Democrats Promise Councilwoman Position

It’s no secret that Diana Juettner will not be seeking another term as a Town Council member. We originally thought, “Finally, maybe we can get a breath of fresh air, some new thinking and innovation!” Juettner, a Village of Ardsley resident served on the Board almost as long as the Supervisor. She was also part of the “Feiner-crew” that was found guilty on seven counts, along with Mr Feiner, Westchester County government’s  Steve Bass, Eddie Mae Barnes and Timmy Weinberg (deceased) in the Fortress Bible Church Federal discrimination case. One would think that being convicted of any crime would be enough to force a politician to be removed from office. Not in “Bizaro Greenburgh”, where a guilty conviction seems to embolden them with more anointing of tenure.

Speaking of anointments, with Juettner leaving, the Greenburgh Democratic Party has already blessed and promised the Juettner seat to Ellen Hendrickx, former Hastings Democratic Chair and “fill-in” Council woman upon the death of Councilman Kevin Morgan. Can you say, “Done deal?” So much for fresh ideas, new thinking and such. It’s her turn after stepping aside to let Gina Jackson have a seat on the Board. This is significant for several reasons. First, Juettner is a Village of Ardsley resident and Hendrickx was a Village of Hastings resident. This matters because it’s the Villages that support Mr Feiner and ultimately bring him the votes he needs to stay in position as Supervisor. Also, the minuscule portion of the Village resident’s tax bill isn’t high enough for those residents to complain or even follow the illegal and unjust actions of Mr Feiner.

Second, we seriously doubt any Democrat would challenge the party decision-makers and try a run for this seat after it has been blessed for someone else. We saw how well this fared for several past challengers to those in existing positions within the party, the most recent being Democrat Eric Zinger, who ran for Town Board against Councilman Ken Jones and Gina Jackson. While there were those who disagreed with some of his positions and inflexibility toward them to compromise, he was a viable and preferred alternative to Mr Jones and did have some different ideas toward running the Town. 

Third, since the Town of Greenburgh’s Republican Chair is a Feiner fan and committee appointee, he is content to not even try to put a Republican candidate up against a Democrat running for elected office in the Town. Additionally, there had been interest from some of the existing Republicans in Town as well as the Villages, in forming a Republican Club to begin raising funds and cultivating candidates for the Town and Villages since the Westchester Republican Party refuses to do so. In fact, Westchester Republican Chair Douglas Colty has said numerous times that he has written Greenburgh Republicans “off.” We’ll wait and see if, and how, that pans out.

Fourth, since the Villages are insulated from any fines incurred by the Town or Mr Feiner and his various Boards, such as the $6.5 million dollar guilty verdict and fine in the Fortress Bible Church Discrimination Lawsuit, why would they even care if Mr Feiner stays in office or not? And, why would they care if he has been in office for 29 years thus far? There are no negatives for them. But there are plenty of negatives for the residents in the Unincorporated portion of the Town, as the Villages have Mayors and Village Boards protecting them – a luxury we will never see with any Feiner administration.

In fact, the Fortress Bible Church Discrimination lawsuit payments originally included all of the Villages but at the last minute Mr Feiner and his Town Board removed them off the resolution. Years earlier, the Villages were very angry when they were included in the payments dealing with a lawsuit over Town property - a fallen tree that killed a man & paralyzed his wife. Because the town was “under insured,” all residents had to pay the remainder of the settlement. The Villages threatened to leave Greenburgh! Mr Feiner promised them that if they stayed, the villages would not be included in any future lawsuits dealing with Unincorporated Town property. That was an incredibly good deal for them.

Fifth, looking at a small issue to begin with, Mr Feiner has mandated that the Town will not send out this year’s garbage and trash pickup calendars*. His excuse is that he can save the Town $5,000 by not printing and sending them out. What?! So, with a TOV budget that is roughly $88+ million dollars, which includes funds for him to do his many campaign mailings, we believe the $5,000 needed to keep our residents informed is well worth the expense. If he were truly looking to cut down printing and mailing expenses, stop the campaigning with all of the duplicitous mailings throughout the year and use that money for the garbage/trash pickup calendars. Or, offer to print the calendars on the office copiers at Town Hall on demand and have the residents come in and pick them up.

Sixth, if we move on to the larger issues, we find the Supervisor and his feckless Board granting every developer just about anything and everything they request . Case in point, the Battery Energy Storage System at the Knollwood Country Club, or the Brightview Continuum Care Facility at the Metropolis Country Club, or the ShopRite Supermarket at the old 9A Multiplex Theater complex or the Townhouses at the Elmwood Country Club bonanza that Mr Feiner keeps pushing for approval. These developments have too many unresolved issues. And yet, after going through the motions of listening to the impacted communities, Mr Feiner and his Board simply ignore the public and do what he wanted anyway. 

It seems that every project becomes a “done deal” whenever a developer walks into Town Hall. In addition to the above-noted examples, there are other projects, such as: the Shelbourne Assisted Living Facility which is currently in litigation, and the Westchester Power - ESCO that Mr Feiner automatically enrolled every resident and small business into. Yes, there are exceptions, especially when a development involves  “the quality of life” of a Town Board member or Town Official. For example - the Jefferson project in the Ardsley area [affected: Supervisor Feiner and Councilwoman Juettner] or the Ferncliff Cemetery  project, [affected: Councilman Sheehan] or another assisted living facility off of Payne Street, [affected: Councilman Morgan and Town Attorney Lewis] . All shot down! 

Another ridiculous idea from the Supervisor, who has no business experience or knowledge, is that he has decided the Town needs another crony to be his Economic Development Czar to help fill the empty retail stores throughout the Town. First, the ground floor retail store, with apartments or other businesses above them, is a failed model and should simply be immediately abandoned. Second, while Mr Feiner believes in over-taxation, he fails to recognize that landlords pass his tax increases to their tenants, who in turn pass them on to the consumer or end-user. While this model has always worked to some degree, the more-than-usual vacancies throughout the Town prove that his taxation policies are continuing to kill retail in particular and business in general throughout our Town. Since he only sent this notice about this new position to residents who are online, many of the Town’s residents are unaware that this “fast one” is being done to them.

Going back to where we started, the same old stale Town Board thinking may be changing players unless Ms Juettner changes her mind again and decides to stay in her anointed lifetime position. Should she leave, the Democratic Party will do their members and the Town residents at large a grave disservice, by not offering better potential candidates and by meting out positions from Westchester’s Tammany Hall. All because someone was a good soldier by stepping down to anoint Gina Jackson a position. This is not the way the government was intended to be run, even in Bizarro Greenburgh and has to end. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

* One of our staffers mentioned that they just received a robocall from Mr Feiner stating he would be sending out the calendars after all.

Legalizing Spot Zoning in “Grayburgh”

There’s a push throughout Westchester County (White Plains, Armonk, Mt Kisco, Croton) and specifically in the Town of Greenburgh by developers to push legalized spot zoning by creating what is known as “Floating Zones.” Spot zoning is the illegal changing of zoning to benefit someone or some group. This has been done repeatedly by Mr Feiner and his various boards during his lifetime tenure as Supervisor for the betterment of, not a neighborhood or a residential taxpayer, but for the many developers who have cozy relationships with Mr Feiner. There are other things he does as well that if not illegal, are at least unethical. But for now, we’ll focus on Floating Zones.

There are many projects underway in Greenburgh. The Floating Zone concept wasn’t created by Greenburgh developers but is certainly embraced and pushed by attorneys for the numerous proposed assisted living facilities they seek to build, flip, and go on to the next one. Floating Zones also legalize (and legitimizes) all of Mr Feiner’s past spot zoning and that is why he endorses it, as do his Town Board and his Planning Board. Keep in mind that Town Board members are required to play along with whatever he wants or be jettisoned, also known as being “Sonya’d.”  Former Councilwoman Sonya Brown was dropped from the Feiner ticket once she stopped drinking the Feiner Kool-Aid and began actually representing the residents and not going along with what Mr Feiner wanted. The Planning Board, Zoning Board of  Appeals, Ethics Board, Recreation Board and all other Board’s members are hand-picked by Mr Feiner and ratified by his Town Board. 

These projects are designed to keep the public off-balance by having multiple conflicting meetings and no ability to have input, allowing these Boards to operate with veritable anonymity. Recently, Planning Board Chair Walter Simon told residents at a property walk-through for the proposed Maplewood Assisted Living Facility property on West Hartsdale Avenue that this was an informational meeting for the Planning Board members and not for the public. So the public was not allowed to ask questions! This is part and parcel with how the Feiner administration is choosing to work now that they’ve been emboldened by winning the last election. They are doing more and more to silence the public. It’s apparently working. The last Town Board meeting found five or six residents in attendance.

Now the Maplewood project developer is requesting a variance to lengthen their proposed building, hot on the heels of the Elmwood Country Club mega-housing development. Elmwood developers are looking to down-zone the former country club from R30 to R20. This would allow them to get a second zone change to create a Planned Unit Development (PUD), so they can build 175 Condominium Town Houses for seniors. That’s the only way for the developer to build Town Houses in a residentially zoned property. They are also looking to donate 14 unusable for housing acres in lieu of having to contribute into the recreational fund as required. But they want the entire acreage to be counted so they can develop more units on the property than they should, basing it on the total 106 acres, not the 92 it would actually be.

The next Assisted Living facility has been proposed once again by the Brightview Corporation and will be built roughly opposite the main entrance to Westchester Community College on Grasslands Road in Mt Pleasant. This is also across from The Grove and the Hebrew Home. This will be another 55-year old or older residential facility. This is important because the developers use senior housing as a major selling point. By housing seniors, there will be little if any kids going into or affecting the school system. The last facility Brightview built in Greenburgh was stuffed into an undersized lot in Glenville on Rt 119 and Benedict Avenue, completely overwhelming that neighborhood. Brightview attorneys also crafted the Town’s Assisted Living Facilities law, crafted around their above mentioned facility. Quid pro quo? Unethical behavior? Not at all -- this is the norm in Greenburgh.

Mired in a legal quagmire is the Dromore Road proposal(s) which has been said to have morphed through many iterations starting from luxury apartments to currently affordable housing. It is, in some small part, the project highlighting the Edgemont Community’s desire to incorporate and break away from the mismanagement grips of the Feiner administration since all other previous attempts have failed. And yet, while all efforts to incorporate have been thwarted by Mr Feiner, accentuating the Edgemont Community’s rationale in seeking incorporation, the Dromore Road project has dragged on and on in the courts. To date, the Town has spent $2.9 million dollars in legal fees in defense of their mismanagement!

Okay, getting back to why spot zoning is so critical to the Town and in particular, these developers. First, no one living in their home, which they purchased with the understanding that their residential neighborhood would remain just that, residential, ever thought that the Town would randomly change their neighborhood’s zoning at the whim of a developer. Second, the 7-years-in-the-making Comprehensive Plan, a document that many believe falls short of truly mapping out a future vision for the Town, had quite a bit of resident input which asked for more green space, less large buildings, more walking ability (10 pedestrian accidents so far this year in Greenburgh) and biking ability. Third, not being held hostage by developers who come in after their private meeting with Mr Feiner and announce that if the Town and the neighborhoods have demands that they will leave. Fourth, we have a zoning code and a Zoning Review Board of Appeals for a reason. By changing over to Floating Zones, we effectually negate any Zoning Code and Comprehensive Plan.

In fact, the Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) believes that the Metropolis Country Club proposal for a Continuum of Care Facility (CCF) “impairs the integrity of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, and has serious adverse consequences on residents’ expectations regarding zoning in their neighborhood. Moreover, the proposed criteria for CCF’s is totally out-of-keeping with the criteria for Continuing Care Retirement Communities, a similar type of senior housing. With respect to siting a CCF at the Metropolis site, the application can proceed without adopting a floating zone. It may be able to proceed without any Zoning Code amendment at all or only a simple definitional amendment.”

Mr Feiner, his assorted Town Boards are caving in to the developers and special interest groups looking to build their Assisted Living facilities, hand them off to a management company and then disappear until the next postage stamp parcel becomes available for them to over-develop. Should this be allowed to continue? Of course not. But this is Mr Feiner’s modus operandi. Meet with the developers, tell them what they need to do and once completed get record-setting and speedy approvals. Does Greenburgh need this many assisted living facilities? Doubtful. Will you be able to afford to live there? The minimum costs we’ve all seen so far has been around $7,000 per month. Once you run out of money, then what? Mr Feiner is all but turning Greenburgh into “Grayburgh.” This is not a good transformation for our Town and has to change. It’s the only way we’ll get A Better Greenburgh.

Town Board Threatened, Delays "NegDec" Cancellation Vote

Stating that they have followed the process for over a year and a half, the attorney for Foundation Shelbourne spoke at the Town Board Work Session, stating that taking a vote on the already approved NegDec to rescind it was strictly political! He also stated he would not be able to attend the Town Board meeting Tuesday night but the owners might attend and speak. Mr Sciaretta claimed that this was quite a surprise that the Town would vote to rescind a NegDec that was vetted from the traffic and planning departments. He claimed it was illegal, improper and a slap in the face to them. While we are against the Shelbourne project because it does not meet the zoning code recently adopted, we believe he was right!

The Town voted prematurely to approve the NegDec regarding the proposed Formation Shelbourne Assisted Living Housing facility that would replace the existing Sprainbrook Nursery. Opponents had said that approving the NegDec prematurely was not following the process that Mr Feiner and his Board can’t wait to espouse at meetings. More importantly, opponents stated it would have made everything fall into place more easily for the developer, claiming there was no fact-finding done, no reports of conditions had and no studies performed by those normally engaged in such actions. Because Mr Feiner wanted this project to go through, facts, figures and real information didn’t matter! His compliant Town Board voted the NegDec through. Is it any wonder that residents no longer have faith in the process, the zoning codes or the Town administration?

The real problem is that while the attorney for Formation Shelbourne didn’t say it outright, he alluded to the fact that while this had never been done before, it appeared to him to be setting a precedent and his clients might be prepared to sue the Town over this. We all know Mr Feiner has always said, “If you don’t like what I'm doing, sue me.” And many have. But, as we have said before, this is not about Shelbourne per se, or the Krautter Family who owns the property and operates the Sprainbrook Nursery at that location. It’s about publicity for Mr Feiner as well as leveraging Edgemont from incorporating into a Village and having the Town lose their chunk of revenue for the Unincorporated budget!

We’ve written before about how many in Edgemont are disappointed and dismayed with Mr Feiner’s actions and the actions of his Board toward them. So much so, that there have been talks and meetings about Edgemont incorporating to get out from under the Town’s, and more specifically, Mr Feiner’s control. Many communities feel the same way but are without the resources to act upon it. Regardless of whether or not Edgemont moves to incorporate, the Town Board’s disingenuous acts are now coming home to roost. The Town Board should have waited to make a decision after the Zoning Board of Appeals either granted the variances requested by Shelbourne or not. That would have been correctly following the process. The NegDec they approved was a blatant political move by Mr Feiner and his Board. We still believe it was a setup to appease Shelbourne and then to rescind and appear to be appeasing Edgemont. But all of this may have backfired on Mr Feiner.

There are variables in play here that will have long-term ramifications on Unincorporated Greenburgh. In effect, Mr Feiner has blessed the Shelbourne and consequently, all other commercial projects in all residential neighborhoods. He tried to do this with an 8-story inflatable bubble for his friends from GameOn 365 on Dobbs Ferry Road. Once this is allowed to begin, it sets the precedent to allow it in other neighborhoods. Mr Feiner was successful in doing this in the Glenville section with the Brightview Assisted Living facility. Brightview was the author of the Town's Assisted Living Zoning Code that is about two years old. By allowing them to write the code, they accommodated everything they needed. Now, the Town Board and the Legal Department’s laziness has resurfaced and is creating this issue. 

Shelbourne is too large a facility for the size of the property and it is not within 200 feet of a state or county right of way. Those two conditions were put in the zoning code by Brightview and agreed to by Mr Feiner and his Board when they approved the Zoning Code change. Had the Town written the law, overseen the writing of the law or at least been involved with its authorship, perhaps this wouldn’t be happening. This is more proof that we need term limits to aid us in stopping laziness and unconditional and unchallenged decisions from Town Hall. It's no wonder Edgemont continues to discuss incorporation. This madness has to change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Death of The Solana

Much has been said about the Sprain Brook Nursery property. There have been two suspicious fires within the period of time the owner, Al Krautter was looking to retire and/or sell the property. The fires may have been coincidental, but they highlighted the lack of water supply for the area, according to fire service representatives. In fact, he closed the nursery in 2012 to put the property on the market. When he was unable to sell it, Krautter reopened the business as a more scaled down operation focusing on organically grown products..

Enter Formation-Shelbourne, a company interested in developing the 3.7 acre parcel of property into an 80-bed assisted living facility. ABG is convinced that once the assisted living concept gets all the Town approvals, it will get built. Once built, it will flourish as most assisted living facilities appear to do. Then, characteristically, profits will shrink, costs will rise and after all kinds of hullabaloo, their management will announce Chapter 11, Chapter 13 or something threatening the bankruptcy route. Then they will say they need to change their model and become either a co-operative apartment or a condominium complex. We’ve seen this in White Plains (which has lower city taxes) with the former assisted living facility, The Esplanade. We’re also experiencing this currently with the Hebrew Home next to Westchester Community College on Grasslands Road.

Regardless of how Formation-Shelbourne proceeds (or not) with their proposed assisted living facility called The Solana, they will need a number of variances as well as clearing a number of hurdles created by Mr Feiner and his Town Board. You’ll recall when the Brightview Assisted Living management team was pitching their mega-building at Rt 119 and Benedict Avenue, they wrote the ordinance for allowing assisted living facilities in our Town. Never heeding complaints from the G10 or other residents, Mr Feiner and his Board unanimously passed the new ordinance.

Several issues in the new ordinance were specific to Brightview, including size, location and various other requirements. Never to be swayed by public opinion, logic, facts or qualified information, Mr Feiner and his Board did as they always do, ignored valuable information from residents, and plowed through the new ordinance for assisted living facilities. It never mattered that the ordinance restricting the building height matched exactly the  Brightview specifications. It didn’t matter that the footprint was on 4 acres of land – the exact size Brightview purchased. Nor did the need for proximity to a state road of 200 feet. That’s because their building was thought to be 200 feet from Rt 119, a state road. It was discovered in the eleventh hour that the site was actually more than 200 feet from Rt. 119, and wording of the ordinance was changed by the Thomas Madden behind the scenes to read 200 feet from a state right-of-way. Much to the disappointment to many residents, passage of this new ordinance also created a major change throughout the Town by now allowing Assisted Living Facilities to be built in residential neighborhoods. There’s more to this, but let’s go back to The Solana.

The proposal for The Solana, which would be constructed on the current Sprain Brook Nursery property, is required to be located within 200 feet of a state or county “right-of-way”. That does not include parkways and interstate highways as qualifiers of this “right of way”. This requirement was put in place to ensure emergency medical vehicles could get to these types of facilities quickly, and not have to travel through residential neighborhoods at all hours, since assisted living residents are apt to need emergency medical services often.

The Formation-Shelbourne management balked and stated a small strip of land owned by NY State constituted the requisite “right-of-way”. A challenge from the Edgemont Community Council’s President Bob Bernstein to the Building Department’s Building Inspector disagreed, saying only a state or county roadbed or a proposed roadbed, not a small parcel of state-owned property constituted a “right-of-way”.

The building inspector had also ruled last summer that no variances were needed. However, the ordinance states that these type of facilities must be at least four acres in size. Finally, after four public hearings in as many months, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) took a straw vote which is unofficial, yet reasonably representative of the final vote and ZBA members present unanimously agreed that the building inspector was wrong. Now, while everyone was relieved to learn that the ZBA got it correct, the Formation-Shelbourne attorneys and management company can still apply for variances and proceed with their project. Since the approval will fall to the Town Board, and Mr Feiner favors the project, he could instruct his Board to approve it. If it should get approved, the other issues raised can easily be mitigated as well.

While this project can easily be fast-tracked through the process, which many believe have failed them, there is another perspective this time that is in play. Mr Feiner has been exhibiting quite a bit of sympathy and empathy towards the Edgemont Community. In fact, he has gone above and beyond to placate them, even going so far as to apply and receive grant money for sidewalks in Edgemont – something he will not do for less affluent communities! So, he may go to bat for Edgemont again to allay any thoughts they may have about seceding from the Town and incorporating into a Village. It remains to be seen. These kind of shell games must end. All neighborhoods deserve the same treatment from Mr Feiner and his Board. Allowing this type of discrimination, something Mr Feiner has been found guilty of doing in the Fortress Bible Church case, must end immediately. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.  

Developer Receives Preferential Treatment

An email and corresponding “snail” mail went out to Town residents of behalf of a developer by Mr Feiner immediately after a recent Town Board meeting. No sooner did he publicly say he was against the developer's project to increase the amount of buildings in the Midway Shopping Center and reduce the corresponding parking spaces due to safety concerns at a Town Board meeting, when he must have realized he had bitten another hand that feeds him! But this was no ordinary email and snail mail letter. It was a poll. There have only been two that we can recall. The other one was in support of his friends from GameOn 365.

So, Mr Feiner needed to redeem himself with some quick back-pedaling. Even though he operates unimpeded by the majority of taxpayers, he “slipped up” when he said he goes to the Midway Shopping Center daily and has had close calls there himself. He may have had close calls driving in the shopping center’s lot, but not being an expert in traffic control, it was strictly his opinion. For that matter, he may simply be a terrible driver. There may be no recognized safety issues at that shopping center except for a raised acid level when you are trying to find a parking space.

The applicant was seeking to add two more structures (initially) to the shopping center. Numerous area organizations and individuals have protested, claiming the area is saturated with traffic congestion already. The Town’s unofficial practice toward a concept called “shared parking” and “under-utilized parking”, make the argument against the expansion a difficult one. Still, the confluence of cars in this successful shopping center makes entering, parking and exiting extremely frustrating. In fact, the developer decided to offer numerous safety improvements to the area and the shopping center if their proposal was approved by the Town Board. One resident objected about the Town being held hostage by the developer who would only commit to the improvements if they could build another structure (since reduced from two down to one).

At some point, their proposal got scaled back to the addition of only one new building instead of two, perhaps as a “suggestion” by Mr Feiner. They argued, perhaps rightly, that for them to invest in the upgrades they had planned, they would need this additional building’s approval and ultimately its income to be, wait for it, “cost effective”.

Armed with the knowledge that the “willfully ignorant” will go along with almost anything he proposes, nor give the proposal the scrutiny it deserves, he sent out both the snail mailing and e-mailing, seeking “Citizen Input”. We’ll tell you shortly what we expect he will say he found. But first, how many other project developers has he done a poll for? We can recall several projects including Westhab, Deli Delicious, Dromore Road, Brightview, Stop and Shop (on Rt 119) among others, where Mr Feiner sent out emails and snail mailings (at taxpayer expense) championing these projects. But the answer is zero. The difference with GameOn 365, was that he desperately sought to initiate an illegal lease for the them with the former Frank’s Nursery property on Dobbs Ferry Road. He’s been their biggest cheerleader. The referendum for GameOn 365, carefully worded to only force a positive outcome, did just that. The Town was promised $5M as an incentive for passage of this referendum. However, the devil is always in the details and the referendum, whether legal or not, could not help an illegal lease move this ill-conceived deal forward! 

In fact, even more potent than this seemingly casual request for a yay or nay vote for Midway, knowing full-well that the foregone conclusion would be in the affirmative, is the fact that Mr Feiner made the case for the developer by laying out all of their points. Why would Mr Feiner do this and not the developer? Why did GameOn 365 have a strategically worded referendum created on their behalf and now a taxpayer-funded mailing? If you think this expansion is a good one, drive a bit north to the Westchester Square shopping center and get ready to use your imagination. It’s the one on Central Avenue that houses Trader Joe's, CVS and Best Buy. They have proposed expanding Trader Joe's store, and adding a standalone building to the north east of Best Buy for a CVS drive through. There will also be a new walk-in medical facility built on the south side near Trader Joe’s. To allow for the additional traffic, new entrances and exits will be built out onto the side streets on both sides of the shopping center.

Mr Feiner is trying to cover both sides of his backside as he speaks out of both sides of his mouth. At a recent Town Board meeting, when he said he was against the expansion of the Midway Shopping Center unless safety improvements were performed, he placated the Edgemont group and others who have spoken vehemently against this expansion. Edgemont satisfied, he knew one of his first phone calls the following morning would be from the owners of the Midway Shopping Center. What to do? Deflect - and fast. So, Mr Feiner did what he always does when he is caught lying. Mr Feiner, who could also be known as “The Deflectomatic”, has a lot of hustling to do. Soon we will hear that he received a lot of responses about this project. He’ll say the majority were in favor of it. He’ll need to tread lightly. If he angers Edgemont, they will threaten again to incorporate. Make the developers mad, and donations of food and campaign monies may go away. What to do?

This is far from over. There are many issues taking place on the Central Avenue corridor as Mr Feiner tries to orchestrate a change to that area to his vision of what Central Avenue, and then Rt 119, should be. Is it what you want these two thoroughfares to be? If banks were only open from 9AM until 3PM, shared parking with a restaurant might work. Otherwise, ABG believes it’s a recipe for over-congestion and ultimately a disaster. It must be stopped. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Honest Answers Welcome But Deflection Triumphs

Whenever Mr Feiner's latest guilty verdict is highlighted, he goes into what we've tagged as "deflection mode". You've seen this time and time again and we've written about it as often. The difference between us and the mainstream media is that we see it exactly for what it is. They, on the other hand, will reprint what he says without question or challenge. ABG believes they've abdicated their role as the fourth estate. Knowing he will get them "to play" by simply saying a few media-friendly buzz-words, he stated the Town's fire districts should consolidate. He began his rant to consolidate the Fairview and Hartsdale paid fire departments and deflected attention away from his failing budget, guilty verdict judgements and the general financial distress the Town of Greenburgh has been delivered. His ploy worked, his schemes have worked but his actions are failing. His policies are failing. HE is failing.

Mr Feiner has a small cadre of die hard loyalists who will do his bidding for him, allowing his appearance of being hands-off any hot button topic - such as fire district consolidation. In fact, when a Town Board meeting is not going his way, he will get on his mobile device and rally his troops via text messaging for help. As he stalls the meeting with his ramblings, awaiting his serfs arrival, they are given quick and unfettered access to the microphone. Their standard response might be an iteration of, "I was watching this at home and was so upset I had to come in to speak..." Others, in particular the G10, must sign up early and wait until called, usually after these troops have had their privileged say. Mr Feiner has perfected this routine and utilizes it often.

When Mr Feiner's guilty verdict was announced, the victorious Fortress Bible Church Discrimination lawsuit was almost put to bed. The judge had given ample opportunity to Mr Feiner and the Town to settle the case outside of the courts, but Mr Feiner, a non-practicing attorney, did not take advantage of the golden opportunity before he and the Town Board. His being obstinate, based on how many times Mr Feiner acted against the law and found guilty by the courts, keeps costing us more and more money we just don't have. One question we have been posing for years is why Mr Feiner can be found guilty in Federal Court on seven counts of discrimination, lying under oath, destroying evidence and still not be disbarred? It's business as usual in Greenburgh and for that matter, New York. Chicago has nothing on us.

Mr Feiner knows the taxpayers have deep pockets and brags they're only being zapped with a 3.4% tax increase, well under the NYS 2% Tax Cap, to pay for his illegal actions. We were under the (mistaken?) assumption that Mr Feiner had been personally found guilty and required to pay the penalties associated with the verdict and be forced to personally pay toward the verdict levied.

His latest deflection is to appear supportive of a 9A Bypass to reduce congestion on the 9A corridor. Naturally, like most of his follies, the "best chance of making this happen is now," a statement often made by Mr Feiner for projects he is interested in. This was the recent article in the once-critical and now-friendly White Plains Examiner. Under his hand, he had the Town Board adopt a resolution supporting New York State's pursuing of a 9A Bypass. This is like kissing your aunt on her cheek - it's nice but just doesn't mean anything. Its interesting that now that our Town Planning Commissioner has resigned to go wreak havoc in Stamford, CT., that Mr Feiner comes up with this exercise in futility. Next up? A press conference with his state representative buddies providing them more air time/publicity but producing little more than the promise to draft legislation to investigate the possibility and funding feasibility to study the need to see if there is a traffic congestion problem on 9A. It will go nowhere because there is no funding available for any of this.

Mr Feiner has included the Villages of Ardsley and Elmsford into the fray. Both of these villages are suffering because of the building that has taken place throughout the Town. What he doesn't address is the already congested traffic throughout the Town and the two mega-proposals in the north-end of the Unincorporated Town north of Elmsford at the old Union Carbide property. His press release, dutifully reprinted by the Examiner, says that the Town has $4.3 million dollars in a 9A Bypass Fund collected from new real estate taxes from new developments, but doesn't say what its availability of designated uses might be. We're back to that Aunt you kissed earlier. Its like her telling you she has put money aside for you when she dies, and then doesn't die anytime soon. Its nice but doesn't do you any good.

Saying you're for something is okay. Unfortunately, Mr Feiner is for everything with little action toward anything except providing for his developer friends and donors. Now that the shooting range has been closed, the bloated budget is done, the 10% salary increases for all elected officials complete, the verdict for Fortress Bible Church rendered, WestHelp still unoccupied costing us $1.2M/year, the Frank's Nursery property languishing, Brightview Assisted Living underway, Dromore Road dragging on, the Ferncliff School relocation gone, the Finneran Law changed with no sports bubbles, Midway Shopping Center expansion before the Town, the Trader Joe's expansion painfully lumbering on, the Landmark at Eastview 100+acres proposal starting to see the light of day, the fire consolidation scheme doing its damage, flooding in low lying areas still not addressed, racism at Town Hall unchecked, paving of Deli Delicious' entire property approved, and the Greenburgh Daily Voice turned over to Mr Feiner for his unfettered use, why shouldn't Mr Feiner do what he does best and add to the obsfuscation with a 9A Corridor Bypass to the mix?

 It's time for real leadership in Greenburgh. The stranglehold of political leverage is slowly proving why one-party rule, lack of ideas, and one voice is not good for our Town. The willfully ignorant must change and become involved. Our Town must change. Only then will we start to see A Better Greenburgh.

Job Opening In Greenburgh

Thomas Madden, Commissioner of the Department of Community Development and Conservation, formerly known as the Planning Commissioner, has submitted his resignation to the Supervisor. Mr Madden was appointed as Commissioner of the Department of Community Development and Conservation for the Town in February 2008, after serving for four years as the Deputy Commissioner. While Mr Feiner claims to be upset about the resignation, residents we’ve discussed this with are overjoyed with the pending departure!

As Commissioner, he has been instrumental in the over-development of numerous areas throughout the Unincorporated Town and convoluted ideas that are simply a hindrance to business and doing business in the Town. More recently, as a member of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee, he has leaked confidential information under review by the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee to developers with a financial interest in the Town. He also worked closely with the GameOn 365 people to help them build a for-profit recreational sports facility at the old Frank’s Nursery property. When questioned as to the ethical or even legal nature of a Town employee working on behalf of a private corporation (conflict of interest), he poo-pooed those critics.

Mr. Madden was a member of the Westchester County’s Central Park Avenue Bus Rapid Transit Study. Regardless of the outcome of this study, Mr Madden’s belief of increasing public transportation while doing nothing to alleviate traffic congestion is well-known. To focus on creating more bus routes while automotive traffic remains backed up almost everywhere is nothing more than social engineering gone awry. Why was the County looking to eliminate the Bee Line Bus System Express Route to New York City via Central Avenue, returning via Madison Avenue? Why was the County seeking to eliminate a Rye bus route only two years year ago? Because mass transit in a suburban area won’t work as it does in a city. Add the cost of running these systems and we, the beleaguered taxpayers, will be overburdened with another layer of increased taxes. Maybe now that Mr Madden is leaving Greenburgh, he'll be more apt to share his metropolitan vision in a more appropriate arena.

He will be taking a job in Stamford, Connecticut as their Economic Development Director. It’s ironic that he will be in a position for economic development giving his anti-business acumen here in the Town, highlighted when his suggested plan for taxing businesses was proven to be illegal. He can certainly “talk the talk”, but has difficulty actually working on behalf of businesses, unless of course they are a developer. Then, all bets are off, all the stops unplugged, and any resource they need is at their disposal.

He also worked closely with the Brightview Assisted Living Facility’s management to ensure success with their private assisted living project at Benedict Avenue and Rt 119. They, with Mr Madden’s assistance, wrote the zoning law change that Mr Feiner and the Town Board could not pass fast enough to allow the project to move forward. He did the same thing in Fulton Park by working intimately with Westhab to create an oversized subsidized housing project through changed zoning code that easily went contrary to why the zoning was in place to begin with. But Mr Madden needed a legacy and how better to get it than to be sanctioned by his convicted criminal boss, Mr Feiner.

While the Business Council of Westchester County recognized Thomas as one of their “Rising Stars – Forty Under Forty” program, in 2012, the criteria for this award is unknown. The program pays tribute to individuals who surpass expectations, raise the bar, set new standards for success, and make their mark in their chosen profession at a young age. We’re not saying he should not have gotten it, but given the number of vacant office spaces, retail spaces and taxpayers who are leaving the Town as fast as they can, we think the award may have been a bit premature. He had been instrumental in helping Mr Feiner shape the downward direction of the Town. Greenburgh certainly is a leader because of some of the actions of Mr Madden...the leader of what a Town should not do.

The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee has been holding community outreach meetings at Town Hall. Mr Madden was a key architect of the plan. The plan has gotten hammered by residents throughout the Town, leaving many to speculate that this could be Mr Madden’s Waterloo. Since the meetings have produced such a negative response from the community, and many of Mr Madden’s back room dealings are now being made public, it seems a good time for Mr Madden to accept the position in Stamford and "get out of Dodge" while the getting is good. Interestingly, his leaving may bring us one step closer to A Better Greenburgh.

“Campaign Mailing” and Beautification

Mr Feiner recently sent out another campaign mailing under the guise of touting action that is needed to improve the former WestHelp property on the Westchester Community College campus in the Valhalla portion of the Town of Greenburgh. Had Mr Feiner simply renewed the contract with the County for the WestHelp facility when former County Executive Andrew Spano requested it, the Town would still be reaping $1.2 million per year. But Mr Feiner decided not to renew the contract to gain favor (re: purchase votes) from the Valhalla residents in this election and several key Republican politicians. He knew he would be running against someone in the upcoming election, but couldn’t know who. His formidable opponent this year is Mr Robert “Bob” Bernstein, a resident of Edgemont, an attorney and civic leader who has beaten Mr Feiner in other venues.

Mr Feiner sounded nervous during his acceptance speech at the Democratic Nominating meeting held for free at the Greenburgh Town Hall. In accepting the nomination, he proceeded to state that he welcomed the competition and that this was democracy in action and he looked forward to the campaign with Mr Bernstein.

Separately, this is not the first time democrats have been allowed to utilize Town Hall as Mr Feiner’s personal resources at no charge, but never availed to the republicans at no charge. This all-democratic administration obviously has its perks! Another perk he does enjoy is that of being able to lie to the public and have the mainstream media regurgitate it verbatim.

Almost immediately afterwards, during the campaign ballot signature acquisition period, he challenged the signatures submitted by Mr Bernstein for Supervisor, Mr Sheehan for Town Council and Ms Fantauzzi’s for Town Clerk as fraudulent, as well as Mr Sheehan’s residency as fraudulent. The case was thrown out of court after three day of courtroom melodrama by Mr Feiner and his counsel Assemblyman Abinanti, Mr Feiner shrugged off the loss stating he was looking forward to the competition. If he were looking forward to the competition, why the court action?

Mr Feiner’s flawed decision to not renew the County’s WestHelp contract for $1.2 million per year, which would have guaranteed the Town 10-years worth of income for little if any effort, affects more than just our bottom line. The 100+ units of housing that was championed by our now-Governor and then-HUD Housing Chairman Andrew Cuomo(D), was slated to transform from affordable/subsidized housing for the homeless into affordable/subsidized housing for seniors.

Regardless of whether it was subsidized housing or not, the need for it and its usefulness has never diminished. Mr Feiner determined that the Town should not renew the contract. Not the Board, not the Greenburgh Housing Authority, not the County and certainly not the State. And now that the State has finally said “No” to Mr Feiner’s folly to sell the County property the Town doesn’t own to the Ferncliff School of Yonkers, Mr Feiner awarded the property through a falsified bid to an upstart company named MRH. Then he attempted to accuse the public, especially the G10, of bid-rigging. Bid-rigging cannot happen from the public or Mr Feiner’s critics. It will usually have to happen between politicians who set the parameters of the bid and bidders.

Mr Feiner’s letter claims the fire department’s recommendations to increase the paved space to make access of emergency (fire) vehicles more effective is going to ruin the look of the facility. He also claims these are expensive changes. What will the cost be is conveniently not mentioned. Would it be under $1.2 million? Apparently the lives of seniors in their sunset years are not as important as trying to save them in the event of an emergency. His claim that implementing these changes will make the housing less desirable because of the removal of the grass in this “stunning environment” is absurd. The fire department proposal setting senior residents’ safety as paramount should take preference over the look of the facility. His argument to keep the good-looking facility the way it is is amazingly short-sighted, risky to the lives of those living there, and contrary to his actions taken with almost every other project. How so you ask?

When Westhab purchased the property at 22 Tarrytown Road with county, state and federal funding, they requested variances for the setback, seeking to build literally from the curb to the respective edges of the property. To ensure approval of this variance, they promised a green roof in place of the resulting less porous area. Mr Feiner could not approve their request fast enough! Residents clamored about the safety of a recreational green roof, the increased impervious space and flood water runoff. Mr Feiner did not flinch and illogically supported their proposal. When Brightview Assisted Living sought to do the same thing, again Mr Feiner was first in line. The list continues as Mr Feiner chooses whichever side will garner him more votes. It must stop!

WestHelp will eventually begin to change as MRH moves to begin implementing the contract with the Town that they got by lying on their bid application to the Town. Lying seems to be a hallmark of the Feiner Administration. The lies that germinate from the Town’s administration changes as quickly as the headlines do. The public never seems to remember and whatever the Supervisor says must be true. This behavior is finally catching up with the Mr Feiner.

“Would you prefer to live in a campus environment-with beautiful gardens and lawns? Or, would you want to live in an apartment complex that is paved over? We want the parking placed a short distance from the current WESTHELP campus.” Generally, so do we. But we refuse to stay with the status quo while risking the lives of the residents there! If the alternative is being homeless, we’re pretty sure most people will be happy to walk across the paved lot and enjoy the view of the woods some 50 feet away. Drop this facade Mr Feiner and work on undoing the damage done by you and your administration.

While Mr Feiner continues to show interest in green space, solar energy, shutting down Indian Point, saving the TZ bridge, biking to Timbuktu and the like, he should be spending his time administering the Town’s government. He has spent 22-years not doing that and it is why we find ourselves with convoluted regulations, fees and fines against businesses that are increasing the For Sale and For Rent signs throughout the Town. Our businesses need a business-friendly environment. Once we have this, the exodus from Greenburgh will ebb. We need real tax relief for our residents to slow and stop their exodus. We need our infrastructure updated and modernized. We need flooding addressed Town-wide. The list goes on. Speaking of exoduses, it’s time for the Democratic portion of the electorate to make an important decision regarding an exodus on September 10. Please come out and vote. We need A Better Greenburgh.

Babble Mode

Its almost guaranteed for every Town meeting. Mr Feiner rambles on waiting for one of the other Board members or Town Attorney to stop him before he says something incriminating, über-ridiculous or simply not true. Its similar to the drunk uncle at a wedding who, once he gets a hold of the microphone, everyone will role their eyes and wonder what embarrassment is about to come? Rarely, is there the miracle of silence or a self-imposed conclusion.

Mr Feiner is again running for re-election after being Town Supervisor for 22-years. We ask ABG readers to evaluate his record and decide for themselves if he is really our best choice? AGB knows most people only listen to sound bytes and read the headlines from his conspicuous and sometimes concurrent weekly campaign mailings under the guise of community updates from the Supervisor’s office. While many people are able to financially afford Mr Feiner’s gross mismanagement of the Town, ethically and morally there are others that have been championing doing the right thing. This November election Mr Feiner has a credible foe with Edgemont’s Democrat Supervisor candidate and challenger, Robert (Bob) Bernstein, a community leader and activist.

Mr Bernstein was endorsed by the Greenburgh Democrats 54% to incumbent Mr Feiner’s 35% at their nominating convention. At the same convention they also nominated incumbents Diana Juettner and Francis Sheehan. They seem to work at the behest of Mr Feiner and rarely oppose him for fear of being “Sonya’d” out of the inner circle.  You may also recall that Ms Juettner was also found guilty with Mr Feiner in the Fortress Bible Church guilty verdict. ABG wonders when disbarment proceedings will begin against her and Mr Feiner? Mr Bernstein, along with Retired Town Justice Herb Rosenberg of Dobbs Ferry intervened on behalf of the Town of Greenburgh in a lawsuit by the Valhalla School District for $4.6M and subsequently recovered more than $1.1M for the Town taxpayers after Mr Feiner repeatedly made payments (re: payoffs) to them.

At the last Town Board meeting Mr Feiner was in “Babble Mode” numerous times. “Fair, open and transparent, bidding process, RFP process, confident we did the right thing...” the list of catch-phrases he knows to use that the media will attribute to him are many. The reality is our Supervisor, with our Town Board of enablers, uses the Unincorporated Town as his playground making illogical and bad decisions after bad decisions. And each time one of these is brought up by either the G10 or another Town resident, he’ll go into “Babble Mode”. One thing he is well-known for saying, even emphasizing is that, “This is just my opinion, nobody else’s.” Or, he will stammer, “Speaking just for me, I um, would, um be in favor of this. I’m just speaking for me.”

ABG staffers always cringe when we hear him say this. It’s ludicrous that as the Supervisor, he is injecting his personal opinion into a public session when he is supposed to be neutral. His personal opinions are just that, personal, and should stay that way. As the Supervisor he is always the Supervisor and his personal opinions are moot, similar to how a police officer is always considered a police office even if he is not working or on duty. He is the representative for all of the Town residents and should not be taking sides – period. But our Supervisor, laden with self-generated issues of developer back-room deals and meetings (re: Westhab, Stop & Shop, Cumberland Farms, Toll Brothers, Brightview, EastView, etc.), spot-zoning changes (re: Westhab, Stop & Shop, Cumberland Farms, Brightview, etc.), unaddressed flooding of neighborhoods (re: Fulton Park, Babbitt Court), lawsuits (too numerous to list), guilty verdict judgements (re: one is Fortress Bible), intentionally silencing the public (re: Town Board meetings), developers writing Town laws (re: Westhab, Brightview, Eastview), fee and tax increases against our businesses to assist one over others (re: Apple Farm, Cumberland Farms) and fiscal improprieties (re: WestHelp, Frank’s Nursery, Teamster & CSEA Town contracts), lack of infrastructure repairs, the list seems unending. Mr Feiner skirts the boundaries of the law to give his developer friends advantages and breaks no residential taxpayer could dream of. But because the law technically wasn’t broken, Mr Feiner can get away with what he does.

Under Mr Feiner’s rein, the Town taxpayers have experienced 102% water rate increases, 54% Unincorporated area tax increases, 145% tax increases to Village residents and revaluation discussions for years, ultimately costing residents between $100k to $200k per Town Board meeting (sometimes up to $1.2 million). Mr Feiner claims the Town is bound by NY State’s 2% tax cap legislation and there is nothing he can do to help the situation. He and his Board’s caused the situation they cannot fix through inattentiveness, incompetence and lack of managerial or fiscal skills. In fact, the Town could easily go beyond the 2% tax cap as other neighboring communities have done. But Mr Feiner won’t because he wouldn’t be able to brag at election time that he stayed within it. Skillful? Yes. Ethical? No. Damaging to the Town? Absolutely!

Mr Bernstein offers a beleaguered and faltering Town a positive alternative. Mr Feiner has gotten used to abusing his authority in the Town against the private and commercial residents. Each time Mr Feiner and his Board screw-up, residents managed to get screwed too. Mr Bernstein has repeatedly acted in the best interests of the Town with issues such as WestHelp, Frank’s Nursery, requests from the Town’s legal department with issues beyond their capabilities, the Brightview project, and Cumberland Farms and more. The list of Mr Bernstein’s assistance is almost a long as Mr Feiner’s failures.

This September 10th is the Democratic primary that will decide which of these two candidates will receive the Democratic endorsement and run as the democratic candidate. There is no Republican candidate for Supervisor as the Westchester and Greenburgh Republican party have abandoned Greenburgh. So the choices should be rather straight-forward for Greenburgh residents. ABG believes the choice is clear. Please learn more about the records of each candidate and help make Greenburgh better. Imagine, a better Greenburgh.

Town Approves Assisted Living Zoning Change; Disregards Residents Input – Again!

In an unsurprising and calculated move to assist yet another developer, the Town Board ignored countless amounts of input by residents warning of the numerous pitfalls of adopting the proposed zoning law change written by the developer, to assist them in building the Brightview Assisted Living Center. The developer apparently wrote the zoning amendment and gave it to the Board to vote upon. Can anyone say collusion? Also apparent is that the Town’s Legal, Planning and Building Departments are collectively incapable of working with our Zoning Board or crafting an addition to our Zoning Laws and thus left the “heavy lifting” to the developer’s attorneys. The facility will be a 3-story building off of Tarrytown Road, opposite the Sheraton Hotel at Benedict Ave with a Tarrytown mailing address in the Unincorporated Greenburgh. Now that the Town has approved the law, Brightview will be unimpeded to proceed with their project. Let the variances begin!

By the Town Board approving and amending this local law at the Town Board meeting on February 13, the zoning ordinance for the town was changed by adding a definition of assisted living facilities. It also creates a special permit criteria for such facilities. The problem with allowing the zoning change is that it will carry throughout the Town and allow buildings that would otherwise be inappropriate for residential neighborhoods. While the zoning map has already been amended to reflect the change, the result of this zoning change is that it will allow up to 100 bedrooms to be constructed in an “assisted living facility” on four acre sites within 200 feet of a state or county road. This should not be confused with a Senior Living Center or Senior Assisted Living Center.

Brightview will not accept those on Medicaid needing an assisted living center’s help. To cover that blunder that went unnoticed by Town Board members until residents pointed it out at one of the hearings, the town altered the conditions that will allow them to issue permits for facilities that accept medicaid. This was the Town Board’s appearance of being concerned that they want to help the poor. But those Greenburgh residents who are either poor or on Medicaid will never see the inside of Brightview unless they are going to visit someone there. We’re sure The Paul will have a bus readied at the Theodore Young Community Center for any seniors, poor or Medicaid recipients wishing to tour what they cannot afford.

The Board also factored in their right to deny permits to facilities if they will have an adverse impact upon the town. This is the “scapegoat clause” they put in place to placate everyone who objected to this zoning change that has now became Town-wide. Since we have yet to see The Paul say no to any developer, we doubt there will ever be any activity with this clause. It’s only there so they can say, “Look, we have the right to say no to any project.” Like that’ll ever happen.

Brightview, an assisted living facility, is going to overwhelm the small little neighborhood in the Glenville section of the Town because the zoning law The Paul and the Brightview developer crafted allows it. The Paul doesn’t care. The Town Board had many public discussions/hearings on the proposed zoning change before the new law was adopted. They’ve ignored every point that was made and passed the law the developer needed to proceed.

This was never about protecting a neighborhood for The Paul. It was never about creating a Town-wide assisted living provision in the zoning law for The Paul. It was never about trying to house our aging, less fortunate residents in a facility that can help them for The Paul. It was only about The Paul getting past any restrictions, limitations or laws that would keep one of his developer friends from getting to build what they wanted. They got it! This must change. We can only hope.

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.