And still, Councilman Ken Jones insists he hasn't heard any negative comments about the proposal. It's the old saw, say it often enough and people will believe it. Sadly, while Mr Jones openly flaunts this position, he attended a meeting over a year ago at the Westchester View Lane homes and stood in a resident's driveway surrounded by many neighbors who live nearby, hearing (but obviously not listening) from everyone there. They all said openly, politely but firmly that they opposed the project!
Let's momentarily discuss semantics of what this means. We're sure that Mr Jones, an attorney, is willing to parse words and say the opposition he heard on that day was about a bubble being proposed, not a permanent five-story-warehouse-sized building on the Golf Range property. He subsequently met with residents of the Secor Homes' neighborhood including two Civic Association Presidents who all steadfastly objected to the zoning change and the GameOn 365 proposal. There's not much wiggle-room.
Many believe the former Frank's Nursery was closed and abandoned initially because of the contamination on the property and more about the high costs associated with remediating it, even way back then. In fact, the Town Board did what is does best when confronted with real problems. They ignored it. So is Mr Jones deluding himself or towing Mr Feiner's "company line" saying he's in favor of the proposal because he hasn't heard any objections? The three "yes' votes to move this process forward, while disappointing, are frankly, expected. More interesting than the cost of remediation for this property, was Town Attorney Tim Lewis' declaration and assurance that remediation would cost no more than $100k, and yet nothing was done to make the property whole and salable.
Let's momentarily discuss semantics of what this means. We're sure that Mr Jones, an attorney, is willing to parse words and say the opposition he heard on that day was about a bubble being proposed, not a permanent five-story-warehouse-sized building on the Golf Range property. He subsequently met with residents of the Secor Homes' neighborhood including two Civic Association Presidents who all steadfastly objected to the zoning change and the GameOn 365 proposal. There's not much wiggle-room.
Many believe the former Frank's Nursery was closed and abandoned initially because of the contamination on the property and more about the high costs associated with remediating it, even way back then. In fact, the Town Board did what is does best when confronted with real problems. They ignored it. So is Mr Jones deluding himself or towing Mr Feiner's "company line" saying he's in favor of the proposal because he hasn't heard any objections? The three "yes' votes to move this process forward, while disappointing, are frankly, expected. More interesting than the cost of remediation for this property, was Town Attorney Tim Lewis' declaration and assurance that remediation would cost no more than $100k, and yet nothing was done to make the property whole and salable.
Also interesting is the Town Board's cavalier attitude toward the significant revenue stream that could be generated in taxes if the former Frank's Nursery property was remediated and single family homes were built similar to Westchester View Lane's homes. Just the Golf Range space allotted to GameOn 365's proposal could generate upwards of just under $1 million dollars a year in tax revenue! Combine that with a properly remediated Frank's Nursery property and we would easily clear over a million dollars in tax revenue a year for the Town, the school district and fire district, etc. That income would go a long way toward paying down the $6.5 million penalty of Mr Feiner's guilty verdict of discrimination against the Fortress Bible Church.
Many of the Towns Civic Association's agree that landowners should be able to reasonably do what they want with a property. However, numerous considerations, such as zoning, traffic, safety, existing neighbors, Comprehensive Plans etc., must be a part of the decision making process for their developments. By circumventing these factors and making a decision on behalf of friends or worse still, because something is in it for them (and we have no evidence indicating this is the case), has befallen many politicians who got very comfortable doing as they pleased as their political tenure increased. After 22-years, we're sure Mr Feiner has gotten too comfortable.
ABG maintains Mr Feiner and his Board are not conforming to the spirit, the intent or the legality of the rules and regulations the Town has in place for development in Unincorporated Greenburgh. A portion of the Town Board follows his mandates in lock-step and for their own political expediency - go along to get along. Why else would they disrespect the residents? In a private meeting we attended held within the Town, a resident asked us, "What's in it for (Mr) Feiner? Why would he blatantly disrespect us?" No one could not furnish a satisfactory answer.
This project promises to build and pave over roughly 20 to 25 acres of pervious property. Why is this significant? First, they proposed to use septic if possible for approximately 7,000 gallons of liquid waste a day. Second, a facility this size generating this much waste cannot rely on septic and will need to be plumbed into the existing plumbing infrastructure. ABG is concerned about water runoff, which already affects this site, the surrounding neighborhood and the easily flooded 9A corridor. We're sure the developers will promise to build cisterns, dry wells and whatever it takes to satisfy the minimal Town Boards softball questions regarding flood mitigation. More important is that runoff water will be directed into the already over-burdened and usually saturated Saw Mill River and the 9A corridor. But once the Town Board makes itself the Lead Agency for the project, all answers to questions such as flooding, increased traffic, lighting, etc., will be moot and summarily dismissed.
The Town Board will be voting to become the lead agency this week on April 8th. Officially the meeting has a start time. But when something controversial is broached, Mr Feiner will pad the meeting with tributes, poetry readings, recognition awards and other useful devices to discourage the public from remaining and /or participating in the events. Once this topic comes up on the agenda, Mr Feiner will state that they cannot make an informed decision and they must make themselves the Lead Agency so they can have the traffic study, the environmental and other studies completed to help them in the decision-making process. Don't believe that for a second! There is no legal requirement for them to become the Lead Agency nor run any studies. They have the legal authority to dismiss this request. But will they? Your presence is required to help them see the light. Only then will we have A Better Greenburgh.
No comments:
Post a Comment