be it from me 5 to question how they run their business. 6 MR. STEINMETZ: Fair enough. I’ll make 7 one editorial comment. Some of you have heard 8 this, others probably haven’t. As someone who had 9 a parent go into independent living, graduate to 10 assisted living and to memory care, and for 11 someone who, I’m involved in a number of 12 different assisted and independent living 13 applications elsewhere in our county, you all 14 should know that the demographics show that there 15 is a tremendous, continued demand for beds in our 16 county and in our region. And that’s why I said 17 something that may have kind of passed over. You 18 kind of deserve something like this in the town 19 of Cortlandt and I’m really happy that Eric and 20 Benchmark are here. 21 MR. KESSLER: Okay. 22 MR. KEHOE: Just also, with respect to 23 the architecture, this has all been referred to 24 the ARC, they’ve commented positively, there’s Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 106 Page 106 1 January 6, 2026 2 been some back and forth with the project 3 architect. 4 MR. KESSLER: Great. Okay. Last call? 5 Oh, wait. Oh we do, see. 6 MR. STEINMETZ: Second round. 7 MR. KESSLER: Let’s get it over with. 8 MR. DEBENEDICTIS: John DeBenedictis 9 again. This really is going to help the town, 10 okay. Let’s face it. This isn’t going to hurt the 11 town at all. And it’s not some big housing 12 development that’ll dump a hundred kids into the 13 school district and your taxes will go up 25 14 percent. And there’s a need for this kind of 15 stuff. And everyone of us in this room probably 16 can use it in the next, near future, you know, 17 myself included. I’m hoping to get a discount. 18 MR. STEINMETZ: Just leave your address 19 with him. [laughter]. 20 MR. DEBENEDICTIS: But it is, it’s a 21 good project and, you know, I hate to 22 [unintelligible] [01:45:03], you know, the 23 envisionaries of the town, I mean this MOD thing 24 has been going on for how many years, right. And Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 107 Page 107 1 January 6, 2026 2 so the envisionaries sat down and said this is 3 what should go on. And this is what it is. 4 They’re doing it. So, I mean I think it’s just -- 5 MR. KESSLER: Great. 6 MR. DEBENEDICTIS: -- it’s something 7 that will help. 8 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. 9 MR. DEBENEDICTIS: And there just really 10 hasn’t, shouldn’t be a lot of mumbo jumbo going 11 on here. Just let it go. Thank you. 12 MR. KESSLER: We just want to make sure 13 it’s planned correctly. That’s all. Yeah. 14 MS. JANET FALK-KESSLER: Janet Falk- 15 Kessler on Washington Street. I don’t know if my 16 question, it’s for the planning board, I look at 17 the design and I think all the time of whenever I 18 have passed independent living spaces, assisted 19 living, etc., hospitals, I drive by and I see the 20 residents through the windows. And I keep 21 thinking that whoever designed these buildings 22 did not think about their integrity, you know, we 23 have to preserve their dignity. So I’m just 24 hoping that either where the residents’ rooms are Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 108 Page 108 1 January 6, 2026 2 that they’re not facing, they’re not on Crompond 3 Road, where you not only have the noise, but 4 everyone driving by could look in, that they get 5 an opportunity to look out at the trees that are 6 being preserved instead. Or if the windows 7 themselves can somehow be darkened so that nobody 8 can see in, but they can see out. That’s just one 9 of the things I have always had a concern about 10 and I just wanted to raise it. 11 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. Anybody? Yes, 12 sir, come on up. 13 MR. MICHAEL PARISH: My name is Michael 14 Parish. I live at 204 Lafayette. And the last 15 meeting you had that was public, I came up and I 16 posed several questions and I followed up in 17 writing. And I haven’t heard a response from 18 either. I have a well on the corner of my 19 property. It is the northeast corner of my 20 property and when you start your mitigation for a 21 wetland, and you put your road in, you’re going 22 to impact the water level in my well. And I’ve 23 requested that somebody look at it and decide or 24 ensure me that when you’re done working I’m still Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 109 Page 109 1 January 6, 2026 2 going to have water in the well. I haven’t heard 3 a thing. It’s been almost a year. 4 MR. KESSLER: Who did you write you? 5 MR. PARISH: The board. 6 MR. KESSLER: The town board? 7 MR. PARISH: I’m not, well, whoever was 8 at the meeting got the letter. 9 MR. KESSLER: Well, a lot of this is 10 done at the town board and this is -- 11 MR. PARISH: Okay, so, well don’t, well, 12 you know -- 13 MR. KESSLER: This is the first time, 14 recently we got it. 15 MR. PARISH: The last time I was up here 16 and somebody made a comment like that, I told you 17 that when it’s all said and done and something 18 happens to the well and I don’t have the water in 19 it, then the lawyers are going to get involved. 20 And that’s all I said. I said I just want 21 response, I want somebody to look at it and get 22 back to me. 23 MR. KESSLER: Okay. 24 MR. PARISH: I don’t care which part of Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 110 Page 110 1 January 6, 2026 2 Cortlandt does that. I don’t care if it’s the 3 planning board or whatever, but -- 4 MR. KESSLER: Well, now -- 5 MR. PARISH: -- it’s a public meeting, 6 and I’m making it known that I want to know what 7 you’re going to do about the well. 8 MR. KESSLER: Okay. You’ve raised the 9 issue and now it’s the applicant’s responsibility 10 to respond to that. 11 MR. PARISH: Now, second item. 12 MR. KESSLER: You’ll get your answer. 13 MR. PARISH: Second item, I requested 14 that the buffer zone be moved from 25 feet to 15 maybe 100 foot, like you did on the other project 16 across the street from Lafayette. And I was 17 wondering if it’s possible to increase it so I’d 18 have a little bit more room before, before I run 19 into either a parking lot or a building. 20 MR. KESSLER: The buffer? 21 MR. PARISH: And I haven’t heard about 22 that either. 23 MR. KEHOE: I’ve spoken with Mr. Parish. 24 His house is off of Lafayette and it would be the Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 111 Page 111 1 January 6, 2026 2 house immediately adjacent to where the 3 commercial establishment would be proposed, which 4 is not before the board now. And apparently isn’t 5 the next phase. It might be the phase after that. 6 And Mr. Parish is correct. There’s a 30 foot no 7 disturbance buffer between his property and 8 whatever building happens on there. That was set 9 by the town board, the 30 feet. 10 MR. KESSLER: Okay. So I think when the 11 applicant comes in with a proposal for that lot 12 that abuts your property, that is the time that 13 we will evaluate your concerns. 14 MR. PARISH: Okay. Very good, thank you. 15 Just to step back, the well impact will happen as 16 soon as you start to mitigate the wetlands for 17 the road you’re going to probably put in first 18 for this project, for this section that we’re 19 talking about. 20 MR. KEHOE: Yeah, the well concern is 21 legitimate with this phase that’s going on now 22 and will be addressed. 23 MR. PARISH: Thank you very much. 24 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. Thanks for Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 112 Page 112 1 January 6, 2026 2 coming. Okay, last call? Nothing else from the 3 board, so if not, let’s move on. Peter? 4 MR. MCKINLEY: Mr. Chairman, I’d like to 5 adjourn the public hearing proposed for the 6 assisted living facility. 7 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. Second, please. 8 MR. BIANCHI: Second. 9 MR. KESSLER: And on the question? All 10 in favor? 11 MULTIPLE: Aye. 12 MR. KESSLER: Opposed? Okay, so we’ll 13 see you in February. Okay. Last two items of the 14 evening, old business, it’s the application of 15 2051 Cortlandt Holding LLC for amended site plan 16 approval for the addition of five parking spaces 17 at the existing gas station located at 2051 East 18 Main Street, drawing latest revised December 22, 19 2025, for, that’s the Parkland Gas Station on 20 Route 6 by the Bear Mountain Parkway, right, 21 that’s what we’re talking about? 22 MR. KEHOE: Yes. 23 MR. KESSLER: So we discussed this at 24 the work session. Staff does not seem to have an Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 113 Page 113 1 January 6, 2026 2 issue with adding those five parking spaces, so 3 Tom’s going to make a recommendation, a motion 4 please. 5 MR. BIANCHI: Yes, Mr. Chairman, I’ll 6 move that we refer this back to staff and ask 7 that a proposal be -- 8 MR. KEHOE: A resolution. 9 MR. BIANCHI: -- resolution, resolution 10 be prepared for the next meeting. 11 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. 12 MR. BIANCHI: I couldn’t think of the 13 word. 14 MR. KESSLER: Second, please. 15 MR. MCKINLEY: Second. 16 MR. KESSLER: And on the question? All 17 in favor? 18 MULTIPLE: Aye. 19 MR. KESSLER: Opposed? Okay. Final item 20 of the evening, it’s the application of BEB 21 Capital LLC for property of Skyview/Westview LLC 22 and Eastview/Southview LLC for site plan 23 approval, a residential reuse special permit and 24 for tree removal and steep slope permits for a Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 114 Page 114 1 January 6, 2026 2 proposed 70-unit residential development located 3 on East Main Street, Regina Avenue and Lexington 4 Avenue, drawings latest revised December 23, 5 2025. Hello again, Mr. Steinmetz. 6 MR. STEINMETZ: Hello again Mr. Chairman 7 and members of the board. Very briefly, we have 8 previously talked about this -- 9 MR. KESSLER: Excuse me. Could you take 10 that into the hallway please? Thank you. 11 MR. FARINA: Oh, I’m sorry. I thought it 12 was over. 13 MR. KESSLER: We all did. 14 MR. STEINMETZ: We previously talked 15 about this RRUSP, the Residential Reuse Special 16 Permit associated with this project at the 17 intersection of Regina and Route 6. As you talked 18 a little bit at the work session, again, this was 19 the subject of a rather extensive site inspection 20 that we conducted several months ago as a result 21 of that site inspection. I appreciate some of the 22 comments that were made at the work session. Ray, 23 I don’t know whether you were here for that 24 portion? You heard the whole work session? Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 115 Page 115 1 January 6, 2026 2 I am joined this evening by Ray Beeler, 3 our project architect, Matt Steinberg from DTS 4 Provident, our engineering, traffic and planning 5 consultants. And a lot of time was spent by our 6 team and our client in redesigning. That’s why 7 we’ve been gone for several months. A lot of time 8 spent on trying to reorient and relocate some of 9 the buildings, and some of the retaining walls. 10 You talked a little bit in your work session 11 about the impact of slopes. This is an existing 12 development that has been there for decades on 13 these slopes. 14 And the one thing I can tell you, 15 because this project started, as it must, in 16 front of the town board. The town board was 17 rather pleased to hear that there would be a 18 number of affordable housing units associated 19 with this project, that, so much so that one of 20 the town board members suggested at a work 21 session that we file a petition for a text 22 amendment allowing for slightly larger units than 23 are there, because the town board felt that if 24 there were going to be affordable housing units Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 116 Page 116 1 January 6, 2026 2 in the town of Cortlandt, they ought to 3 accommodate families and not just be a modest, 4 really small two-bedroom bungalow. 5 So that is what we are really talking 6 about here. We’re talking about bringing in a 7 wonderful product on a challenging site. Nobody 8 is going to say it isn’t a challenging and 9 challenged site. But what DTS and Ray’s firm have 10 been able to do is try to work some magic with 11 entrance points from both Regina, Route 6 and 12 from Lexington and to bring 70 townhouses -- 69, 13 I knew I, that’s why I turned, 69 townhouse 14 units. I’m going to turn it over, whichever one 15 of you guys goes next. 16 MR. RAY BEELER: Thank you, David and 17 good evening everybody. Heather, could you bring 18 up the slide deck that starts with the site plan? 19 Is that possible? Anyway, so what I’m going to do 20 is just do a very recap of what we presented in 21 October. And more importantly, go over what the 22 changes are. 23 So as you all recall, I’m sure, we have 24 two separate building areas. That’s because of Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 117 Page 117 1 January 6, 2026 2 the steeply wooded area in the middle of the 3 property. There was a separate slide deck that we 4 sent yesterday. That’s it, great, thank you. 5 So this is the overall site plan, which 6 shows the north site, which is off of East Main 7 and the south site, which is off of Lexington, 8 separated by the heavy wooded area in the middle. 9 Let’s go to the next one. Now, this is a blowup 10 of the northeast main development site. As David 11 mentioned, vehicular access and egress is from 12 two different locations, both off East Main and 13 Regina Avenue. 14 We have now at the end of the main 15 access road, there’s a cul-de-sac that’s sized 16 for fire truck turnaround. The unit counts have 17 changed a little bit and now we have 38 18 townhouses in nine separate clusters on this 19 site. Each cluster has four or five units each. 20 And the mix of units is a little bit different 21 also. Before, we had two different types of 22 units, which I described, uphill units and 23 downhill units. Now we have uphill, which are in 24 yellow. We have downhill units which are the unit Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 118 Page 118 1 January 6, 2026 2 in red, reddish, and now we have also at-grade 3 units, which are in blue. The uphill units and 4 downhill units are all three-bedroom units and 5 the at-grade units are two-bedroom units. 6 So staying on this one the big change 7 that David mentioned, and I think we all 8 discussed this as we were doing the site 9 walkthrough, was to move everything west, which 10 is down the hill. So townhouses, access road, 11 everything moved to the west. And that’s yielded 12 many, many benefits which Matt is going to go 13 into in detail in a minute. And we can go to the 14 next one. 15 So then now, this is the Lexington 16 Avenue development site, similar arrangement to 17 what we had before, but it’s been fine tuned with 18 the topography. We have vehicular access and 19 egress and the new access road, which is directly 20 opposite Lawrence Road. Again, the same 21 configuration of a cul-de-sac at the end of the 22 access road, sized for a fire truck turnaround. 23 Here we have 31 townhouse in eight separate 24 clusters, and the same mix of uphill, downhill Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 119 Page 119 1 January 6, 2026 2 and at-grade units. 3 As David mentioned then, the overall 4 number of units has been reduced by one. If you 5 recall, the RRUSP calculation was 58 times 1.2, 6 which is 69.6. Before we had 70 and now we’ve 7 reduced that to 69. The breakdown now that we 8 have is 52 three-bedroom units and 17 two-bedroom 9 units. And we can go to the next one. 10 So now this is an aerial view of the 11 north area. One thing you can see now is a little 12 bit of the architectural articulation we’re 13 starting to develop. All of the units have south 14 facing roofs and that’s with the idea of 15 maximizing the solar panels. Every one of the 69 16 units is going to have solar panels on the roof. 17 And all of the roofs, no matter what the 18 orientation of the townhouses, will be facing 19 south. 20 Here you can see a little bit more 21 information about the retaining walls that David 22 mentioned. Now, they’ve been brought down in 23 height. The most extreme -- before you go to that 24 one, let’s go back -- the most extreme area of Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 120 Page 120 1 January 6, 2026 2 retaining walls is at the end of the access 3 drive. And you can see then that the retaining 4 walls now have setbacks. The maximum height is 5 six foot with a setback with landscaping. And 6 that’s the, in the upper left-hand corner, you 7 can see a blowup of, that’s the highest retaining 8 wall that we have in the whole project. 9 MR. STEINMETZ: Can you describe quickly 10 the height that the retaining walls were 11 previously? 12 MR. BEELER: Matt can -- 13 MR. STEINMETZ: Matt can do that? I just 14 want to make sure they get that. That’s fine. 15 MR. BEELER: Okay. Matt will address 16 that when he talks in a minute. So now we can go 17 on to the aerial view of the Lexington site, 18 which is the next one. Yes, so similar idea then 19 here on the Lexington site with all of the south 20 facing roofs designed for solar panels. And here 21 you can see retaining walls that are lower but 22 there are some retaining walls behind the uphill 23 units on the Lexington site. And we can go to the 24 next one. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 121 Page 121 1 January 6, 2026 2 So just, I just want to make a couple of 3 comments about the architectural design of the 4 units. We’re designing these townhouses to 5 incorporate passive house characteristics. And 6 the architecture is, the architectural design is 7 being informed by what we’re doing with the 8 passive house. 9 Building features include solar panels 10 on all the south facing roofs, triple-paned 11 windows, concrete brick made with recycled glass. 12 We have engineered wood siding, which is going to 13 look like natural wood, but it’s 95 percent 14 recycled material. And then we have electric heat 15 pumps. 16 And the next one. And this is an image 17 that shows the different units. The upper left is 18 a typical downhill cluster, the upper right is an 19 at-grade cluster and the lower image is an uphill 20 cluster. 21 So this approach with incorporating 22 passive house characteristics will result in 23 ultra-low energy use, thermal comfort, high 24 indoor air quality, limited or maybe no use of Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 122 Page 122 1 January 6, 2026 2 fossil fuels and reduced carbon footprint. And at 3 that, I’ll turn it over to Matt to go into some 4 of the site plan issues in more detail. 5 MR. STEINBERG: Thank you, Ray. Matt 6 Steinberg, DTS Provident. You know, so as Ray and 7 David talked about, there are significant 8 topographic constraints, along with geometric 9 constraints just in the shape of the property 10 that have kind of shaped how this has come 11 together. 12 So part of getting those roadways and 13 those building pads in, we’ve not only had to 14 comply with the various standards, we’ve also 15 tried to comply with requests obviously from the 16 fire department. There’s maximum grades and cross 17 slopes of those roadways, so getting those to 18 meet at the correct angles at the existing 19 roadways and then throughout the site has 20 obviously been a challenge. But we’ve been able 21 to make that happen, so we’ve been able to 22 accommodate those required slopes and grades, the 23 internal roadways, the utility infrastructure and 24 the building footprints. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 123 Page 123 1 January 6, 2026 2 As was discussed during the work 3 session, we have worked to pull that, as Ray 4 mentioned, pull that development, especially in 5 the north side further to the west. That has 6 allowed us to tier those retaining walls. So 7 there are still significant retaining walls. Some 8 of them were up to I think about 40 feet in total 9 in the original couple of versions of this. In 10 this case, there are still some overall heights 11 tiered to 30 feet. But it’s given us a chance to 12 tier those so that we can have plantings between 13 those tiers, so we can put shrubs that will break 14 those up and in some cases, cascade over the top 15 of the walls. 16 And in most cases, the retaining walls 17 are located behind, behind units so that they are 18 screened from the exterior. So that 3-D image 19 that Ray had shown didn’t show all the 20 landscaping because the intent of that was to 21 show the relationship of the site buildings and 22 the retaining walls to the exterior perimeter 23 planting, which we’ve got a significant amount of 24 trees that are being protected along the Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 124 Page 124 1 January 6, 2026 2 perimeter of the site. 3 Heather if you could scroll to the next 4 one, I think the landscape plan is -- yeah, it’s 5 a little hard to see but this is the landscape 6 plan in the north area. We proposed evergreen 7 trees, six to eight and eight to ten foot height 8 at installation along the base of the retaining 9 walls. That would continue to grow up and help 10 soften the view of the retaining walls from 11 within the site along with slope plantings, 12 restoration of certain slopes that are already 13 existing and shrubs at the top of walls and in 14 between. 15 The water and sewer utilities would be 16 routed along the front of the townhomes. The 17 sewers conveyed, all conveyed to East Main Street 18 from both portions of the site. There’s a utility 19 corridor between the two sections, and then water 20 would be fed from East Main Street and from 21 Lexington Avenue. 22 So that’s kind of an overview of some of 23 our site plan changes that we’ve been making over 24 this period. And we can certainly answer any Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 125 Page 125 1 January 6, 2026 2 questions, both Ray and I. 3 MR. KESSLER: Obviously, the issue is 4 going to be steep slopes on this site. 5 MR. STEINBERG: Mm-hmm. 6 MR. KESSLER: Chris, what’s our 7 requirement in terms of providing a map showing - 8 - did they have the steep slopes here showing 9 zero to 15, 15 to 30, 30 and up. I thought we had 10 more gradations on those? 11 MR. KEHOE: Yeah. I think it’s, there 12 are a lot of gradations. A lot of people don’t 13 necessarily do it. I think it’s 15 to 20, 20 to 14 25, 25 to 30 and above 30. 15 MR. KESSLER: So if you could redo this 16 map with greater detail in gradations of steep 17 slopes, that’ll be helpful, because what I’m 18 seeing here is your disturbance -- 60 percent of 19 your project is going to be on slopes of 15 20 percent or more disturbance, which is significant 21 and probably more than we’ve ever considered in 22 terms of an application. So that’s going to be a 23 high bar, no pun intended here, but a high 24 threshold to convince us, or at least me. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 126 Page 126 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. STEINBERG: Mm-hmm. 3 MR. MCKINLEY: The addition of solar, is 4 that a new development? I didn’t remember that 5 detail last time. I applaud it. 6 MR. BEELER: Yeah, I hadn’t really 7 addressed the sustainable characteristics yet, so 8 tonight, I’m starting to talk about what we’re 9 looking into, so yes. 10 MR. MCKINLEY: Okay. And I heard you say 11 something about south facing roofs. Is this 12 inclusive of every unit or just -- 13 MR. BEELER: Yeah, every unit, no matter 14 what the orientation, the roofs are facing south. 15 MR. MCKINLEY: Okay. 16 MR. BEELER: So we’re designing it 17 intentionally to maximize the efficiency of the 18 solar panels. 19 MR. MCKINLEY: Okay. Small detail, but 20 do these come with battery backups inside the 21 unit as well, or is it just -- 22 MR. BEELER: We don’t know yet. We’ll 23 have that information in the future. 24 MR. KESSLER: There will be battery Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 127 Page 127 1 January 6, 2026 2 backups or no? 3 MR. BEELER: No, we don’t -- 4 MR. MCKINLEY: No, he doesn’t know. 5 MR. BEELER: -- we haven’t gotten to 6 that yet. 7 MR. KESSLER: Okay. What type of heating 8 did you say there was in these units? 9 MR. MCKINLEY: Electric heat pumps. 10 MR. KESSLER: Heat pump? 11 MR. BEELER: Yeah, heat pump, electric 12 heat pumps. The goal will be to use no fossil 13 fuels. 14 MR. KESSLER: Usually, they’re only 15 effective down to a certain temperature like 30 16 degrees or 25 degrees? What do you do if it goes 17 lower? 18 MR. BEELER: Well we’ll get into all of 19 that. This still needs to be engineered so we’ll 20 have answers to those questions in the future. 21 MR. KESSLER: All right. Okay. Any other 22 comments? Chris? 23 MR. KEHOE: And maybe more so for David, 24 you know, he has mentioned the affordable units. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 128 Page 128 1 January 6, 2026 2 And I think that this is not, it’s not a 3 subdivision, so these will either be for rent or 4 condo’d. 5 MR. BEELER: Correct. 6 MR. KEHOE: And it’s not decided yet, 7 but they may be for sale units. 8 MR. STEINMETZ: They may be. I don’t 9 believe they will be, but they may be. There’s 10 nothing that would preclude them from being for 11 sale. 12 MR. KEHOE: Okay. So if they’re not for 13 sale units, it’s a little bit easier, but we 14 asked, we still have concerns about a high end 15 project like this, about the affordability 16 component and how to ensure that that happens. 17 And you answered the questions that you’re in the 18 process of determining how the units will be 19 marketed. We’re getting to the point now where I 20 think this is moving along. So if we, whether 21 it’s a meeting or whether we get in touch with 22 someone from Westchester County. The county 23 letter directed us to their model ordinance to 24 help. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 129 Page 129 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. STEINMETZ: Correct. 3 MR. KEHOE: But I’d really like to flesh 4 out some more about the thought process of how 5 these affordable are going to work. 6 MR. STEINMETZ: So we should certainly 7 have a meeting offline. 8 MR. KEHOE: Okay. 9 MR. STEINMETZ: Whenever you’re ready, 10 we’re happy to do that. It’s been a while since 11 we’ve done that together. I did do that with the 12 town at the Cortlandt Ridge project off of Croton 13 Ave., which was a Toll Brothers project where we 14 had seven affordable units in the middle of that 15 project in the townhouse component. We will have 16 affordable units if as and when Matt and I show 17 up with the Lennar project, which I think will be 18 in the next couple of months. And they’re going 19 to be a number of affordable units there. Same 20 kind of thing, they will be townhouses and there 21 will be an affordability component. So while it 22 may be a little novel for Cortlandt, we’re doing 23 this elsewhere throughout the county and we have 24 a choice. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 130 Page 130 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. KEHOE: We’ve all been, or most of 3 us have been around long enough that some of the 4 affordable units are no longer mandated to be 5 affordable. There was only a 20 year requirement 6 that they stay affordable. And so we were 7 notified by the Housing Action Council for me to 8 take those off of my list. 9 MR. STEINMETZ: Interesting. 10 MR. KEHOE: So I guess I don’t know if 11 it’s standard 20 years or 30 years or 50 years. 12 MR. STEINMETZ: So I think the county 13 model ordinance, I can stand corrected. I think 14 it’s a 50 year recommendation in the county 15 model. And look, right now, these are all 16 affordable rentals. Some of them are Section 17 Eight rentals. To the extent that we had 18 conversations earlier tonight about properties in 19 the town with code violations, this 56 units has 20 been kind of pretty sad for a number of years. 21 Our client stepped in through financing 22 and ended up owning the property. So our client 23 would like to eliminate some of those problems. 24 One of the first things I had to do was deal with Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 131 Page 131 1 January 6, 2026 2 your code enforcement department because one of 3 the buildings needed to be condemned. So if we do 4 nothing, if we all decide you don’t want to 5 approve this and the RRUSP can’t be implemented 6 and we do nothing, you’re not left with a good 7 situation in terms of housing, code compliance 8 and satisfying what I think the town’s goals are. 9 I started with it, I’m going to end with 10 it. You have a very unique statute here in 11 Cortlandt that was adopted by the town board, the 12 Residential Reuse Special Permit. It was 13 specifically adopted in connection with Pondview, 14 which is next to this, which we all -- which some 15 of us worked on together about ten, 12, 14 years 16 ago. And this, to the extent that Cortlandt has 17 old bungalows that might be reused in some way or 18 repurposed, this was what it had in mind. So 19 yeas, there are steep slopes. I know it’s 20 challenged. Mr. Chairman, I don’t know if you 21 were on the site walk with us. 22 MR. KESSLER: I was not. I was on one 23 of the, the earlier one, not the last one. 24 MR. STEINMETZ: Right. So this one, we Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 132 Page 132 1 January 6, 2026 2 all walked it. There are definitely slopes, but 3 when you get onto the building pad area, it’s 4 actually a buildable site, once we got up that, 5 Kevin, Peter and Tom, we were still together, we 6 lost you after this site inspection. 7 MR. KESSLER: You can’t forget that, can 8 you? 9 MR. STEINMETZ: I can’t. I was the one 10 wondering what happened to you. In any event, 11 this is a project that I think really does 12 require some of your thought and attention. In 13 addition, I said at the outset there are text 14 amendments. So we’re talking about the site plan, 15 which is great. But Chris and Michael probably 16 won’t let me forget you have a recommendation 17 back to the town board you’re supposed to give 18 them about the text amendments that we proposed, 19 sort of at the encouragement of the town board. 20 So don’t lose sight of the fact that you’re 21 supposed to chime in at some point on yeah, we do 22 think the units being a little bit bigger and it 23 accommodating families and having slightly larger 24 coverage capability, right. It was coverage and Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 133 Page 133 1 January 6, 2026 2 number of bedrooms. We tweaked, we’re proposing 3 to tweak those to allow for these to be three- 4 bedroom units, as you heard from Ray, 52 threes, 5 17 twos. 6 MR. KESSLER: Okay. 7 MR. KEHOE: In the context of the 8 affordable too, the other component, which has 9 been sort of put on the back burner is a 10 relocation plan for the people that are there. 11 You know, as we’re moving along, we’ve got to 12 start thinking about these things. 13 MR. STEINMETZ: Absolutely. So I mean 14 the planning board should hear that I think, we 15 may have talked about it, we certainly got hit by 16 the town board on that. If in fact the folks who 17 are residing there don’t end up renting or buying 18 a unit here, they’re going to need to be 19 relocated. 20 MR. KESSLER: Sure. 21 MR. STEINMETZ: So we, as a team, were 22 directed by the town board to reach out to 23 Housing Action Council and do what we can to 24 begin to facilitate that at such time as this Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 134 Page 134 1 January 6, 2026 2 project ever really came to fruition. 3 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. All right, 4 anything else? 5 MR. MCKINLEY: Just something small, it 6 seems academic now because you’re talking about 7 bigger pictures here. But can you just flash up 8 the section where you show the garage door and 9 then sort of a narrow parking spot. Just 10 something to consider, I mean if we’re thinking 11 about this. Some of these things will be three 12 bedrooms. 13 MR. BEELER: These, what you’re talking 14 about I believe is the lower image. 15 MR. MCKINLEY: Yeah. 16 MR. BEELER: Which is the uphill unit. 17 That’s where the unit is buried into the hill, so 18 there’s an internal garage in the uphill units 19 that the other units have onsite parking. So the 20 uphill unit are the only units that have an 21 internal garage. 22 MR. MCKINLEY: Okay. 23 MR. BEELER: And that’s what you’re 24 seeing with the garage door. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 135 Page 135 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. MCKINLEY: I was simply expressing 3 that I mean I see it everywhere in neighborhoods. 4 I mean we have two, three, four cars for a single 5 family, something you might have to consider as 6 you do a three-bedroom or multiple three 7 bedrooms. I understand this is a garage for that 8 one piece, but it seems very narrow, it seems to 9 be a lot of jockeying around, very academic, 10 early, early on, as you said. Just consider 11 parking as far as a growing family, especially 12 one for apartments. 13 MR. BEELER: Okay. Thank you. We will. 14 MR. KESSLER: Thanks. Anything else? 15 MR. KOBASA: I just have one other, 16 along the affordable aspect, are you only looking 17 at the two bedrooms as the affordable units, or 18 it will be a mix of the three and two bedrooms? 19 MR. STEINMETZ: Well, under, certainly 20 under the county regs and we’re trying to abide 21 by that here in Cortlandt even though I don’t 22 think you have an express mandate, it has to be, 23 Kevin, a proportionate allocation. 24 MR. KOBASA: Okay. All right. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 136 Page 136 1 January 6, 2026 2 MR. STEINMETZ: So several of the three 3 -- 4 MR. KOBASA: Some three, some two? 5 MR. STEINMETZ: Mostly threes. 6 MR. KOBASA: Mostly threes, cool. 7 Thanks. 8 MR. STEINMETZ: And that was, again, I 9 want to make sure that my point was -- it fell if 10 you asked that question. I got the question from 11 two town board members at a work session, why 12 can’t we have three bedroom affordable? 13 MR. KOBASA: Got you. 14 MR. STEINMETZ: And Matt and I 15 explained, because the RRUSP doesn’t allow for 16 it. So we were told by the town board to file a 17 text amendment request so that you can get three 18 bedrooms in here and that’s why -- 19 MR. KOBASA: Sorry, I missed that. 20 MR. STEINMETZ: -- I hope you will 21 support that request. 22 MR. KOBASA: Thank you. 23 MR. KESSLER: Okay. 24 MR. MCKINLEY: It’s me. I’d like to make Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 137 Page 137 1 January 6, 2026 2 a motion to refer back to staff for additional 3 review. 4 MR. KESSLER: Thank you. Second, please. 5 MR. BIANCHI: Second. 6 MR. KESSLER: And on the question, all 7 in favor? 8 MULTIPLE: Aye. 9 MR. KESSLER: Kevin, take us home. 10 MR. KOBASA: No, not me. 11 MR. KESSLER: What? 12 MR. KOBASA: No. 13 MR. KESSLER: I thought you still wanted 14 to do it. 15 MR. KOBASA: Oh, fine. The time is 8:45, 16 the meeting is adjourned. 17 (The public board meeting concluded at 18 8:45 p.m.) 19 20 21 22 23 24 Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003 Page 138 Page 138 CERTIFICATE OF ACCURACY I, Claudia Marques, certify that the foregoing transcript of the Board meeting of the Town of Cortlandt on January 6, 2026 was prepared using the required transcription equipment and is a true and accurate record of the proceedings. Certified By Date: January 22, 2026 GENEVAWORLDWIDE, INC 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669 New York, NY 10003 Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 228 Park Ave S - PMB 27669. New York, NY 10003