Dive Brief:
- The Village of Port Chester, NY, has accepted the environmental review for a $450 million Starwood mixed-use development on the 15-acre site of a vacant hospital, according to the Journal News.
- If approved, developers predicted the more than 1-million-square-foot project would contribute $60 million to the Port Chester coffers, provide an annual payment of $2 million to local schools and generate 3,000 jobs. However, critics of the plan said they're concerned about how such a massive development will impact affordable housing, children and traffic.
- Port Chester officials said they will hold a public hearing about the project on Jan. 31, with additional workshops scheduled prior to a final vote, which is expected to happen as early as February.
Dive Insight:
Those Port Chester residents who are concerned with the effects of the project have lobbied officials to pursue a community benefits agreement with Starwood. The agreement would make development contingent on Starwood providing good-paying jobs, hiring local workers, offering low-income workforce housing, and paying for the costs of more children entering the crowded local school system and protections for small businesses.
Perhaps the benchmark for community benefit agreements is the deal that Facebook struck with Menlo Park, CA, where Facebook's headquarters is located. To ease city and citizen concerns around its new near-1-million-square-foot expansion — and to secure 20-year development rights and height-restriction waivers — the social media giant agreed to provide $430,000 in rent subsidies for teachers and police officers, as well as for other community-serving professionals, for five years; $6.3 million toward direct affordable housing funding; a $300,000 yearly payment to the city for up to 20 years; guaranteed yearly hotel tax revenue for the city of $1.25 million; infrastructure and road improvements; $60,000 annually for community pool maintenance and $100,000 annually in scholarships for up to 10 years.
Facebook and the city negotiated the agreement after residents expressed concern about how additional Facebook development — and the anticipated 6,550 additional employees — would impact traffic, infrastructure, affordable housing and overall quality of life.