Board Condones Secret $1 Million Deal With Semantics

Wondering if this Town's administration will ever follow the law, practice true open government of any sort or simply do the right thing is rarely, if ever, in flux. Business as usual in Greenburgh for the select few in Mr Feiner’s “inner circle” seems to be more the norm as Mr Feiner continues to get more and more brazen with his decisions and actions. Case in point is last Tuesday night’s special Town Board meeting specifically held to accept a $1 Million donation from the Robert Martin Corporation. The donated money can only be used for the purchase of an undevelopable twenty-eight acres strip of land currently owned by the Unification Church in Tarrytown and near I-287. The excuse this time is to preserve open space – a common contradiction with this administration.

The “deal” was struck by then-appointed Deputy Town Supervisor Danny Gold. At the time of the secret proposal, he was and currently is, the President of the East Irvington Civic Association. It is well known that Mr Gold is also friends with Mr Feiner and has usually aligned himself with Mr Feiner’s actions and policies. However, his friendship with the Supervisor simply adds to the potential conflict of interest Mr Gold had as the now-former Deputy Town Supervisor and this secret land deal donation with a developer operating in Greenburgh.

Tuesday night’s Town Board meeting was held in the cafeteria as the main hall was previously booked. There were two groups of people in attendance. One group, favoring Mr Gold’s secret deal “sold” as an open space bonanza, were there and spoke in support of it. It is unknown if they were aware of the specifics surrounding the secret deal. The other group, primarily consisting of the G10, were there in hopes of at least postponing this secret deal. Their feeling was the deal was struck in secret in 2009 by Mr Gold, so why the rush to act on this without first vetting the deal?

Also unclear was since the property is actually in Tarrytown, why was Tarrytown left out of the proceedings? Why was the Town only told of this expiring deal when the clock was ticking toward the end of this five-year secret agreement? Why did Robert Martin offer $1 Million and what was the true cost to the Unincorporated Greenburgh taxpayer and to the Tarrytown taxpayer. In fact, why would the Town entertain this secret deal at all?

Before the meeting began, a rewritten Town Resolution accepting this deal was distributed to the attendees. The reworked wording made the proposal appear less controversial for the Town Board as they moved forward, as they always intended, to adopt the resolution accepting the $1 million deal created by Mr Gold. The Town Board Work Session earlier in the day even found Mr Sheehan questioning many aspects of this deal and the possible improprieties of it. However, rewording the resolution apparently quelled any and all reservations he may have had and he voted “aye” with the rest of the Board. Done deal. Or is it?

The Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations had requested legal help to send this information to the State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, seeking an investigation into wrong-doing. Information regarding the secret deal as well as the parties to it were included. Anyone seeking to read more can do so by going to this link: https://www.facebook.com/greenburghupdate. There, you can download and/or read the documents online. Regardless, more came out at this meeting that was hastily convened to accept the $1 million on the last day.

The first speaker during the Public Comment session was Tarrytown resident, Linda Viertel. ABG staffers and others sat during her opening comments, where she listed some of her credentials, stating that she didn’t have a blog and could not counter statements made about her and may go a bit beyond her allotted three minutes. Even though she spoke in favor of the donation, she stated after the meeting that she was shocked to learn, unbeknownst to her, that Mr. Gold had named her in this secret 2009 agreement! Another Tarrytown resident, Dr. Stanley Friedlander, was also included in the agreement. ABG wonders if she had no knowledge of her inclusion in the deal, what of Dr Friedlander?

Another question is the timing of this proposal as well as the additional applications before the Town to expand the Avalon Green property. Wikipedia defines “Quid Pro Quo as ("something for something" in Latin)[1] means an exchange of goods or services, where one transfer is contingent upon the other. English speakers often use the term to mean "a favour for a favour"; phrases with similar meaning include: "give and take", "tit for tat", and "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours." ” So why would Robert Martin offer this money to East Irvington’s Danny Gold? They bought his and his Civic Association’s silence when they were expanding Avalon Green back in its heyday. The payoff/payback has finally come full circle. Sadly, as many developers know, its the cost of doing business in Greenburgh.

Anytime anything is done in secret in government many people pay attention. Such is the case here. A secret agreement made by a Deputy Supervisor with a developer with applications before the Town at the time to remain quiet for a finite number of years is wrong. In Greenburgh, however, its business as usual. This type of behavior must cease immediately. Only then can we have A Better Greenburgh.

Pending Another Law Suit...

The Hits Just Keep On Coming
How many "hits" can one Supervisor take before the electorate sees through the façade and votes him out of office? Apparently, in Greenburgh, the scorekeepers follow our current society's soccer game mentality, where no one keeps score to protect tender egos. But, how about our tender backsides, raw from the gripping tentacles of the Town's tax collectors persistently assaulting our wallets for more of our hard-earned money? And what of the developers who seem to be impervious to these same tentacles as they grease the wheels of progress, ensuring an unimpeded application process for their projects?

Certs and the 2% Tax Cap
Once the developer's applications are complete, they begin building. When their building is finished, replete with variances and concessions du jour by the Town, they apply for their requisite certiorari adjustments. After the certiorari application is submitted, the Town automatically grants their request. The cradle-to-the-grave-cycle has been completed. The residents? They are forced to subsidize these certiorari refunds with their own taxes being increased, usually by double-digits, all while Mr Feiner touts the Town's adherence to the NYS 2% Tax Cap. The reality is far from Mr Feiner's warped perspective.

What's In It For Greenburgh?
Another tale of woe for Greenburgh residents has been unfolding under the guise of generosity and benevolence of a former developer, Robert Martin toward a civic association leader, Danny Gold, and of course, Mr Feiner. The "deal" was supposedly brokered by Mr Gold with the Robert Martin Corporation, who are well-known for developing corporate parks throughout the region and beyond. They created the template for corporate parks when there weren't any and became one of the largest landlords of commercial property in Westchester, one of the most powerful developers in the state and donated to numerous political campaigns - including Mr Feiner's and possibly others on his various Boards.

The property in question is a tract of land of 28+ acres in the East Irvington/Tarrytown section of the Town, a mile away from the Avalon Green and Avalon Green II apartments and condominiums off of Taxter Road. It turns out the land being considered is actually in Tarrytown and not Greenburgh "proper". It is part of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon Unification Church's 200 acre estate. But this secret land deal, struck in 2009 didn't include Tarrytown. Why not? What's in it for Robert Martin? What's in it for Danny Gold? Most importantly, what's in it for Greenburgh? The Unification Church is already challenging their taxes so regardless of what transpires, they'll win.

Keep Your Mouth Shut
ABG has learned that this secret deal was struck between Mr Gold, the President of the East Irvington Civic Association back in 2009 and Robert Martin before the construction took place for Avalon Green II. The supposed justification for this deal was to mitigate the future impact of the hundreds of apartments built near the East Irvington neighborhood. In fact, the only stipulation for Mr Gold to be able to proceed with this deal was if he kept his civic association's proverbial mouths shut while applications were made for the Avalon Green development. He did and they did. Why, you ask?

Because after he successfully had Mr Feiner declare Mr Gold's "backyard" a park, purchased with State, County and Town monies, it assured him that there would be no affordable housing built anywhere near his home, maintaining his segregated neighborhood. No one has been able to explain how the private land donation scheme mitigates anything for Mr Gold's neighborhood as the Avalon Green complex is over a mile away from their neighborhood. Its a stretch to say this steep sloped piece of undevelopable property is of any real benefit to other residents in the Town, while being "sacrificed" by the Unification Church for a paltry one million dollars.

October 1st Deadline
Knowing he had this secret deal in his back pocket, Mr Gold played nice with everyone at Avalon Green for years while remaining silent. Now that Mr Gold has put his home on the market, it was time for his silence to pay off and expose his deal to the Town, having his good friend Mr Feiner go to bat for him. He did, with Mr Feiner telling the Board and anyone who would listen that this is a terrific benefit for the Town. But, when pressed, he couldn't actually say why - just that it was. We fully expected him to blurt out how great the Town's Bond rating was.

Feigning forgetfulness of the October 1st deadline, Mr Gold stated he simply realized, albeit a bit late, that for the deal to be consummated, he needed the Town to accept a $1million donation from Robert Martin Corporation post haste. Once the million dollars was received, the Town would then need to turn around and purchase the 28+acres of land from the Unification Estate with the donation, ensuring the property be made into a park in perpetuity by the Town. Not advertised as part of this extraordinary deal was the small fact that East Irvington President Danny Gold had previously been the Town of Greenburgh Deputy Supervisor under Mr Feiner! The deal he brokered for himself and his association was performed while he was still a sitting official for the Town! Collusion? Quid pro quo? Unethical? You decide.

Ethics
To decree any potential appearance of wrongdoing, Mr Feiner suggested at the Town Board meeting that the issue be submitted to the Town Ethics Board for review and a decision reached quickly to ensure meeting the October 1st deadline. What wasn't submitted to the Ethics Board was all of the pertinent information they would need to make an informed decision. However, given that Mr Feiner has appointed all of the members of this Board, ABG is suspect that any finding might be tainted from the start. That said, with the limited information that was supplied, the Ethics Board rendered the decision Mr Feiner knew they would. Seemingly more concerned about ethics was Mr Sheehan, who said he would not vote for the donation/purchase if the Ethics Board came back with a negative decision. That was never going to happen and Mr Feiner knew it. Whether Mr Sheehan was going to vote for or against this is unknown. Perhaps he was posturing, perhaps not.

What's Next?
Mr Feiner's Ethics Board may have waved their magic wand to grant the absolution his Board  desperately sought, but this is far from over. While Mr Feiner has again attacked individual residents for being against this, violating his own tenets listed on the Town Board Agenda to not make disparaging comments about others, it is apparently okay for him to lash out at residents. The reality however is that there is an ethical violation with this entire scheme, covertly hatched by a select few Town officials and a developer who continues to have applications before the Town in the process of seeking approvals.

How did the Ethics Board get this one wrong? They didn't actually get it wrong based on the information they were presented. Mr Feiner knew that controlling the flow of information to the Ethics Board, as he so often does, would garner the outcome he desired. While its possible to still get this "done deal" undone, Mr Feiner's warped perspective may be quite different from our reality. We'll have to see what's next. ABG hopes the Civic Associations along with others will petition the County and State to investigate. Maybe they won't be as ethically challenged and do the right thing. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Town Ignores Toll Brothers’ Ardsley Chase Violations

Seemingly nestled in the bucolic Village of Ardsley, Toll Brothers, luxury homebuilders, have been selling pre-built lots and future luxury homes in their new development, Ardsley Chase.

These are actually in the Town of Greenburgh. What ABG has learned however, is that while the development may be luxury homes for future residents, the Town is completely abandoning our existing residents in the surrounding area. This is not a new circumstance that the Town administration might say they were unaware of or hadn’t heard about until now. Letters and emails have been sent and phone calls made. Efforts made to enlist the Town’s help rectify the wrongs perpetrated by the Toll Brothers and their various sub-contractors have fallen on deaf ears at Town Hall. No surprise in the Town of Developer Paradise.

ABG staffers took a quick tour of the site with several residents to see first hand some of the issues. While mud throughout the site limited our access on foot, there were no gates offering the site any security or limiting our access. This is one of the complaints from residents. Trucks seem to be accessing and exiting the construction site at all hours of the day and night without regard to noise ordinances, “normal operating/business hours” nor weekend courtesies of allowing residents a respite from the noise, rumbling and traffic created by their trucks.

We attended a resident meeting recently about the Brightview Assisted Living Facility, who have proposed a sweeping Town-wide zoning change to accommodate themselves and other developers, with theirs being a new, 4-story, 90 units facility smack dab in the middle of single family residential communities. When queried about construction noise, traffic and obstructions to their daily lives, they insisted in very soft-spoken and calming voices that they would adhere to the Town’s extremely strict blasting, noise, building and site specific regulations for parking, etc., during construction. It was like listening to Allison Steele on the radio. Residents were correctly skeptical. Especially when representatives from other neighborhoods confirmed the Town did not enforce any of the regulations, allowing developers the “run” of the neighborhood. At this point, the President of the Glenville Civic Association (the area near Benedict Ave & Rt 119) and others from the neighborhood complained about the construction violations that the Town did not enforce during the entire construction of the new Stop and Shop across from them on Rt 119. In fact, when they complained with calls to the police department, they were told little could be done.

Blasting at the Ardsley Chase site, while mostly completed at this point, has resulted in damage to numerous neighbors near and far, forcing them to place claims with their insurance companies and the Town. These construction blasting victims were all told by their insurance companies their claims were refused because the cracks, “nail pops”, pipe leaks and related damage were caused by their homes settling. To contest the decision would require hiring engineers, having studies performed which is just not cost effective when its all said and done. 

Toll Brothers has refused to repair the damage to the homes. The Paul and the Town’s various departments expectedly refuse them help, even going so far as to not return resident’s phone calls. Ironically, the Town mandates developers to maintain insurance bonds to pay for damage caused by construction. These should be viewed like the Town’s AAA Bond Rating. It’s valueless if you are not going to use it. ABG has learned that Fulton Park had the same problem when Westhab was blasting and when the NYS Truway Authority blasted as they added sound barriers along I-287; Glenville had the same problem when Stop and Shop site blasting was happening; Dunnings Drive residents had the same problem during construction of Watch Hill; the same thing at Nob Hill and Avalon Green’s surrounding residents. Nothing was ever done by the Town to remedy any of this. Now Glenville needs to prepare for Round 2!

At the entrance to the new development at Birch Ridge and Ardsley Roads, the developer moved the telephone pole back about maybe two to three feet. 

Phone pole on west side of Birch Hill Rd was previously where the gray rectangle on the
sidewalk is. You can just barely see the edge of the bus stop sign on the northern side of the
pole between the second and third metal straps holding the metal pole to the phone pole.

Where it is however, creates a line of site hindrance that will make exiting the complex onto Ardsley Road extremely dangerous. We experienced this when we tried to exit. Add inclement weather, snow and ice conditions and you have a recipe for disaster. The County bus stop, which had been located on the western side (at the point we’re standing to take this picture) of Birch Street, was moved to make the entrance appear more inviting.  This makes the accessibility of the bus stop a serious issue and quite possibly an ADA violation. The new western-side sidewalk has phone poles right in the center of the sidewalk, blocking anyone trying to walk on it and forcing them to step into the roadway to go around it. This is extremely dangerous and needs to be fixed.

More importantly, the Birch Ridge Road’s line of site coming eastbound on Ardsley Road (toward Central Ave.) is too steep and in violation of AASHTO standards, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Ignoring important safety standards at this already precarious location mandates a foregone conclusion of multiple accidents, injuries and even death! Why haven’t our assorted planning and building departments in tandem with our elected officials addressed this? Why does The Paul’s Stepford Board continue to become the lead agency for every project, with the Planning Commissioner “going to bat” for every developer, and then ignore such routine violations when lives are unnecessary placed in harms way?

We passed two existing homes, one on each corner as we entered Birch Ridge Road that have had recent landscaping performed by the Toll Brothers developers. On the eastern side, the home had their driveway moved to access Birch Ridge Road. It used to open onto Ardsley Road. They allowed the developer to make this change and enhance the entrance to Ardsley Chase. Most importantly is that the county Bee Line bus stop and ADA compliant sidewalk that had been located there was removed and grass planted. It looks terrific with the new stonewall entrance to these $1.2M and higher homes. Tacked up onto the phone pole across on the west side of Birch Ridge Road is the indicator of the new bus stop. While the phone pole on this side had been moved back two to three feet, it is still in the wrong place!

A less critical issue, but serious to the existing homeowners is truck traffic continually driving over the edges of the entrances to their homes and drives, not only ruining the landscaping, but crushing the new water meters the Town recently installed! These new meters have provided some water pressure relief to these residents while creating other problems. While Toll Brothers has repeatedly repaired the damage caused by their trucks, ABG is sure once they finish with the delivery trucks and the building is complete, these residents only recourse will be to come to the Town to complain. Basically, residents will be required to fix it themselves since our Town has a habit of ignoring its current residents.

There are several water runoff catch basins and a pump system that is supposed to catch rainwater runoff and handle it to reduce potential flooding in the area. While it is a worthy attempt to right a wrong ignored everywhere else in the Town, there hasn’t been enough rain or storms to prove it works. One of the best ways to absorb water and control flooding is by maintaining and cultivating wooded areas as well as limiting impervious space.

According to Greenburgh’s arborist, Toll Brothers removed 18,000 trees, mostly poplar trees that were at least 100 feet tall! Poplar is sought after by lumber mills because of the consistency and quantity of straight lumber they will yield. It is also a very weather/water resistant wood. Toll Brothers only paid fines of $17k for the entire deforestation that took place. This amount would be easily absorbed by the lumber profits after selling these trees. They’ve replaced a small portion of the trees with evergreens, birch trees and other saplings that will not offer the wind and water protection these poplars had. What a shame the Town did nothing to inspect and ultimately protect the area – again!

Throughout the site are silt barriers erected to protect and prevent dirt erosion from rain and storms. We noticed that the many spoil piles of dirt randomly left uncovered is another unenforced violation the Town is ignoring. ABG is questioning the Toll Brothers intent, as these seemingly small violations are not really so small. They cumulatively highlight our poorly functioning Town departments and leadership, create an unsafe worksite environment and unnecessarily put workers and visitors lives at risk.

The pervasive consistency of inaction and malaise has evolved in the Town and its departments into a tangible laisser-faire working relationship with developers. They’ve turned a blind eye toward the developers while our Town continues insulting, costing us all and disrespecting the Town’s current residents – the “little guy”.  This must change. We can only hope.