The Sidewalks of White Plains

Scarsdale Planning Board reportedly planning to approve Senior Assisted Living Facility in Saxon Woods.

White Plains brass opposed to 131-unit facility in back of Ethical Culture building.

City says it will not furnish water to facility and will not approve construction of entrance road.

Scarsdale Planning Board misses numerous inconsistencies in Draft Environmental Impact Statement, and developer fails to consult White Plains on 14 approvals needed.

By John F. Bailey

CityLine: May 14, 2001 -- Saxon Woods

In the last month, the City of White Plains has gone on record as being firmly opposed to a 131-unit Senior Assisted Living Facility proposed for a wild wooded area off Saxon Woods Road, which the Scarsdale Planning Board is expected to approve at its next meeting.

In March, Mike Graessle, Commissioner of Planning for the City of White Plains, made an unprecedented appearance at the Scarsdale Planning Board along with Mayor Joseph Delfino and Joseph Nicoletti, Commissioner of Public Works to make known the feelings of the City on the proposed project.

In addition, Peter Katz of the Saxon Woods Association presented a 20-minute dissertation on the inadequacies of the DEIS, until he was finally asked to step down from the podium by an obviously embarrassed Scarsdale Planning Board.

The facility proposed has the strong support of the Scarsdale community, in fact, even though Graessle's 30-minute analysis of the proposal pointed out numerous poorly researched discrepancies prepared by the developer in the DEIS, revealing that the Scarsdale Planning Board had done an obviously careless analysis of the plan, the Mayor of Scarsdale, Mark Bench congratulated the developer's spokesman on "a great job."

However, even should the Scarsdale Planning Board approve the project, the two communities will be on a collision course on the project.

In order for the developer to build access to the site, it must build a road on City of White Plains land (a small bridge traverses the Mamaroneck River on the site now).

The developer must also acquire its water and electricity from the city of White Plains. The city went on record that night as saying it was not prepared to furnish this to the facility. Graessle also pointed out that the developer needed to seek 14 permits from the City of White Plains in order to build the facility access roads, which the city was not prepared to issue.

Finally, it was pointed out that the assisted living facility was a violation of White Plains zoning and would need a variance from the City of White Plains, which again Graessle indicated would not be forthcoming.