The currently proposed plans to build an assisted living facility in Irvington show that the site plan has grown more than 25% from that originally submitted a year ago.
The current proposal tallies out at 132,000 square feet, up from 105,000 square feet.
The discrepancy comes from how Continuum were counting the size of the project. When the revised architectural design was submitted last fall, Continuum indicated that the size was basically unchanged from the original plan – still 105,000 square feet, with some of that square footage shifted below ground.
At a Planning Board meeting in November, Board members asked Continuum whether those figures included structured that were below ground, and specifically those with a grass roof above them. At that meeting, all the Planning Board members made clear that they felt that, even at 105,000 square feet, the project was simply too big for the site.
We finally got that answer at the Planning Board worksession held February 13. At that time, Continuum acknowledged that the currently proposed plan is now 132,000 square feet, more than 25% larger than they had portrayed it to be.
In fact, at the request of the Planning Board, Continuum stated that in order to comply with the “as of right” laws currently governing the site, they would only be able to build a 60,000 square foot facility on the site. Yet, the proposal is more than double that, at 132,000 square feet.
Continuum is expected to be on the agenda at the Planning Board meeting next Wednesday, March 6. Please plan to attend and share your thoughts on the project.
