Council Sets Firehouse Eminent Domain and DEIS Public Hearings

 The Peekskill Common Council approved resolutions that accepted the central firehouse as complete and set public hearings on the DEIS and on Eminent Domain procedures for 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 13 during last night’s Special Common Council meeting.

The two issues have been the subject of debate over the last several months as members of the public have against eminent domain and the proposed firehouse location on the northwest corner of Main Street and Broad Street.

  The City Council has maintained that the firehouse is necessary to replace and that the location is best suited in terms of “topography, adjacent uses and structures, street and traffic conditions and routing options.”

The city set asideat the start of the project about three years ago. It has already purchased one of three properties it must acquire for the project, has entered into a contract of sale for acquisition of 1141 Main Street and continues to engage in negotiations for acquisition of the required portion of the Crossroads Shopping Center, according to the resolution passed last night.

City officials have maintained that they do not want to invoke Eminent Domain Procedure to acquire any of the properties needed for the firehouse, but are moving forward with the Eminent Domain process in case they do not reach an agreement with Tony Huang, the Crossroads Plaza.  

Read the full resolutions in the PDFs attached to this article.

The public can speak on the DEIS and Eminent Domain procedures on Aug. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers and the Director of Planning will be accepting comments on these two topics until Aug. 27 at 4 p.m.