Winery at St. George Proposes Parking Lot, Asks for Town Approval

A local businessman who is proposing to use his own money to build a parking lot, that would also be used by the town for educational purposes, should receive an answer by the Yorktown town board at their June 5 meeting. 

Tom DeChiaro, owner of in Mohegan Lake, has a plan to use part of town parkland abutting his property to use for several parking spaces for his business. As part of the project, he would pave the parking lot and essentially residents would be able to get to the town park and use it. 

"It will be a win for everyone," DeChiaro said. 

Jeff Econom, the project engineer, said they would clean up the existing wetland and provide 12 parking spaces. In addition, the town would be able to use the site during the day for educational purposes – school children and the public could learn about wetlands.

The Winery would need to be rezoned as "transitional" zone, something town board members are expected to vote on in two weeks.

Most residents, who spoke during a public hearing last week, said they were in favor of DeChiaro's plan and asked town board members to let the business owner do something positive for the town. One woman called the area an "eyesore" and applauded DeChiaro for willing to use his own money to spruce it up.

Those who disagreed with allowing the Winery to use the town-owned parcel, included some members of the Advisory Committee on Open Space and the Yorktown Land Trust. They questioned whether it was legal to let parkland be used for non-park purposes. 

"I don't want to see the [Yorktown] parkland be used as a parking lot for a private business," Paul Moskowitz said. 

Town attorney Jeanette Koster said she did not see any legal problems. 

DeChiaro said he envisions to working with an artist in the future to erect a sculpture of St. George at the town park and name it St. George. This week the Winery is and has planned a number of . 

Councilman Nick Bianco called the plan "good," but said additional information was needed before the board could vote.