Batavia plan panel to start review on One North Washington Place
The Batavia Plan Commission Wednesday will begin official discussions about the One North Washington Place development proposed for downtown.
A public hearing is scheduled at the meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. at the Batavia Government Center, 100 N. Island Ave.
As proposed, the nearly one-block complex of 185 apartments, stores and parking garage needs exemptions from city zoning law about maximum building height, the amount of window space on the first floor, and parking it would have to provide.
The commission may also begin reviewing other aspects of the design, such as landscaping and building materials.
Parts of the building would be up to 81 feet tall, which is 31 feet taller than allowed in the downtown. But the tallest part of the building would be on the lowest end of the hill on which the development would be built.
One North Washington LLC, a Shodeen company, wants to build on 2.2 acres, roughly bounded by Wilson. Washington, State and River streets. It would include an underground parking garage.
The city proposes to sell the current city parking garage at River and State streets, and other land, to the developer for $10. It is also going to pay for demolition of current buildings, and environmental remediation.
The city would pay the developer to build the new parking garage, with ownership being turned over to the city.
The city plans to create a new tax-increment financing district as part of supplying incentives for the development, and may borrow money to front the expense of constructing the parking garage.
Design drawings and color renderings are available at cityofbatavia.net.
The packet also contains an analysis of the parking available within 600 feet of the development. Some residents have criticized the plan for the parking garage, because some of the spaces in the new garage would be reserved for building residents. Owners of businesses on River Street have complained before about a lack of public parking, especially since the city removed spaces from River when it turned it into a plaza-like pedestrian-oriented space.
According to the report, the area currently has a deficit of at least 187 parking spaces, given the types of buildings and their users. With the new development, it would have a deficit of at least 157 spaces, according to Rich and Associates Inc., the consultants the city hired.