New Rochelle Planning Board Meeting - April 28, 2026
New Rochelle Planning Board Meeting – April 28, 2026
The Planning Board of New Rochelle met on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at 7:00 PM in Council Chambers. The meeting included a public hearing portion for site plan applications, followed by discussion and recommendations on zoning board referrals and administrative amendments. Several items were adjourned, and one site plan was approved. The board also heard public comment from a neighboring resident regarding a proposed place of worship.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (November 2024, December 2024, January 2025, March 2025, January 2026, and February 2026): Approved unanimously by a voice vote (all ayes).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Application PB 3-2026 (Place of Worship, 3 The Boulevard): William Vetter, a resident of 36 Orchard Place, expressed opposition. He argued that the property was never designed for a church, that the valet parking plan is unrealistic, and that the congregation would primarily come from outside the community. He cited past issues with neighboring properties and urged the board to reject the application.
Discussion Items
- Application PB 3-2026 (Clayton Mattis – Place of Worship, 3 The Boulevard): The applicant proposed converting a non‑conforming office building into a place of worship with a ground‑floor sanctuary for 191 occupants. A valet parking plan was presented to accommodate 55 spaces (required 53). Board members raised concerns about vehicle circulation, queuing, fire safety, access for persons with disabilities, the density of parking in a historic district, and inadequate screening of the parking area from adjacent residences. The board recommended an adjournment to allow the applicant to provide additional information on valet operations, landscaping/screening, accessible loading, and a re‑evaluation of parking demand based on accessory uses (e.g., Sunday school). The applicant consented. A motion to adjourn was made, seconded, and passed unanimously (all ayes). The public hearing was left open for future comment.
- Application PB 4-2026 (Mark Mustacato – New One‑Family Residence, 236 Wilmot Road): The applicant presented plans for a new single‑family home with a rear‑oriented three‑car garage, a tree mitigation plan replacing 102 caliper inches of removed trees with 102 caliper inches of new plantings, and a stormwater management system using 22 recharge units. Board members asked about exterior lighting (confirmed shielded), HVAC screening, and tree removal (city arborist review required prior to removal). The city’s arborist had not yet reviewed the landscape plan. Staff read conditions of approval, including reconstruction of the driveway curb cut, installation of smoke/CO detectors, compliance with egress requirements, and arborist review. The applicant accepted the conditions. A motion for site plan approval was made, seconded, and passed unanimously (all ayes).
- Board on Zoning Referral – Case #12-2026 (David Abish – Addition and Pool, 12 Elm Ridge Drive): The applicant sought an area variance for a 0.335 floor area ratio (4,731 sq. ft.) exceeding the maximum 0.30 (4,238 sq. ft.) by about 500 sq. ft. No variances for setbacks or other features were needed. The board voted unanimously to issue a neutral referral.
- Board on Zoning Referral – Case #13-2026 (Joseph Scalisi – Parking Lot Expansion, 21 Circuit Road): The property owner requested variances for a 12‑foot front yard setback (required 25 ft.) and a compact parking space in a lot with fewer than 50 spaces. The board discussed an existing shared access easement and the potential for the adjacent property to revoke it. A motion for a neutral referral was made, seconded, and passed (all ayes).
- Board on Zoning Referral – Case #17-2026 (Rev. Ricardo Serrano – Place of Worship, 109 Fourth Street): The applicant sought to legalize the conversion of a social club (299 occupants) to a place of worship (350‑person sanctuary, plus community room and offices). The zoning code required an additional 16 parking spaces but none existed on site. The board voted unanimously for a neutral referral.
- Board on Zoning Referral – Case #18-2026 (Michael Mastrogiacomo – Two‑Family Conversion, 132 Sickles Avenue): The applicant requested variances for a floor area ratio of 0.46 (3,081 sq. ft. vs. 2,600 allowed) and lot area per dwelling unit of 3,332 sq. ft. vs. required 3,500 sq. ft. The board noted tight parking layout but found the conversion generally compatible. A motion for a neutral referral was made, seconded, and passed (all ayes).
- Administrative Amendment – Temple Israel (1000 Pinebrook Blvd.): The board approved a previously approved site plan amendment to eliminate a kiddie pool and proceed with a single pool and pump house. The applicant had been working toward a building permit. The motion to approve the administrative amendment was made, seconded, and passed unanimously (all ayes).
Key Outcomes
- Adjourned until further notice: PB 26‑2023 (Guild Capital, Premium Point Road).
- Adjourned to May meeting: PB 18‑2025 (Ferdinand Martignetti, Congress Place) and PB 1‑2026 (Iona Preparatory School, Wilmot Road).
- Adjourned with public comment left open: PB 3‑2026 (Clayton Mattis, place of worship) – applicant to provide additional parking, landscaping, and operational details.
- Approved site plan: PB 4‑2026 (new residence at 236 Wilmot Road) – subject to conditions including arborist review and standard permits.
- Neutral referrals issued for zoning board cases #12, #13, #17, and #18‑2026.
- Administrative amendment approved for Temple Israel pool project (PB 5‑2025).
- Meeting adjourned at approximately 9:20 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. Welcome to the April 28th, 2026 Planning Board for the City of Neurochell. Planning Board meeting for the City of Neurochell. For those of you who have not attended a planning board meeting in the past, there are going to be two portions for the meeting. The first portion is a public hearing where applicants will come up and present their application. Members of the board will ask questions, and members of the public will have an opportunity to speak. After that, the applicant will come back up and address the comments from the public. She served as Chief Diversity Officer for the New York State Power Authority. She served as agency's equal employment officer and was the chief staff and executive vice president for corporate affairs at the New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation. In these roles, she was a key advisor to the governors and saw oversaw the budgets, programs and policies and legislative initiatives for eleven state agencies, boards, and authorities. Here. Kate Mercado? Here. Christine O'Connell? Here. And staff members with us today. Jeff Bream, Deputy Corporation Council, Paul Vaca, building official, Kevin Kane, Director of Planning and Sustainability, and myself, Benito Ceha, Senior Project Manager. Okay. And we'll move on to item 1.2. We have minutes for November 2024, December 2024, January 2025, March 2025, January 2026, and February 2026. Can I have a motion to approve these minutes? So moved. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay. Minutes are approved. We will move on to item uh two, and we'll start with 2.1. It's going to be adjourned. We have a couple of adjournments this evening. Item 2.1, application PB 26-2023 by Guild Capital LLC for site plan approval to construct a single family dwelling on Premium Point Road, block 50 lot 1, and an R1-10A zone district is adjourned till further notice. Also, item 2.2, application PB 18-2025 by Ferdinand Marinetti for site plan approval to construct a two-family dwelling at Congress Place, Block 976, Lot 54, and an R2-7 zone district is adjourned to the May meeting. So we will move on to item 2.3. Application PB 3-2026 by Clayton Mattis for site plan approval to convert an existing non-conforming office building to a place of worship with a ground floor sanctuary for 1909 occupants at 3 the Boulevard, Block 815 Lot 9, and an R1 Historic Zone District. Thank you. I'm Shaheen Badali, the engineer for the applicant, located at 2 Wilson Place, Mount Vernon, New York, 10550. So we have before you the application to convert an existing building. It's a non-conforming office building located in the historic district. And it's proposed to convert it to a place of worship. I'm just going to flip down to some floor plans first. So on the first floor is proposed to have a large sanctuary space with approximately a hundred seats, but the total occupant load that we're requesting is 191 based on floor area and other items in the building. And then on the third floor, we have a small prayer room as well as an office as well. And the parking load will be reflective both of this prayer room upstairs and the offices during one time, and then there will be another time where we are reflecting all of the uses at once. So this is the site plan displaying the parking layout with uh 16 self-parking spaces, and that's for the main use of the of the building, which will happen generally six days a week, which would be that the offices would be used, the basement would be used, the second uh the third floor prayer room and office. Um that amount of use equates to six uh uh excuse me uh 14 and change parking spaces and we're providing 16. Um the day where uh a sanctuary event is held on the first floor. Um we would then have a valet parking, which would propose to have 55 total spaces. Um the 191 seats triggers the requirement for approximately a little more than 38 parkings.
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