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YORKTOWN, N.Y. – A public hearing on a proposed Costco Wholesale Club brought out hundreds of Yorktown residents who engaged in hours of sometimes-contentious back-and-forth dialogue for and against the project.
Monday's hearing focused on the 2,200-page draft environmental impact statement of the 150,000-square-foot building proposed for 3200 Crompond Road.
Opponents say Costco would increase traffic, hurt local businesses and cause a number of other environmental concerns. Although Costco expects to bring in more than $900,000 in new tax revenue to the town and school district, many say the net gain would be lessened if Costco drove out competing business, including the nearby BJ’s Wholesale Club.
“I’m quite positive that within five years, either BJ’s will be out or Costco will be out,” said Mohegan Lake resident Andrew Fisher. "This area can’t sustain both. There’s plenty of evidence around that. Circuit City came in on Route 6, then Best Buy decided they needed to open up across the street. Boom, Circuit City is out. This is economic development in a big retail world.”
Supporters say competition could only help other businesses in town. Chamber of Commerce President Joe Visconti said all businesses in the chamber favor the Costco, including BJ’s.
“This company is going to be here for a long time,” Visconti said. “They’re not going to come to Yorktown and build a building that’s not going to work. They’re making a major multimillion-dollar investment in Yorktown, and quite frankly, in this economy, we should welcome that.”
Supporters also say traffic concerns are overblown and said the state Department of Transportation has entered into a public/private partnership with Costco to make nearly $10 million worth of improvements along Route 202. The improvements would include widening Route 202 to five lanes between Strang Boulevard and the Parkside Corner Shopping Center.
The hearing took place in the Nutrition Center Room at the Yorktown Community & Cultural Center at 1974 Commerce St. It was moved from the board's regular meeting space in Room 104 in anticipation of the large turnout.
The board decided to adjourn the hearing to a future meeting because of the high number of residents still with comments. Board members assured residents it will not close the hearing until all comments – written or verbal – have been heard.
Comments (1)
Since you insisted on quoting Andrew Fisher and made it such a big part of the article, I wanted to point out that he was wrong on many points, including his Circuit City comments. Their store in Cortlandt closed because the company filed for chapter 11 and the entire chain went out of business. I spoke to him afterwards and he claimed that the Cortlandt store closed before that, but he was completely wrong. I know this because I shopped there during their going out of business sale, which was chain-wide. He was also wrong about Linens and Things going out because of Bed Bath and Beyond (they also went out of business), and about Sears closing in White Plains (they just moved to the Galleria). And while I'm at it, he was wrong about Walmart opening a new store across the street from them in Cortlandt but holding onto the old store to keep it empty to keep competition out. Their lease was running out, and that was why they wanted to build their own store across the street. That got a cold reception and the owners of the Cortlandt Town Center ended up buying the land, so Walmart is not moving there anymore.
What you should have put in the article (which was mentioned by at least one speaker) was how BJ's is opening a new club in Brookfield, CT, a mere 1/4 of a mile down the road from an existing Costco. This shows that not only can BJ's compete against Costco,they're spending millions of dollars to build a store to do so! And what did Costco do? They expanded their store there and put in a gas station to compete! People from Yorktown drive 30+ minutes to get to Costco in Brookfield. There is no Costco to the north of us. You don't think that there is enough untapped demand to support both a Costco and BJ's in town? Not to mention that they are different stores, not identical as people who don't know any better claim.