Operators of Jan Peek House aren’t only looking to renew their special permit with the city, they’re looking to transform the temporary housing facility they’ve been occupying for the past three decades at North Water Street. 

At Monday’s Common Council work session, Joseph Thompson, the architect representing Caring for the Hungry and Homeless of Peekskill (CHHOP), presented plans to renovate the facility and improve quality of life for clients.

Some plans include increasing the number of beds from 24 to 28, raising the floor in accordance with flood mitigation standards, and providing better amenities to clients such as increased opportunities for training and mentoring programs.

Currently, the facility is entirely on the second floor of the property at 200 North Water St. Renovations would expand the facility to the first floor, with the second floor becoming primarily for evening use and the first floor for daytime use.

Spaces on the first floor would include a community room, a commercial kitchen where clients can learn basic food prep and meal making skills, a community dining hall accommodating about 40 people and would also function as a workforce training center, and private offices for staff.

The second floor would have enhanced sleeping quarters divided by gender, veterans, and emergency service clients, individual private rooms, improvements to the bathrooms which currently have only a single shower, a service area that provides medications, and a small lounge for evening hours.

Planned renovations also include providing contained outdoor recreational areas and gardens, an outdoor eating area, moving the dumpster to the back of the site, dedicated parking on site, accessibility features such as handicapped parking, a ramp, and an elevator.

“It’s difficult for anyone who has any disabilities,” Thompson said. “It’s difficult to get to [the second floor emergency services space]. You have to use a wheelchair lift that ascends the stairs.”

Mayor Vivan McKenzie said the proposed improvements looked wonderful and asked what plans they have to keep the lease. Thompson said CHHOP is in the process of negotiating a 15-year lease, and that it is their understanding with the property owners that they have a permanent home.

“We’re hopeful that with these improvements, that we’ll be able to provide an environment that will better accommodate the clients,” Thompson said. “And provide the resources that they need to help grow and heal through this transitional period when they’re there at the facility.”

Council raises concerns about an incoming early intervention program and the bus stop it’s requesting

Los Niños Services, which has provided early intervention services for young children with developmental disorders and delays in Westchester for 25 years, is requesting two parking spots on South James Street be converted to bus loading for weekday services for their new location at 1200 Brown Street.

The program would serve about 20 to 30 children initially with capacity for slightly more and would occupy the first floor of 1200 Brown St. It is primarily for two year olds with autism, and speech and physical disabilities. The organization plans to use up to six small buses to drop off twice a day (8:15 am and 12pm) and pick up twice a day (11 am and 2:30 pm)

City Manager Matt Alexander said Chief Leo Dylewski asked the city Planning Department to review the request from the provider.

“Los Niños has determined there is sufficient space in the area to accommodate three small buses,” Alexander said. “Loading on James would allow children to be dropped off right next to the building which would be the safest method.”

Deputy Mayor Patricia Riley suggested visible signage informing drivers that the space is a drop off zone for children.

While Councilman Ramon Fernandez said he observed a need for the facility, Councilman Dwight Douglas said he found it troublesome that “everything” comes to Peekskill and said they couldn’t cover everything from the county.  “It’s just ridiculous I think sometimes. Let’s take the poorest community and put everything there, thank you very much.”

Douglas asserted that the county often headquarters social service organizations in Peekskill, without providing commensurate financial support. 

“We have more affordable housing probably per capita than anybody,” he said. Douglas feels the county is haphazardly approving the city as a support hub, which could have drawbacks for Peekskill. “I mean we can be overloaded, you can take on too much, and then your police department has to grow… Instead of doing stuff that’s positive, you wind up having to be defensive.”

Mayor Vivian McKenzie said she was not ready to move forward with the item and said they needed more discussion. She was concerned about how the Los Niños buses might affect drop off and pick up for a daycare planned for the lobby of Park Place Towers (technically 1108 Brown Street).

According to a memo from Alexander, this facility already has pick up and drop off spaces designated on site and on Park Place. Mayor Vivian McKenzie noted this had been a significant negotiating point between the city and the daycare facility.

“That was part of the agreement for them [1108 Brown Street facility] to get whatever they needed, that they were doing everything in that lot so there was no street pick up and drop off for that daycare. They had to come to us for a special permit and that was a big thing because we were really concerned about the safety of the children.”

City Planner Carol Samol said on-street drop off for the 1108 Brown Street facility would be on Park Place and that the off-street parking is in a lot off James Street. 

The mayor also questioned how many kids receiving early intervention services from the new Los Niños location would be from Peekskill.

Scott Mesh, the co-founder of Los Niños Services, said he believed the majority of the kids are going to be from Peekskill. 

“We located this spot [1200 Brown Street] because a lot of the children that are now bused to Vahalla and Hawthorne, other sites, are from Peekskill,” he said. “So my guess is probably around two-thirds or so of the children are going to be [from] Peekskill.”

Mesh also said that funding for the program is provided through the state as well as private insurance and Medicaid. They would employ about 20 to 30 staff, with most being teacher assistants who would likely come from Peekskill, he said.

McKenzie requested documentation of how many kids would be coming from Peekskill.

Section 8: No complaints from 901 clients or any current voicemail issues

Several tenants have complained about their living conditions at 901 Main St. but according to the Section 8 office, the building is still passing housing inspections.

Tenants met with State Sen. Peter Harckham and City Manager Matt Alexander two weeks ago, complaining about crime at the property, infestations of mice, random fees being assessed to apartments in addition to rent, and mold on the walls.

But at least when it came to Section 8 clients, there have been no complaints according to Section 8 Director Jessica Ganus, who said they only read about complaints when tenants came to the council.

“From what I’m reading, most of the complaints are really related to the crime over there,” Ganus said. “As far as the standards and inspections, they’re still passing inspections.”

Councilman Dwight Douglas asked if Section 8 could nudge the building owners about scaffolding that was supposed to be taken down in October and is impacting most of the commercial businesses there, he said.

“We’ve been in communications with the property manager and she’s informed us of things as well,” Ganus said. “We’re kind of limited in what we can do but we are communicating to try to put a little nudge in her back to kind of address these matters when it comes to the crime, but I’ll definitely reach out about the scaffolding.”

Another issue raised by Councilman Ramon Fernandez was about Section 8 clients who reported the phone system for Section 8 not working and preventing callers from leaving voicemail for staff. 

According to Ganus, clients should still be able to leave a voicemail message. Section 8 has a 48 hour time frame to get back to them and clears out their voicemails everyday, she said. 

“Sometimes a lot of clients call the general line when they really want their caseworkers,” Ganus said. “But they can still call that line and leave a voice message and we get back to them.

Mayor Vivian McKenzie said she also received several complaints about the issue and asked if Ganus could check the line to confirm that it’s getting people’s voicemails.

“There was a day last week that our whole internet was down, so that could be the day too,” Ganus said. “We did notify the City Manager’s office of that, so we returned the calls once we got the internet, which was the next day, but it was down.”

Ganus requested to solicit bids for Section 8’s professional cleaning services; a resolution do to so will be part of the Dec. 23 meeting agenda.

City needs insurance package before firefighters can start at Cortlandt-Peekskill RPS, Inc.

The City of Peekskill and Town of Cortlandt’s new paramedic not-for-profit program needs to obtain an insurance package before firefighters can start in January.

City Manager Matt Alexander presented a resolution saying that the city of Peekskill will take responsibility for its share of workers compensation insurance should the Cortlandt-Peekskill RPS, Inc. entity fall apart.

The current entity will be funded 50 percent by Peekskill and 50 percent by the Town of Cortlandt, but if they were unable to fund claims, then the municipalities of Peekskill and Cortlandt would be liable, Alexander said.

The corporation is considering a workers compensation insurance proposal submitted from Public Employer Risk Management Association (PERMA), a member-owned, not-for-profit association of public entities. PERMA’s legal structure requires having a municipal corporation serve as a guarantor.

“The way we would budget this is we would continue to make the payments just like we do now,” Alexander said. “The city has PERMA right now. It makes payments based on what PERMA says, it’s audited by PERMA, and we do our own checks on that [audit]… This [the new agreement] is just saying that the city is not only an owner but that it is responsible for these entities.”

If PERMA is approved by the Board Directors for Cortlandt-Peekskill RPS, Inc., then Peekskill and Cortlandt would acknowledge they are responsible for any outstanding workers compensation claims accruing during the period.

Mayor Vivian McKenzie said she believed they were in a better position than previous numbers looked at.

“I think we need to remember that we’re taking more of the responsibility than what we had and putting this project together with both municipalities is why we’re looking at this,” she said. “But looking at the numbers that we had looked at before, I think we’re in a better place.”

Councilman Ramon Fernandez requested a copy of a similar resolution recently passed by the Town of Cortlandt on the matter.

Developer seeks to bring health club to former Rite Aid location 

A developer is seeking to renovate most of the former Rite Aid store as a 9,050 square foot Health Club at 1101 Main St which is located in the Crossroads Shopping Center in the C-2 zoning district downtown.

Because zoning laws do not currently permit health clubs in the C-2 zoning district, applicant Wilson Narvaez submitted a petition to amend the City Code to include Health Clubs in the C-2 zoning district by a Special Permit. Staff have recommended that the amendment also allow clubs to be permitted in the C-1 District.

The proposed health club, Anytime Fitness, is part of an international health club franchise with more than 5,200 existing locations, including Bedford, Yorktown, and Ossining.

It would be located on the ground floor and or basement of the building, possibly also occupying additional space on the second floor. It would be open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and with an exclusive entrance not shared with any other use in the building.

The club may contain weights, exercise equipment, tanning and or hydro-massage equipment, lockers, restrooms, showers, office and storage space, and activities such as group exercise classes, relaxation classes, licensed massage therapy and or personal training. It will also sell pre-packaged food, beverage, and or branded merchandise.

The club has proposed to use the same 24-hour security used at other Anytime Fitness locations which include access control, cameras, closed-circuit television, panic buttons, tailgate and alarm systems all connected to a monitoring station.

City Manager Matt Alexander said they will be referring the proposal to the Chief of Police and Planning Commission to get feedback.