The attorneys for the Landmark Project screwed up. They are the attorneys for Landmark project, and complained that they weren’t happy about having to re-present the project to the Board after Mr Sheehan referenced some procedural issues that were incorrectly done. Interestingly, those same attorneys were overheard responding to the question before the meeting if they were at tonight’s meeting representing GameOn 365? Their collective response in the vestibule area was, “Not tonight!”
It’s well known that Mr Feiner often and cavalierly spews numbers and fictional information as needed to make his argument for or against something. He’s also known to often put his foot in his mouth. He has previously stated that the Recreation Overlay Zone that GameOn 365 authored and requested be implemented for their sports bubble project, specifically for the former Frank’s Nursery property, is not spot zoning. Councilman Ken Jones has said the tax revenues from the sports bubble megaplex proposal would amount to more tax income for the Town than if homes were built on the property, similar to those on Westchester View Lane. He’s wrong. Mr Feiner said the Landmark proposal will generate $5M per year in tax revenue. He’s wrong. How do we know? Numerous people have run the numbers and they don’t gel with what Mr Feiner or Mr Jones have said!
At the Town Board work session of October 8, 2013, Councilman Ken Jones made a motion at the 32-second mark in this video “to authorize Thomas Madden to begin to investigate the possibilities of rezoning to recreational the Frank’s Nursery property for the December 3rd, “as is” auction, not withstanding.” “For recreational purposes,” added Mr Feiner. The vote was 3 to 2 in favor of having Mr Madden investigate the possibility of a recreation zone.
This was clearly an endorsed motion for spot-zoning for a particular piece of land. The three Board members in favor of the change are now backpedaling to cover their southern exposures after the outcry from the public has exposed their blatant intent. Apparently, in an effort to circumvent time, public hearings, criticism and general taxpayer resistance, Mr Madden went ahead and worked with the GameOn representatives to draft the Recreational Zoning Overlay zone change. There was no “open” discussion with the Town Board or the public as to what might be nice to have, required, necessary or unnecessary with a study. Their was no conference with the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee who intentionally left overlay zones out of the soon-to-be-proposed Comprehensive Plan for a reason. The existing Comprehensive Plan discussed Overlay Zoning but decided against it.
But, the Town administration either knows better than the public or simply doesn’t care about the public. ABG believes the latter to be the case. Because of the apparent collusion that seems to be taking place between GameOn 365 and the Town, we suspect they do know more than the public. They know all the closed-room deals that have been made, regardless of how many times Mr Feiner says he is telling the truth. After all, he was found guilty of lying under oath by a federal court. The public, however, continues to dig and uncover more. Why not just be honest and, dare we say it, open with the public?
But, the Town administration either knows better than the public or simply doesn’t care about the public. ABG believes the latter to be the case. Because of the apparent collusion that seems to be taking place between GameOn 365 and the Town, we suspect they do know more than the public. They know all the closed-room deals that have been made, regardless of how many times Mr Feiner says he is telling the truth. After all, he was found guilty of lying under oath by a federal court. The public, however, continues to dig and uncover more. Why not just be honest and, dare we say it, open with the public?
The former Frank’s Nursery property at 715 Dobbs Ferry Road is the intended and unintended casualty of all of this deflection by the Town administration with GameOn 365’s ludicrous proposal. It remains contaminated with carcinogenic debris and waste and has been ignored by the Town since they acquired it through foreclosure. By leaving it alone and focusing on the GameOn 365 proposal on the Golf Driving Range, the property will not only languish, it will become the bastard stepchild of the Town. No one will want the property should the GameOn 365 proposal move forward. We believe Mr Feiner will begin the woe-is-us story about how the Town is lucky GameOn 365 has agreed to take the former Frank’s Nursery property off the Town’s “hands” and will use it for a parking lot for their sports bubble. We hope this doesn’t happen. In fact, we hope the Town with its AAA Bond Rating, will float a bond, remediate the property and then sell it at market value. If that doesn’t happen, Mr Feiner has often said he has ten or more parties interested in purchasing the property, as is, out of the other side of his mouth. He refuses to say for what use these offers are interested in using it for. We believe its because there are no offers and this is just another delaying tactic to find a way to give the property to GameOn 365. Open government? Miscommunication? Misinformation? Non-Transparency? Hidden Agendas? A Board out of control! You decide. Only then can we get A Better Greenburgh.
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