Reproduced with permission of The Scarsdale Inquirer.

© 2004 S.I. Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Published in The Scarsdale Inquirer on Friday, October 1, 2004

By LAURIE SULLIVAN

A Greenburgh Planning Board member called the office of the Westchester County district attorney last week to report concerns that a Greenburgh Town Board member may have improperly pressured the planning board to fast track approval of certain controversial applications. The applicants in question had contributed money to the town supervisor's campaign.

Speaking to the Inquirer on condition of anonymity, the planning board member said Timmy Weinberg, the town board's liaison, urged planning board members in a work session to fast track approval of the Castle Walk subdivision/flag lot applications, "but we were never told why."

Developers of Castle Walk in Edgemont were seeking approval on a three-lot subdivision, one of which was a flag lot vehemently opposed by Edgemont neighbors. In February, the Southern Greenville Civic Association filed an appeal with the zoning board regarding the building inspector's conclusion that the flag lot proposed for Castle Walk complied with the town code. Before the planning board could issue final approval, it had to wait for the zoning board to act.

The planning board voted unanimously to ban flag lots on March 17, but it needed town board approval.

At a work session in early June, Weinberg requested that the planning board's flag lot ban slated for discussion at a town board meeting be taken off the agenda, and it was. Castle Walk was granted approvals before the flag lot ban could be considered by the town. It has yet to be placed back on the town board agenda.

Ruth Roth, attorney for Castle Walk developers, and her law partner each contributed $250 to Feiner's campaign, according to his Board of Elections campaign disclosure statement for the first six months of 2004.

Weinberg reportedly also asked the board to fast track the Greenburgh Health Center's application to move from its Tarrytown Road site to recently purchased property on Knollwood Road. The health center made a $250 campaign contribution to Feiner.

The planning board member said she "put two and two together" after reading last week's Inquirer story on Town Supervisor Paul Feiner's possible illegal campaign contributions. "It occurred to me that Weinberg was acting on behalf of the supervisor having been influenced by the donations," said the board member. "I called the district attorney's office to inquire about whether or not there was an active investigation on Feiner's questionable campaign contributions but [District Attorney Jeanine] Pirro's office would neither confirm nor deny it.

"Every one of the developers and attorneys [mentioned in the Inquirer story] has active applications before the planning board," the source said. "Some of them cross over to the town board and Zoning Board of Appeals and need various approvals. That really concerns me."

According to the source, Feiner also met with the planning board on two occasions "to make us aware of his displeasure about how long it takes us to process an application and even went so far as to suggest that one-lot subdivisions be removed from planning board review."

In a phone interview Wednesday, Weinberg said, "I don't remember Paul telling me to go to the board to fast track any projects. I don't think there's any merit to what was said. It's absolutely untrue. As far as Castle Walk is concerned, I don't know if Paul was for it or against it. As far as the Health Center is concerned, there may have been some talk about it, because they may have considered moving into the old town hall temporarily. There might have been some feelings that if things moved quickly we would have an idea of how long they would be there. I don't know of any contributions to Paul of any sort."

The Castle Walk three-lot subdivision was approved July 21 with an extensive tree removal plan; the developer has since taken down trees that were not approved, the planning board source said.

Roth also represents LCOR, developers of the Landmark at Eastview, which has an active application before the planning board that will have to go before the zoning board as well. The vice president of LCOR, who lives in New Jersey, made a $1,000 contribution to Feiner's campaign.

The planning board source said when DelBello Weingarten represented Michael D'Alessio, the controversial developer of 42 Round Hill Road in Edgemont, "We didn't like their plan, they withdrew it and at the work session, the planning board was very clear that they didn't want the lot clear cut in order to subdivide it into two building lots. They withdrew their application and [D'Alessio] cut the trees anyway. It's not only that these are active cases - they're problematic ones."

The source continued: "The Health Center application is active. It's before the planning, zoning and the town boards and I Know the Health Center's contribution was given prior to the town board's review."

Another planning board member said that he wasn't aware that Weinberg approached the board, but believed it was possible. "There were certain indications to me that once the moratorium ended that Castle Walk would be approved - that was what the town board wanted." The Inquirer contacted a third planning board member who refused to talk to the press, saying she didn't "want to get in the middle of it."

Right after the Inquirer article appeared Friday, an Edgemont resident checked the town's Web site and discovered that meeting minutes for the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals for the months of January, February and March 2004 were missing, while minutes from 2003 remained. The missing minutes referred to applications and other matters involving the Feiner contributors who were identified in the article. After inquiries from a reporter, the minutes reappeared on the Web site in the middle of the week. Planning commissioner Mark Stellato told the Inquirer he wasn't aware that the minutes had disappeared and reappeared. "It's the first I'm hearing about it. I have no idea who would have done that. That's bizarre," he said. Stellato said other Greenburgh employees from different departments have access to the Web site and post information on it all the time.

In 2001, when the Greenburgh Democratic Party passed over Weinberg to endorse Francis Sheehan for town board, Feiner made up his own slate comprised of Weinberg, Diana Juettner and himself, calling it the "Feiner Team." It is likely that Feiner used his campaign funds to help finance his team's election.