• Past reports can be found on the archives page!

HOLDOVER

 

 

Legislator Ryan asks for and gets postponement of consideration of County purchase of Woodcrest Heights forest.

Cites need of Woodcrest Heights residents for more
information on project

Heights schedules "kangaroo public hearing" for March 8 at George Washington School at 8 PM -- invites Mayor, Common Council, County Planning Board, Community Housing Management Corporation to attend.

Heights "absolutely opposed" to White Plains acquiring
waterfront for park

County Office Building, White Plains March 1, 2000

  

   

   Concerned that residents of Woodcrest Heights and the White Plains Historical Society had not been adequately informed of the scope of a proposed senior housing development planned to be built on a portion of property the County intended to purchase, County Legislator William Ryan asked for the matter to be "held-over" until March 13.

    Background: at the Monday evening County Board of Legislators meeting, the legislation enabling county purchase of 8.5 acres of the Pettinicchi property at the tip of Silver Lake off Lake Street was tabled until March 13. The legislation authorizing a county bond issue of $1 million to purchase 8.5 acres family had been expected to be passed that evening. In another matter, the Pettinicchi family was expected to turn their 147 Lake Street property over to the White Plains Historical Society as a historical site. The one-story building is known as The Old Grist Mill dating from the American Revolution, and was a key ammunition and supplies cache for George Washington during the Battle of White Plains.

   Another motivation for postponement was his surprise that the two other White Plains County Legislators, George Latimer and Lois Bronz, had as sketchy information as he did on the development plan for the senior housing project.

   Ryan was also troubled that he and the Woodcrest Heights neighborhood knew very little about rumored intentions of the City of White Plains toward a portion of the parkland.

   Ryan told me this: "The city would like very much to take title to (a portion of) the waterfront property," which Ryan described as extending from the beginning of Silver Lake on Lake Street to where it joins the now County-owned parkland.

   He had not been able to receive any information from the White Plains Mayor's office, the White Plains Planning Department, or any Council members as to what the city intentions are should they acquire this waterfront parcel from the County, should the County execute the original 8.5 acquisition.

   The County Legislator said the following three steps would need to be taken by the County Board of Legislators to set the scenario in motion:

  1. Authorizing the 1 million dollar bond issue to purchase the original 8.5 acres from the Lake Street owner.
  2. Board of Legislators Approval of the leaseback of the 1.5 acres to the senior housing site developer
  3. The Board of Legislators approving an agreement with the City of White Plains for either purchase or lease of the waterfront portion.

    Ryan speculated that Westchester County could either sell the waterfront portion to the city, in which case, they would not have any say in how the city used it. Another thought he had was the county might lease the waterfront piece to the city, under terms where the County could control how the city developed the park for recreation, which has been described as being "passive" in nature. (Note: The only official description WPCNR has encountered so far.) The legislator said the County proposed at present to leave the 7 acres apart from the 1.5 acres for the senior citizen development wild and undeveloped.

The Holdover Decision

   Ryan told WPCNR it was his understanding that the 1.5 acres of the 8.5 acre site was planned to be leased back to the developer from the county on a long-term basis for the building of a senior housing development planned by Community Housing Management Corporation of Elmsford.

    He was first concerned that the White Plains Historical Society had not had adequate information about how the senior housing development would impact the setting of the historic Grist Mill at 147 Lake Street. He wanted the Historical Society to have a chance to comment or consider the aesthetic impact of the building on the historic structure. (He has been assured at the time of this interview, Wednesday afternoon, that the Historical Society has no problem with the proposed building.)

   The next factor: telephone calls expressing concern from residents of Woodcrest Heights that they did not know the scope of the proposed senior housing building. Ryan reported residents had first learned of the impending parkland acquisition by accident when surveyors were discovered taking sightings on the property, (in the fall of 1999) and had received overhead view site plans from Community Housing Development Corporation for the senior housing building only in the last two weeks.

    On Monday, when his two White Plains Legislator colleagues, Latimer and Bronz could not tell him more about the project, Ryan invoked his "holdover."

   "The developer told me that the City of White Plains had directed him to the Silver Lake site." Ryan said. "Yet the neighborhood had stumbled into the plan by accident (seeing a team of surveyors taking sightings on the property).The residents were unable to get information out of City Hall, out of the County Planning Board, on what was being planned. I didn't think this was right. They (the Woodcrest residents) needed a full hearing."

Ryan calls for City to supply more complete information

   Ryan, said he had talked to the Mayor of White Plains and knew of the city interest in a waterfront piece, but had not received any detail on city intentions for the waterfront property. The county lawmaker told WPCNR "If the city has a plan to acquire the waterfront property on the drawing board with some details, it would make sense for the city to discuss it openly and publically (with the neighborhood)."

    Ryan continued, saying, "There is a lot of this going on with a lot of projects the city is considering lately: the town center project, the two supermarket proposals, the New York Hospital plan. Information is not being made available to Common Council members or neighborhoods involved. Some key critical information is not given to Common Council members in a timely manner. Neighbors have a right to know what is being planned for them."

    Ryan said the HUD grant that Beth Abraham Health Services has to build the senior housing project is time-sensitive, however he did not know how much time the organization had before the grant expired. He indicated he thought this may have been the reason the county was moving forward so quickly on the project.

Woodcrest Heights schedules March 8 "kangaroo public hearing" at 8 PM

   Ryan said the County is working to arrange for county planning officials and legislators to appear at a Woodcrest Heights Association meeting on Wednesday evening March 8 at George Washington Elementary School to provide information to the neightborhood.

    The Co-President of the Crestwood Heights Association, Milt Ellenbogen, reported to WPCNR that the Association has invited the Mayor, the City Department of Planning, City Common Councilpersons, and the developer, Community Housing Management Corporation to appear at this meeting to brief the residents.

   Ellenbogen said residents were "angry" at the lack of public hearings on the project and the void of information provided by the city and the county. He said the residents would attend the March 13 meeting of the County Board of Legislators with a specific position they want the Legislators to consider.

CO-President says Woodcrest absolutely opposed to a White Plains waterfront park

   Contacted tonight, Woodcrest Heights Association CO-President, John Migliacchio, told WPCNR that Larry Schwartz, County Executive Andrew Spano's Executive Assistant was attempting to arrange for a representative from the County Planning Board to appear at the March 8 meeting, and that Common Councilwoman Rita Malamud was going to attend.

   Migliacchio confirmed that the first inkling Woodcrest neighbors on Springdale Avenue knew of the project was when he personally sighted surveyors behind the Pettinicchi family property on 147 Lake Street in the fall of 1999. He said they contacted the city and could find out very little about the project.

    Migliacchio reported the Association was having a meeting tomorrow evening, March 2 to plan their strategies and issues for the March 8 and March 13 meetings. Migliacchio reports the Association has strong reservations about both the possibility of White Plains acquiring land along the waterfront for a park and the senior housing project.

    "We already suffer from noise pollution, light pollution, from the middle of March until mid-fall, (from the fields across Silver Lake in Harrison)" Migliacchio said. He pointed out that a White Plains run park along the Northern shore of Silver Lake would only add to the park activity. "If White Plains wants to put in a park there, we are absolutely opposed to it."

   The senior housing project, he said, raised another host of issues. He pointed out that the height of the building "is going to intrude on the neighborhood above it, reminiscent of the Stepping Stones project just to the left of 147 Lake Street. We want them (the city and the county) to tell us what they are doing."

Reported and Written by John Bailey, based on interviews with County Legislator William Ryan, and Woodcrest Heights Association CO-Presidents, John Migliacchio and Milt Ellenbogen.

   

 

If you would like to comment on this report, click on Report News, White Plains Soapbox or send e-mail to WPCNR@aol.com or TheCpywtr@aol.com.

County Planning Official states Pettinicchi property on Silver Lake acquisition is for the purpose of providing affordable housing. Cautions financial arrangements on Pettinicchi Property acquisition and turnover to be determined

Westchester County Offices March 2, 2000

   

Lawrence Salley, the Deputy Commissioner of the Westchester County Planning Department contacted WPCNR today to answer our inquiry about the financial details of the procedure where the county, upon acquiring the 8.5 acre Pettinicchi property along the shores of Silver Lake, would transfer a portion of it to Beth Abraham Health Services for construction of senior housing.

   Commissioner Salley told WPCNR that the County purpose in acquiring the Pettinicchi property is "solely to acquire it for affordable housing or general municipal use. It is to provide land for a 70-unit senior citizen residence."

   Salley told me the title would be transferred to the developer by lease or sale (for the portion of the land needed for the senior citizen building). Asked how the property would be turned over to Beth Abraham, Salley said that the arrangement has yet to be determined. He speculated that it might be via a "partial grant, partial sale, or a lease."

Reported from a telephone conversation with Lawrence Salley, Deputy Commissioner, Westchester County Planning Department.

If you would like to comment on this report, click on Report News, White Plains Soapbox or send e-mail to WPCNR@aol.com or TheCpywtr@aol.com.

Conservation Board takes dim view of Jillian Estates blue sky
plans for Sunset Drive

City Hall March 3, 2000

   

   The White Plains Conservation Board has reviewed two alternative plans Amalgamated Construction presented to the Planning Board February 8 for 16 new homes off Sunset Drive, and has advised the Planning Board to turn down the plans.

    According to a member of the Planning Board, interviewed by WPCNR, this leaves plans to develop the site in limbo for the time being until the developer either submits new plans for the site or chooses to address the Conservation Board criticisms of the present plans.

    The negative report from the Conservation Board was presented Monday evening during the Board public meeting, in a form of a letter from Bob Roston, Chairperson of the Conservation Board.

    The report criticized both plans for having "a detrimental impact" on the neighborhood and the property because of the affect of stormwater runoff on the wetlands in the forest behind Sunset Drive; for requiring too much landfill resulting in thousands of trips into and out of the neighborhood by dump trucks; for altering the majestic slopes of the property; burying natural rock formations and the destruction of over 200 mature trees.

From a report by a WPCNR Correspondent.

If you would like to comment on this report, click on Report News, White Plains Soapbox or send e-mail to WPCNR@aol.com or TheCpywtr@aol.com.

 
Home | Front Page | Report News
WP Sports
| Sidewalks of WP | Soapbox

Copyright © 1999
White Plains CitizeNetReporter