SECOR HOMES CIVIC ASSOCIATION, INC.
P.O. Box 550, Ardsley, New York 10502
GREENBURGH PLANNING BOARD UNANIMOUSLY SUPPORTS CIVIC ASSOCIATION DEMAND FOR PROTECTION OF THE WESTCHESTER VIEW BUFFER
Contact: Carol A. Wielk, President, SHCA
Phone: 212-686-9147
Fax: 914-693-1792; 212-779-9307
E-mail: cwielk@worldnet.att.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 20, 1999
The Greenburgh Planning Board, at its May 19, 1999 meeting, fully endorsed and supported the 1987 Planning Board conditions imposed on the Westchester View development, off Dobbs Ferry Road. The matter was referred to the Planning Board by Paul Feiner, Town Supervisor, after residents complained of the developer-friendly interpretations by the Town Engineer whose official actions destroyed the buffer in two of the three protected lots.
The Westchester View conditions specify the establishment of a protected buffer where no development could take place and where trees and saplings would be protected in perpetuity.
The Secor Homes Civic Association, Inc. (SHCA) submitted a voluminous record to the Planning Board that demonstrated the community’s effort in trying to obtain enforcement of the 1987 Planning Board conditions. The material reflects the continual assurance Town officials gave to residents regarding enforcement of the buffer conditions. Yet today, the buffer is largely destroyed. SHCA questioned why Town officials continually interpret site conditions to favor the developer over the legitimate concerns of residents.
"Today’s decision by the Planning Board demonstrated that the committees and boards on which our citizens sit are honest brokers and weigh carefully the concerns of the community and the needs of the developers. But the enforcement of these citizens’ board decisions is left up to the elected and appointed officials of the Feiner administration. That’s where the problem lies," states Ella Preiser, member of the Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations, and founding member of Grassroots for Greenburgh, a bipartisan group monitoring development in the Town of Greenburgh.
The Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations and the Edgemont Community Council, Inc. supported the SHCA in its petition to the Planning Board. Madelon K. O’Shea, President of the Edgemont Community Council (ECC), in a May 5th letter to the Planning Board stated: "The ECC finds the ‘interpretation’ before you to be of widespread importance, not limited to one lot, or one neighborhood. Your decision will be a measure of how much assurance the community can have when Planning Board conditions are placed on proposed developments." Ms. O’Shea continues: "The Edgemont Community Council, Inc. urges you not to let Planning Board conditions---conditions upon which the community relies—be trivialized after the fact."
At the public Planning Board meeting, the chair, Dr. Stanley Samuels, summed up the charge before the Board when he stated that the Board had before it the interpretation of what the previous Board had envisioned for the Westchester View buffer area. "We are being asked to rule as an appellate court," stated Dr. Samuels. He continued: "There is no question whatsoever that the Planning Board wanted to protect both the new and old houses from the [view of the] mausoleum, which is a monstrosity. This fact…comes through very clearly." Other Board members supported the chairman and confirmed that the 1987 Planning Board conditions clearly intended to protect the buffer forever. Board members also agreed, after onsite visits, that the buffer had been destroyed completely on one lot and was all but destroyed on another lot. The Board unanimously resolved to direct the Commissioner of Community Development and Conservation to protect the buffer in accordance with the 1987 Planning Board conditions and to seek restitution of the areas that have been destroyed.
Throughout the meeting Town staff members repeatedly attempted to undermine Planning Board support for the Westchester View site conditions by suggesting that the buffer was not inviolate and could be cleared of "so many saplings" or could be considered a "tree buffer" not a conservation buffer. The Board rejected these suggestions.
In reaching their decision to support the 1987 Planning Board conditions, the Board relied on the clear intent of the then Planning Board and on the record before it demonstrating that the conditions were clear and not subject to misinterpretation. Board members pointed out that buffers are defined in the Town Zoning Code as "Land not used for any purpose except to separate two other uses." One Board member, apparently frustrated at the inability of the Town staff to accept what the Board believed to be clear and definite conditions, commented: "If you don’t really want our input, don’t come to us; don’t use us."
The Board’s motion stated that the Westchester View buffer had been violated and that it should be restored in the affected areas. The restoration should be in accordance with the tree line and condition as originally existed. Further, the drainage problem [on Lot 12], which the 1987 conditions addressed, should be resolved. "A cardinal tenet of Planning Board approvals is that no development should increase the water run off to another property," stated Dr. Samuels at the public discussion.
SHCA commended the Planning Board action to protect the Westchester View buffer. "This issue is a bellwether for how the Town treats residents in their quest to maintain and protect their property. For too long now, this Town has given developers free rein to destroy the greenery and beauty of Greenburgh. We will watch this issue closely to assure that the Planning Board conditions established in 1987 and endorsed again by the Planning Board in 1999 are enforced with all due speed by the planning and building arms of the Feiner administration," says Carol A. Wielk, newly elected President of the Secor Homes Civic Association, Inc.
The buffer zone on Westchester View Lane was established on March 19, 1987 by the Greenburgh Planning Board as a condition for development. The Planning Board established a 50-foot buffer area along the southerly and southeasterly boundaries that adjoin Ferncliff Cemetery and the homes on Jean Lane. Among the conditions the Planning Board imposed were:
No tree may be removed on the easterly or southerly 50' boundary of Lot 12 or the southerly boundary of Lots 10 and 11.
No saplings or large bushes may be removed by the developer along this buffer to better shield the existing and new homes from the Ferncliff buildings.
In addition, 15 evergreen trees 10’ on center, 6’ in height shall be placed along the south and southeasterly boundary of Lot 12 to afford the greatest possible buffer to houses located off Jean Lane. The planting shall be provided to the satisfaction of the Forestry Officer prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the house on Lot 12.