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GREENBURGH, N.Y. – A Yonkers school on the brink of closure has found itself in an uncomfortable position after being thrust into the middle of a brewing feud between Greeburgh officials and Westchester County legislators, school representatives said.
Just weeks away from having to present the state with its plans for relocation or risk being shuttered, Ferncliff Manor, a residential school for the developmentally disabled, has been forced to sit and wait as town and county officials debate a proposal to move the school into the former WestHELP lot.
“Ferncliff finds itself in the uncomfortable position of perhaps being caught up in something,” consultant for the school, Jim Cavanaugh, said Tuesday at meeting with the county’s Committee on Community Services.
“We don’t take a position on that,” he said of the dispute. “We don’t want to be involved in that.”
Ferncliff began looking for a new location after state officials announced the deteriorating Saw Mill River Road facility did not meet state standards. The school’s clock is ticking though, Cavanaugh said after the meeting, as Ferncliff has a meeting with state officials in June who are going to want to see progress in the search.
If the school’s cannot give the state an update, it may mean the 75-year-old school will be shuttered, leaving 250 employees without a job and 56 residential students searching for a new home, Cavanaugh said.
“If Ferncliff can’t find a new site they will ultimately have to close and the children who are there will probably be moved to facilities many, many miles away or in some cases out of state,” Cavanaugh said.
Greenburgh has proposed a 50-year agreement with Ferncliff for the former WestHELP site on the campus of Westchester Community College, property it leases from the county. However, county legislators, who have the final say on the plan, have balked at the proposal, citing the terms of its lease with the town that demand low and moderate income housing is built on the site.
Several members of the Committee on Community Services said they sympathized with Ferncliff’s situation Tuesday before passing a resolution that directed County Executive Rob Astorino to set aside land on the undeveloped Grasslands Reserve for Ferncliff in the event it wants to build on the property.
If Ferncliff, who said they would consider the proposal, agrees, the solution would allow the WestHELP lot to remain open for affordable housing.
County Legislator Michael Smith (R-Valhalla), who voted against the plan along with Legislator Bernice Spreckman (R-Yonkers), criticized the resolution and urged the committee to make a definitive decision on Ferncliff’s WestHELP proposal.
“I think they deserve a vote,” he said of Ferncliff. “Let’s not kick the can down the road on this thing. If you don’t want them at the WestHELP facility take a vote and let them move on with their lives.”
Comments (4)
Ferncliff feels uncomfortable? Now they know how we feel. Greenburgh is imploding and PF keeps scheming his back-room deals and under the table shenanigans, all while keeping one step ahead of the law. Shame on Ferncliff for putting all their eggs in the PF basket. It's the one the regulars know has several holes in it. Okay, when is THIS lawsuit coming?
The Journal News Tax Watch blog has reported that Supervisor Feiner is engaging in emails with the Mayfair Knollwood Civic Association about this proposal. Does Supervisor Feiner intend to involve other civic associations in this discussion ? Several years ago Supervisor Feiner excluded other interested civic associations from the discussions about the WestHelp lease. Does Supervisor Feiner ever learn from his mistakes ?
Robert Reninger, Chairman
Broadview Civic aswsociation
No Matt, that is not what happened at the County Board on Tuesday. Ferncliff, "learned" for the first time that they were depending on the wrong sweet talker. Having put all their eggs in Feiner's basket, they got a rude wake-up call when they finally understood that Feiner had misled them. And that Feiner was doing so because he had gotten Greenburgh in hot water by ignoring his fiduciary responsibility to Greenburgh AND the County in not extending the lease with WESTHELP that would have continued to pay Greenburgh $1.2 million a year with "no ands, ifs or buts". Since Feiner decided that if the Valhalla School District could not share in this money and that as the result no one would, he has been out on a limb to find a replacement tenant paying replacement rent. However, the limb he chose to cling too is not a limb large enough to justify the bull-dozing of 108 housing units already built so that a school for the developmentally disabled could occupy the site. Nor would a lease with Ferncliff come anywhere near to matching the WESTHELP rent. The current Ferncliff rent discussed ($400,000) is only a third of the rent that WESTHELP would have paid. Nor would Ferncliff begin paying this rent immediately but only after the construction was completed and the 56 on-campus students were in place -- an event that will not occur for at least two years, the earliest. Furthermore, had Feiner renewed the WESTHELP lease, instead of the Town receiving $0 rent beginning October 2011 and continuing at $0 for as long as there is no rent-paying tenant, the amount the Town would be receiving (and used to reduce taxes and preserve services) is already $800,000 lost forever and come June the amount will increase to $900,000, by July $1,000,000 etc.
This would be real dollars that aren't coming Greenburgh's way because of Feiner screwing Greenburgh taxpayers. Feiner may want residents to believe that there is a value to having a AAA Bond rating but this is pure baloney since the Town sells very few bonds and were the bond rating lower and higher interest paid be the result, the higher cost to taxpayers would be made up by less than than two months of rent from WESTHELP had Greenburgh instead renewed their lease.
Whereas the scare tactic that Ferncliff might have to move is only a "risk"; what is already a fact is that WESTHELP had to move when their lease was not extended.
As is the notion that providing a space for 56 on campus-students is (not all of whom meet the affordable hurdle) is justification to bulldoze 108 units which may house more than 1 person per unit, is an example of the obvious is... the obvious.
Residents also need to recognize that the Town's lease with the County was created solely for the purpose of providing affordable housing. Since the Town pays the County nothing under the Master Lease and gets to keep all the revenue that a Sublease (i.e. with WESTHELP) brings in; it would be extremely ungrateful, if not a default, for the Town to knife the County in the back and try to sneak in a tenant that does not qualify under the stated terms of the lease.
Feiner knows this.
Since what he is doing is done only for publicity and to place the blame on others -- at Ferncliff's expense -- is typical Feiner at his worst. If the County rejects Ferncliff because it does not meet the lease criteria, then Feiner will be explaining to taxpayers that it is the County's fault, not his own. And that's what this current hokey-pokey dance is all about. But keep this in mind, even were Ferncliff to be accepted by the County:
RENT TO THE TOWN WOULD BE $400,000 or $800,000 LESS THAN WHAT THE TOWN WOULD BE RECEIVING FROM A RENEWED WESTHELP LEASE...
THAT EVEN THE $400,000 FROM FERNCLIFF WOULD BE YEARS AWAY WITH THE BULLDOZING OF THE EXISTING 108 UNITS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW FACILITY TO OCCUR FIRST...
THAT THE TOWN HAVING LOST $800,000 (OCTOBER 2011-MAY 2012) SO FAR IN RENT THAT WESTHELP WOULD HAVE BEEN PAYING WITHOUT DISRUPTION AND WOULD BE PAYING AT THE RATE OF $100,000 EACH MONTH GOING FORWARD WHICH MIGHT TOTAL AS MUCH AS $3,000,000+ BEFORE FERNCLIFF STARTS PAYING $33,000 MONTHLY ($400,000 A YEAR) A LITTLE OVER TWO YEARS FROM NOW IF ALL WENT WELL...
WHICH MEANS THAT THE TOTAL REVENUE LOSS TO THE TOWN WOULD BE AROUND $3,800,000 BEFORE FERNCLIFF STARTS PAYING RENT AND, WHEN IT DOES, THE TOWN WOULD CONTINUE TO LOSE $800,000 A YEAR (THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WESTHELP RENT AND THE FERNCLIFF RENT)!
How dare Feiner tell TAXPAYERS that this is a good deal. How dare he tell residents that the Greenburgh Housing Authority is his "Plan B" when the Housing Authority has no money and can't even pay the Town back the overdue money it already owes.
While it is unfortunate for Ferncliff that Ferncliff was dealing with Feiner, they are big boys too and failed to recognize that the Sublease offered them by Feiner still had to comply with the terms of the Master Lease between the County and Greenburgh. And, that the Master Lease ends soon and that to obtain a new 50 year lease, first the Master Lease has to be extended. Is it possible that Ferncliff and its "advisors" invested dollars in site review and never checked with the County? Either they are naive and deserve what follows (take it on the chin) or they should be (another litigation misfortune for Greenburgh taxpayers) taking Greenburgh to Court to recover their costs and punitive damages. Anyone who believes Feiner deserves their distress.
As for the County, they are merely trying to do the right thing for Ferncliff by offering them a parcel nearby. A parcel which was available to Ferncliff (and the world) all along but despite their "exhaustive" search, they failed to learn of its existence. This too is hard to believe having watched their reaction to the County Legislators' offer. As for Mr. Smith's (golly he is one of the bad guys in this tale of cupidity) sudden exhortation to "fill or kill", this smells more of covering his own complicity. Since Feiner only brought the matter to the attention of the Legislators less than a month ago, the urgency and pressure upon the Legislators to act speedily is unfair. Feiner knew about the problems in 2011 but didn't do anything about them other than assure Ferncliff that all's well. Now forced to show his cards, he wants the Legislators to react literally "overnight" or Ferncliff is "at risk" of closing.
And since Feiner wasn't man enough to show up in person and be read more of the riot act; he sent his delivery boy, Town Attorney Tim Lewis (yes he has a family depending on his Town paycheck) to take the body blows after announcing "let's forget the past". Feiner has survived for 20+ years knowing that residents have short-term memories and that should they wise up he is quite capable of creating a new problem (as a distraction) overnight.
Thus, this being the time of year that tv networks schedule re-runs, Feiner is even ahead of them by putting on shows the observant have seen before. The County vs. Greenburgh dramedy is:
Not unlike the Greenburgh Health Center going to close down three years ago but didn't.
Not unlike the Sportime lease at Town Park where the State Legislature which goes on hiatus in June is exhorted to pass a Finneran amendment which the Town still hasn't first approved. Another example of Feiner passing the imaginary buck to others.
Not unlike the GameOn provocation which needs a lease this June or the Town could be sorry.
If there is anything that Greenburgh needs, and needs it done quickly, it is:
A RECALL PETITION ALREADY OVERDUE!
Hal Samis
just add ferncliff to the list of those burned by the dupervisor and problem creator, paul "lacking internal controls "feiner