Good afternoon everyone, I just wanted to take a moment to respond to the email that was just sent inappropriately by Mike Fareri to the entire town regarding the restaurant all 643+ of you have so thoughtfully backed with your support.

For those of you who don’t know him, Mr. Fareri has been a longtime resident of town and developed several projects in town over the years.  However, he is not an elected official, nor does he have any official stature in Armonk politics.  He has been a known agitator for decades and as long as I have known him he has interfered with not only my project by several others in town in furtherance of his own motives,. You can read more about his MO for yourself in the New York Times and his history or making himself out to be a victim in The Examiner.  It came to my attention a few months ago that he has been plotting to derail plans for the restaurant at our location in an effort to have us instead move to a property that he owns, purely for his own profit.  When we indicated that we were not interested in relocating, he then continued to turn up the heat in an effort to sabotage our project - entirely out of spite.

For those who have not been following along with this year-long saga, the Planning Board granted our project an approval earlier this month with a condition that we would arrive at a set of community benefits donated to the town. This agreement, aptly called a community benefits agreement, is exactly what it sounds like – a proposal of benefits to be provided by us to the town in furtherance of the public good.  We have proposed the slate of benefits detailed at bottom of this note in a verbatim copy of the letter provided to the Town Board. These benefits are intended specifically to improve walkability, pedestrian safety, and parking availability in town. Mr. Fareri has offered no such solution, and in fact has previously railed against the town's demands for real estate owners to offer these sorts of agreements at all. However, despite the fact that the only other projects bound by these agreements are 50x our size, we are happy to do it and to support the Armonk community which we love and call home.

As has become his habit, Mr. Fareri provided misleading information that is no longer relevant, in the form of a letter from the police department from a couple of months ago.  these issues were taken under advisement, and our site plan was revised in order to mitigate these concerns. Our application was considered by the Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Architectural Review Board, and the town's traffic and engineering consultants, all of whom signed off on this project.

To be clear, Mr. Fareri does not make or enforce the town code.  Ironically, his property that he mentions received a zoning variance of the same type and scale that we did, and while we provided mitigation in the form of nearby parking inventory 30% in excess of the town requirements, he has done no such thing.

We have been working directly with our public officials to devise and implement this slate of benefits, which will improve our community in a tangible and meaningful way.  Below is a breakdown of our proposal, I hope you will review and imagine what Armonk would look like if these initiatives are effectuated.

Mr. Fareri's current project is the multifamily building under construction on Bedford Road, and to my knowledge he has offered no such benefits.  I would welcome him in joining me in offering a comprehensive package of benefits to further improve our community as we grow.  We apologize for his wasting your valuable time with this nonsense.

-The Wren of the Woods team

From our proposal to the Town Board...

We propose a community benefits package that serves Armonk’s residents and visitors by spearheading efforts to form a long-desired parking district in downtown Armonk, as well as a series of cash and in-kind contributions to further address known streetscape and transportation issues as outlined in the 2018 Comprehensive Plan and 2020 Parking Study.  This proposal is in addition to an estimated $3.5 million in incremental property and sales taxes expected to be generated by the business over the next 30 years as well as impact fees paid to private parties.  The benefits proposed in the CBA are intended to directly support various Boards, Committees and Departments within North Castle, with an intent to deliver prior to Certificate of Occupancy at 12 Maple, pending Town timeline for acceptance, and are enumerated below:

Issue Advocacy:

As part of the entitlement process for 12 Maple and as a way to engage the community on related issues, we launched the “Sustainable Streets Armonk” Facebook group which now claims 65 actively engaged resident members.  We have been working with leadership at Strong Towns, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting sustainable and resilient development patterns in cities and towns, and intend to evolve this group into a local chapter of Strong Towns. Through education, advocacy, and community engagement, they strive to empower local leaders and citizens to build financially strong and socially vibrant communities.

Parking District - $300,000+:

• In-kind contribution of 15 parking spaces to catalyze the to-be-formed parking district, with replacement value of $270,000 using the Town Engineer’s cost estimate of $18,000 per space
• Attend / lead (as requested) meetings with landowners in advocacy for district formation (Principal time valued at $300 / hr)
• In-kind contribution of zoning & feasibility analysis for properties within district (typically $3,000 - $10,000 each)

Highway / Transportation - $19,000:

• $10,000 to sponsor repairs to downtown sidewalks
• $5,000 to install a new crosswalk across Maple Avenue between 12 Maple Avenue and
• $2,000 to sponsor “Public Parking” wayfinding signs for Hergenhan, Wampus Brook, Armonk Square, Kent Place and Town Hall lots
• $1,000 for “Pedestrian Crosswalk” signs on both sides of Maple avenue
• $1,000 for “No Stopping” signs on either side of CVS driveway

Beautification Committee - $11,000:

• $5,000 to sponsor planting of approximately 250’ LF of curb strips on the North side of Maple Avenue between Hergenhan Rec Center and 6 Maple Avenue (owner permitting)
• $5,000 sponsorship contribution toward restoring the North Castle Eagle sign
• $1,000 to sponsor planting of a mature male gingko tree in the empty tree pit in front of 407 Main Street (owner permitting)

Open Space Committee - $10,000:

• $10,000 to sponsor clearing to restore approximately 4,000’ LF of trail between by clearing brush

Sustainability Committee - $6,000:

• $6,000 or equivalent in-kind services to sponsor one year of hauling of food scraps for the Town’s new food waste program

North Castle Historical Society - $5,000

• $5,000 to sponsor design, printing, and installation of historical information signage in public space in Armonk’s downtown hamlet