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Next Steps for Sound Stage Project Proposal
City of Yonkers Council Meeting, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, (TBA)

It is vital that your voice be heard!

Eileen O’Connor, past President of the Ludlow Park Residents Association, made opening remarks at the March 5th Community Meeting at the Chema Center. Mayor Spano, City of Yonkers Council Members, and National Resources representatives attended. The Center was packed with neighbors and friends.

Eileen explained the history of the project while Bob Morrow spoke about the negative environmental impact this would present. Ruth Montgomery addressed the lack of community involvement in the project planning. Mayor Spano gave some background on the sale of the property, explaining that no housing developers had made offers and that prior attempts to involve Westchester Community College had failed. National Resources said that based on information gleaned from their tour last month they had scaled back the project roughly twenty-five percent and the parking garage had been reduced to 125 cars.

During the Q & A many community members expressed their desire that this project not be built in our neighborhood. Community members expressed that the entire process felt rushed, a proper environmental assessment had not been conducted, nor had a proper traffic impact analysis been done. Some expressed a lack of confidence in a Community Based Agreement having any real impact on the community.

On March 11, the Council will be voting on whether to approve the rezoning recommendation. It is important that LPRA members attend this meeting and again express their concerns with this project.

Background
On Thursday, Feb 6, Ludlow Park residents were invited by National Resources to a tour of the Lionsgate Complex on Wells Avenue to increase our understanding of how film studios operate. Approximately thirty members of the community attended the tour. Several representatives from National Resources and Lionsgate were also present. The tour included a limited opportunity to voice our concerns about the project. As a result of the concerns expressed, National Resources responded with assurances that the scale of the project will be dramatically downsized including a parking garage of approximately 125 cars rather than 250. 

This increased input from the community is in response to the Yonkers City Council Public Hearing held on Tuesday, January 28, where Ludlow Park residents spoke out about the National Resources request for an amendment to the MG zoning district (Apartment Houses, Low Density) that currently applies to the former Rising Ground (a/k/a Leake and Watts) property. This amendment would allow National Resources to apply for a Special Permit to build a 5-studio complex measuring 150,000 square feet with a 250-car parking garage at the corner of Hawthorne Avenue and Valentine Lane.

At the hearing Ludlow Park residents attending spoke against the plan for several reasons: it sets a bad precedent to allow industry in a residential area; multiple traffic, pollution and health concerns; and it will despoil a beautiful open space with a 45-foot-tall building complex running the length of almost 1.5 football fields along Valentine Lane west from Hawthorne Avenue. Watch the hearing (Public Hearing 1, January 28, 2025) at https://view.earthchannel.com/PlayerController.aspx?&PGD=ynkny&eID=2894 .

Key Documents