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Record of Proceedings

Pleasantville Village Board Meeting: Traffic Studies, Panther Club Lottery, and Lennar Proposal - 2026-02-10

Village Board of Trustees & Boards — Tuesday, February 10, 2026
BodyPleasantville, New York
SessionVillage Board of Trustees & Boards
DateTuesday, February 10, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 3:22:41

Original source
Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.

Speaker 1

0:09

Good evening, all welcome to the work session for the village of Pleasantville Blood Festies.

0:14

Today is Monday, February 9, and we are starting in our work session.

0:20

First item is a presentation by DTS Provident Engineering regarding two traffic studies that they undertook at our request.

0:31

One was Nanahagan and the other was COP, it was Hopper Street.

0:37

Joining us tonight is Carlito Holt from DTS Provident.

0:44

Welcome, sir.

Unassigned speaker

0:47

Good

Speaker 2

0:47

evening, Mr.

0:48

Mayor, board and everyone in attendance.

0:51

Again, Carlito Holt with DTS Provident.

1:04

Excuse me.

1:07

I guess I don't know if if the board desires focusing on one first or second.

Speaker 1

1:13

Whichever you want, we're going to do

Speaker 2

1:14

a both.

Speaker 1

1:15

So

Speaker 2

1:15

yeah.

1:16

So I'll start with Hopper Street.

1:23

Excuse me.

1:26

So for Hopper Street, we observed traffic along Hopper Street itself, as well as vehicles entering and exiting the parking lot.

1:37

We did observe during uh a pickup drop off for what appeared to be a soccer practice.

1:44

Um, unfortunately, due to the time of the year, we didn't get any observations for larger events.

1:50

Um, but um really what I want to do is run through three concepts um that we ultimately developed for Hopper Street and the lot, and um then you know, kind of lead into what our uh preferred recommendation was.

2:06

The uh the first option was really maintaining the Hopper Street lot in its current condition, which is a one-way circulation, which you enter at the western end of the lot, circulate one way through the lot, and then exit at the eastern end.

2:22

Um the only thing that we looked at with this was whether there would be any opportunity to add on street parking along this portion of Hopper Street and convert to one way.

2:32

Uh, we didn't really feel um this would that this would provide an added benefit.

2:37

It gets a little difficult getting in and out of these residential driveways, uh, plus they would have to circulate through the parking lot now with the one-way orientation.

2:47

Um, the the only benefit would be the added parking, but I think as far as a circulation and safety standpoint, we didn't feel it was a viable alternative.

2:58

The next option was to convert the parking lot to a two-way circulation.

3:05

Uh, actually close the westernmost access and uh make

Unassigned speaker

3:10

the

Speaker 2

3:10

easternmost access, the sole access in and out of the lot.

3:14

This would just be striped, so you would still have this available for emergency services.

3:19

Um, you know, with the width of the of the the drive aisle and the parking lot, it it's more than adequate for two-way circulation, as well as the driveway here at the eastern end is more than adequate for two-way circulation.

3:33

Um, you know, what we didn't like in this option is it eliminates the option for parents that may be picking up to come in the western lot, pull up and have the passenger side um of their vehicle ready to receive their child and then continue on out.

3:51

Um, as well as I know there's uh camp operations here, which you know try to orient the one-way circulation to for more efficient operations.

4:00

So again, um, although you could convert it to the two-way and give uh vehicles the option of entering at the easternmost, uh, we didn't think it was beneficial to close the westernmost access.

4:10

So ultimately, we arrived at um maintaining both points of access, but creating a two-way circulation.

4:18

You know, everything is wide enough to support the two-way circulation, still provides um drivers the ability to come in the western end and do the pickup and continue on out, would allow for camp operations, but it also allows vehicles that you know maybe just arriving to park in the lot and go to the field to enter on the eastern end park and continue on and not have to go all the way down Hopper Street.

4:43

So it limits some of the traffic circulation going by those residents on the end of Hopper Street.

Unassigned speaker

4:50

Um,

Speaker 2

4:51

and then what we can work with uh DPW on is just cleaning this up a little bit more.

Unassigned speaker

4:56

This is pretty pretty um wide, so we could get some more striping in here that would help channelize the movements in and out.

Speaker 2

5:03

But ultimately, our recommendation would be um you know, maintain all the curb cuts as is, but convert the uh parking lot to two-way operation as well as the eastern and western access points to be allowed to operate two-way.

Unassigned speaker

5:19

All

Speaker 1

5:20

right, thank you for that.

5:21

And in part, what generated this was some complaints from folks who uh report that despite the theoretical arrangement at the moment, that's one way all the way down the hill on Hopped Hopper Street and then back up through the lot, plenty of people are going in the do not enter, which obviously is very wide and uh at quiet times uh is understandably perceived as not causing a problem.

5:48

Um that said, some complaints have arisen, and and I certainly get them that if you make the expectation that it's always going to

Unassigned speaker

5:56

work

Speaker 1

5:57

as it's signed, and in fact, drivers are routinely doing something different.

Unassigned speaker

6:02

We

Speaker 1

6:03

either need to reinforce the one-way in a much more draconian manner, or reflect reality, which I think is the recommendation you have come to.

6:13

Is that fair to say?

Speaker 2

6:15

Yeah, and I and I think if you look at the geometry of the lot, it was probably designed to be two-way, and then maybe at some point was switched to one way.

6:24

But I think um,

Unassigned speaker

6:27

you

Speaker 2

6:27

know, to your point, Mr.

6:28

Mayer, is is if if people are using it as a two-way and it's sufficient to be a two-way, um, and the one-way isn't isn't getting as as enforced as maybe it should be, then perhaps it's best to convert it to a two-way.

6:43

So then the expectations

Unassigned speaker

6:45

are

Speaker 2

6:45

that it is a two-way, so any driver wouldn't be caught off guard by a vehicle going against the one-way circulation.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Zoning And Land Use█████████████████████████25%
Transportation Safety██████████████████18%
Community Engagement████████████████16%
School Enrollment███████7%
Procedural███████7%
Youth Programs██████6%
Affordable Housing█████5%
Education████4%
Public Safety███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Pleasantville Village Board Meeting: Traffic Studies, Panther Club Lottery, and Lennar Proposal - 2026-02-10

Note on Date Discrepancy: The meeting agenda and raw transcript record the date as Monday, February 9, 2026. The provided metadata specifies the date as 2026-02-10. This summary uses the metadata date as instructed, noting the conflict.

The Village Board of Trustees convened for a work session followed by a regular meeting. The work session focused on local traffic studies and the reform of the Panther Club after-school program. The regular meeting featured a lengthy presentation and public comment period on the Lennar townhouse proposal for Campus Drive, alongside the adoption of routine resolutions and local laws.

Consent Calendar & Resolutions

The board approved eleven resolutions unanimously:

  • Budget Amendments (Res. 2026-37): Transfers totaling $65,430.79.
  • Actuarial Services (Res. 2026-38): Authorized an agreement with Danziger & Markhoff, LLP for GASB #75 services.
  • Unpaid Taxes (Res. 2026-39): Certified the account of unpaid taxes for FYE 2026.
  • Claims Payment (Res. 2026-40): Approved claims totaling $741,808.42 across all funds.
  • Personnel (Res. 2026-42, 44, 46, 47): Accepted resignations of Cook Richard Murden and Recreation Leader Thomas Bostwick. Authorized a pay increase for part-time Cook Frank Aiello to $25 per hour. Hired School Crossing Guard Yasemin Mitchell at $22.50 per hour.
  • Photography Waiver Policy (Res. 2026-45): Adopted a new policy for the Recreation Department.
  • Tax Cap Law (Res. 2026-43): Adopted Local Law 1 of 2026 to authorize a property tax cap override if necessary, described as an annual procedural step.

Public Hearings (Local Laws)

Three public hearings were conducted and closed during the regular meeting:

  1. ZBA Notice Period (Local Law 1): Extended the applicant's notice mailing period from 5 to 7 days. One resident questioned the need for this change after 20 years.
  2. Pre-K Schools (Local Law 2): Advanced a zoning code amendment to permit pre-K schools in the A1 district.
  3. Tax Cap Override (Local Law 3): The Board stressed this is a precautionary measure and does not indicate an intent to break the tax cap.

Public Comments & Testimony

Panther Club (Work Session):

  • Multiple parents characterized the current first-come, first-serve system as the "Hunger Games of Pleasantville."
  • Speakers advocated for fairness. Erica Pangello (100 Sunnyside Avenue) proposed a multi-tier lottery. Ashley Gray proposed a lottery fanned out by day. Julie Edwards (75 Children) supported a lottery without grandfathering.
  • A summary provided during the meeting stated roughly 70% of written comments sought capacity expansion, and 63% opposed grandfathering current enrollees.

Lennar Campus Drive Proposal (Regular Meeting):

  • Ashley Gray (36 Highland Terrace): Strongly criticized the board's due diligence, distributing materials linking Lennar to numerous lawsuits and poor construction quality. Argued firmly against rezoning.
  • Eric Zare (17 Hayes Hill): Opposed the project, asserting the traffic study was inadequate given current "F" and "E" traffic grades, and that the net fiscal impact on the schools was likely a loss. Suggested the applicant should provide more community benefits.
  • Antonio Garcia Jr. (7 Dennis Lane): Voiced opposition based on cumulative traffic burdens from recent developments and a lack of sufficient recreational fields for children.
  • Dory (Foxwood Resident): Urged rejection of the rezoning to preserve vital medical services provided by Atlas Peak Physical Therapy, which supports the senior community at Foxwood.
  • Nico Danasatos (3 Campus Drive, Atlas Peak Owner): Pleaded with the board to consider the loss of his business (950+ patient visits per month). Argued the building at 3 Campus Drive is fully occupied, contrary to the narrative of an empty site.
  • John Harris (7 Hillview Drive): Expressed aesthetic and traffic concerns, worrying about "townhome row" and the applicability of traffic data in a hybrid work world.
  • Bridget Egan (269 Nanahagan Road): Raised a question about using the Toll Brothers development as an apples-to-apples template for traffic and school impact data.

Discussion Items

1. Traffic Studies Presentation (DTS Provident Engineering) The board reviewed data from the village's traffic engineering consultant, Carlito Holt.

  • Hopper Street Parking Lot: The consultant recommended converting the lot to two-way circulation with both access points open, reflecting observed driver behavior and improving safety over the current poorly-enforced one-way system.
  • Nanahagan Road: The speed study found 85th percentile speeds were at or below the 30 mph limit, concluding that speeding was not a major issue. The creation of sidewalks was deemed impossible due to steep topography and high right-of-way acquisition costs. The consultant recommended radar speed signs over speed humps and noted that removing on-street parking would be highly controversial. The board requested further analysis of the 15 mph school zone parameters and enforcement.

2. Panther Club Program Reforms The board discussed overhauling the enrollment system for the 150-spot after-school program due to the stressful first-come, first-serve system, which left 52 families on a waitlist.

  • Proposal: A lottery system, no grandfathering, and earlier registration.
  • Outcome: Following public comment and board debate, a straw poll indicated a 3-2 vote in favor of the lottery system without grandfathering, making it the board's stated policy direction.

3. Lennar / US Home Townhouse Proposal (Campus Drive)

  • Applicant Presentation: Lennar presented a revised plan for 102 townhouses. Key arguments included: fiscal surplus for the village ($748k taxes) and school district ($1.6M revenue vs $0.9-1.4M costs from an estimated 41-52 schoolchildren), conservative traffic estimates, and superior open space preservation when compared to commercial alternatives.
  • Board Deliberation: Trustees expressed mixed views. Trustee David pushed for smaller workforce housing units rather than the proposed 3,000 sq ft luxury townhouses to meet documented market needs. Trustee Nicole cited overwhelming public opposition and a lack of a clearly articulated community benefit. The mayor acknowledged the property's zoning is an "accident of history" and that the existing commercial office status quo is financially unsustainable for the property owner.
  • Planning Consultant Advice: Village Planner Susan Fravate noted the master plan did not call for residential use here, but stated that residential redevelopment is the most likely market outcome given the site's limitations.

Key Outcomes

  • Panther Club: Board voted 3-2 to direct staff to implement a lottery system for enrollment without grandfathering and to move registration to late spring.
  • Lennar Application: The board took no formal action on the application. The applicant's request to declare lead agency was deferred to the February 23, 2026 meeting.
  • Traffic Studies: Accepted as information. Staff directed to perform a deeper dive on school zone speed enforcement and striping options for Nanahagan Road.
  • Local Laws: Three local laws were adopted (ZBA Notice Period, Pre-K Zoning, Tax Cap Override).
  • Resolutions (Consent Agenda): Eleven resolutions were approved unanimously.

Meeting Transcript

Good evening, all welcome to the work session for the village of Pleasantville Blood Festies. Today is Monday, February 9, and we are starting in our work session. First item is a presentation by DTS Provident Engineering regarding two traffic studies that they undertook at our request. One was Nanahagan and the other was COP, it was Hopper Street. Joining us tonight is Carlito Holt from DTS Provident. Welcome, sir. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, board and everyone in attendance. Again, Carlito Holt with DTS Provident. Excuse me. I guess I don't know if if the board desires focusing on one first or second. Whichever you want, we're going to do a both. So yeah. So I'll start with Hopper Street. Excuse me. So for Hopper Street, we observed traffic along Hopper Street itself, as well as vehicles entering and exiting the parking lot. We did observe during uh a pickup drop off for what appeared to be a soccer practice. Um, unfortunately, due to the time of the year, we didn't get any observations for larger events. Um, but um really what I want to do is run through three concepts um that we ultimately developed for Hopper Street and the lot, and um then you know, kind of lead into what our uh preferred recommendation was. The uh the first option was really maintaining the Hopper Street lot in its current condition, which is a one-way circulation, which you enter at the western end of the lot, circulate one way through the lot, and then exit at the eastern end. Um the only thing that we looked at with this was whether there would be any opportunity to add on street parking along this portion of Hopper Street and convert to one way. Uh, we didn't really feel um this would that this would provide an added benefit. It gets a little difficult getting in and out of these residential driveways, uh, plus they would have to circulate through the parking lot now with the one-way orientation. Um, the the only benefit would be the added parking, but I think as far as a circulation and safety standpoint, we didn't feel it was a viable alternative. The next option was to convert the parking lot to a two-way circulation. Uh, actually close the westernmost access and uh make the easternmost access, the sole access in and out of the lot. This would just be striped, so you would still have this available for emergency services. Um, you know, with the width of the of the the drive aisle and the parking lot, it it's more than adequate for two-way circulation, as well as the driveway here at the eastern end is more than adequate for two-way circulation. Um, you know, what we didn't like in this option is it eliminates the option for parents that may be picking up to come in the western lot, pull up and have the passenger side um of their vehicle ready to receive their child and then continue on out. Um, as well as I know there's uh camp operations here, which you know try to orient the one-way circulation to for more efficient operations. So again, um, although you could convert it to the two-way and give uh vehicles the option of entering at the easternmost, uh, we didn't think it was beneficial to close the westernmost access. So ultimately, we arrived at um maintaining both points of access, but creating a two-way circulation. You know, everything is wide enough to support the two-way circulation, still provides um drivers the ability to come in the western end and do the pickup and continue on out, would allow for camp operations, but it also allows vehicles that you know maybe just arriving to park in the lot and go to the field to enter on the eastern end park and continue on and not have to go all the way down Hopper Street. So it limits some of the traffic circulation going by those residents on the end of Hopper Street. Um, and then what we can work with uh DPW on is just cleaning this up a little bit more. This is pretty pretty um wide, so we could get some more striping in here that would help channelize the movements in and out. But ultimately, our recommendation would be um you know, maintain all the curb cuts as is, but convert the uh parking lot to two-way operation as well as the eastern and western access points to be allowed to operate two-way. All right, thank you for that. And in part, what generated this was some complaints from folks who uh report that despite the theoretical arrangement at the moment, that's one way all the way down the hill on Hopped Hopper Street and then back up through the lot, plenty of people are going in the do not enter, which obviously is very wide and uh at quiet times uh is understandably perceived as not causing a problem. Um that said, some complaints have arisen, and and I certainly get them that if you make the expectation that it's always going to work as it's signed, and in fact, drivers are routinely doing something different. We

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