Come Out and Be Heard Wednesday Night

There is the regularly scheduled Town Board meeting this Wednesday night that promises an evening of many topics of interest and legal violations. For the uninitiated, two of the topics will be directly affecting all of the Town residents throughout Greenburgh. The first one is the GameOn 365 debacle that was created through the illegal actions of The Paul and his administration. See the agenda item below in blue:

TB 1 - 1/09/13
Resolution of the Town Board expressing its intent to enter into a Purchase and Sale Agreement ("PSA") with Game On 365, LLC to purchase Town owned property at the former Frank's Nursery site at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road, for $1.65 million dollars for the purpose of constructing and operating a multi-purpose sport facility.
At issue with the bubble is a host of problems that this project creates for the neighborhood which The Paul bypassed by offering to hold an illegal referendum that he touted after it passed during the last election. Saying it was the “will of the people” he is now equally willing to disregard the public’s decision to consummate a rushed sale in hope of averting a scheduled court trial. This bubble sale will still include an 8-story high bubble, multiple leagues and tournaments, with the the subsequent traffic. They’ll install stadium lighting for the two outdoor fields which will contribute a glow to the area, as well as noise and traffic congestion creating a slow degradation of the neighborhood with increased bus and car traffic from the Elmsford, Ardsley, Greenburgh Central 7, Elmwood Day Care and Fortress Bible Schools. You may recall Fortress Bible just won the court case and the Town’s appeal was tossed to a tune of up to $8M. Finally, and more importantly, The Paul will illegally spot-zone this property from residential to commercial at the behest of GameOn 365. Operating within the technicalities of the law, The Paul and his merry band will bypass a Request For Proposal, the SEQRA study, open bids for the land and just hand it over to GameOn 365. Why? It’s what The Paul wants, it’s what he promised and it’s what he will do - residents be damned!

The second issue of importance is the Town is being asked to create a new zoning classification for Assisted Living Facilities that would violate existing zoning for similar facilities that simply doesn’t include the term Assisted Living Facilities. This change would allow four story buildings to be placed next to single family homes throughout the Town without any tangible limitations. This town-wide request is being made by the developer of the Brightview Assisted Living Center who has proposed a four story facility in a single-family residential neighborhood behind the gas station at Rt 119 and Benedict Avenue (across from the Sheraton Hotel). ABG is not against assisted living facilities in the Town. Quite the contrary, we encourage it. But, we don’t want our residential neighborhoods to suffer because of what a developer wants. See the agenda item below in blue:

CD 1 – 1/09/13
Resolution issuing a negative declaration for the SEQRA Determination of Significance by the Town Board of the Town of Greenburgh with respect to a local law entitled “Assisted Living Facilities” amending the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of Greenburgh by adding a definition of “Assisted Living Facilities” and by creating Special Permit criteria for such facilities, (2) a local law amending the Zoning Map of the Town of Greenburgh by rezoning the property shown on the tax assessment map of the Town as Parcel ID 7.170-46-5, 7.170-46-2 and 7.170-46-9 from R-7.5 single family residence and close business (C.B.) to R-7.5 single family residence, and (3) the proposed construction of a new residential assisted living facility containing approximately ninety (90) dwelling units on the property shown on the tax assessment map of the Town as Parcel ID 7.170-46-5, 7.170-46-2 and 7.170-46-9 by Shelter Development, LLC.

Open government, developer collusion, done deals, special interests? Come and see for yourself. You decide. Let your voice be heard Wednesday night! We hope you’ll come out, get involved and stop this train from barreling through the station unchecked. We can only hope.