Sprain Nursery Fire Could Accelerate Deal

At approximately 9PM on Sunday, a fire broke out at the Sprain Brook Nursery, located at 448 Underhill Road and burned into Monday morning. The building that caught fire at the  nursery literally burned to the ground during the multi-hour event. While the operation was strictly a “surround and drown” operation, no people were injured during the fire. This was the Nursery’s second fire in two years.

In December of 2014 the nursery suffered from a fire and three propane tank explosions. Numerous fire departments were dispatched to the site after 10 p.m. for a blaze of an outbuilding on the property. Back then, explosions of at least three 50-pound propane tanks shook nearby homes and generated numerous 9-1-1 calls. According to accounts at that time, Fire Chief Daniel Raftery said they had received reports from at least a quarter mile away from people who heard the explosions.

The last few years has found many area nurseries struggling to stay afloat. The Sprain Brook Nursery, which is owned by Al Krautter, was begun by his parents in 1944. This past year saw him revamp the operation into an all-organic facility with a much smaller staff. It had been reported that he might be closing due to a tougher-than-usual economic climate. He was closed for a short period of time this year apparently to determine what he would do with the nursery.

The Sprain Brook Nursery property is now under contract with a company called Formation Shelbourne Senior Living Services, to build what is turning into a somewhat controversial 80-bed, 70 square foot, assisted living facility at that location. A poorly and yet specifically written bill, crafted by the attorneys for the Brightview Assisted Living facility and later adopted when presented to the Town Board, has left the door open to allow for a new facility to be built on this postage size plot. However, the controversial aspect of this proposal relates to what is considered normal conditions that must be addressed with any undertaking such as this.

Several reasons Civic Associations and neighbors are against the proposal are due to fire safety, health, traffic, noise and that assisted living facilities do not belong in the middle of residential areas. To those who say that the nursery did not belong there as it is a commercial entity in a residential neighborhood are also right, but it had been grandfathered into the residentially  zoned area, which explains why it was there. The space is covered by the Greenville Fire District, with a paid fire department. It is the one paid fire department Mr Feiner chose to not include when he was pushing fire consolidation amongst the Fairview, Hartsdale and initially Greenville Fire Districts. When the Edgemont neighborhood protested, as well as the Fire District, Mr Feiner realized he had bitten off more than he could handle. He once again risked an Edgemont secession which would negatively affect his bloated budgets. He could not afford to lose that income so he backed down.

More importantly, fire investigators are looking into the cause of this year's blaze. Coincidence? Perhaps. Accidental? Perhaps. Intentional? Perhaps. ABG is not saying there was any foul play. However, with a pending sale, similar timing, hard times and retirement ahead, investigators will have their hands full trying to sift through all of this. We hope that this was another accidental fire and that there was no wrong-doing. We also hope the Town truly sees the error of their adoption of an ill-conceived and executed law and decides not to build this huge facility at this location. But, it doesn't seem to matter to Mr Feiner and his Town Board what the residents think. He only cares what matters for his developer friends and residents be damned! And this fire might just be the impetus to speed his process along. This has to stop. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.