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EDGEMONT, N.Y. — As 2012 draws to an end, The Greenburgh Daily Voice is looking back at some of the top stories of the year.
When a state Supreme Court in January found an error in the Greenburgh Town Code that let a developer build housing in Edgemont, the result was one big mess.
A mistake made in 1998 paved the way for the possibility of increased enrollment in the Edgemont School District and an effect of the ecosystem at the Greenburgh Nature Center. The land on Dromore Road had originally been zoned for single-family housing until a town employee's error changed the designation on the town map. The error was not corrected by the time the housing complex was purchased in 2006.
Now, a multi-family housing complex with 41 units could be built on the 2.26 acres of land next to the nature center.
Edgemont residents filed a lawsuit of their own in May to prevent S&R Development from building the three-story complex. S&R representatives have already met with the Greenburgh Planning Board to discuss their plans for the lot, which would be constructed between the nature center and recreational fields of the Edgemont Junior/Senior High School.
Lawsuit petitioners claim S&R knew the property was zoned for single-family residences when it inquired about the property in 2004 and that they'd be able to gain a large profit by buying it.
Bob Bernstein, the attorney representing citizens in the Edgemont lawsuit, said residents are furious that they have to dip into their own pockets to prevent the housing complex from being built.
Both Edgemont and Greenburgh claims have been dismissed, and Bernstein said both are waiting to be addressed before an appellate court in the near future.
Comments (3)
Talk of "Edgemont-Greenville" of becoming a village has been going on since the about 1968 . Its time to do something or stop talking about it.
Here's a new error (from the article).
"The error was not corrected by the time the housing complex was purchased in 2006."
A housing complex was not purchased.
Here's another error (again from the article).
"When a state Supreme Court in January found an error in the Greenburgh Town Code that let a developer build housing in Edgemont, the result was one big mess."
The original "error" was the map. And housing would have been allowed; just not multifamily housing which is viewed as commercial development.
Here's another error (again from the article).
"and an effect of the ecosystem at the Greenburgh Nature Center."
The subject property is not contiguous with the Nature Center but on the opposite side of the paved Dromore Road. The property faces a wall spanning the Nature Center's frontage. The entrance to the Nature Center is a driveway which divides the wall sections and behind the wall is the paved parking area (recently expanded) of the Nature Center. On one side of the S&R property is an existing condominium which faces Central Park Avenue and on the other side is an existing monastery which abuts the Nature Center. It is a capricious claim that development of the S&R property would have any adverse on the ecosystem of the Nature Center; certainly less than that which has been caused by the expansion of the Center's own facilities including a new play area for children.
What this comes down is legal wrangling over what vexes the Edgemont School District which views new development as hazardous to its financial health. One thing is clear and not alarming is that the developer, as developers do, intends to profit from development allowed by the error on the Zoning map. Last time I traveled Edgemont streets, I noted the absence of glass houses; nevertheless this is not justification to throw bricks just because someone seeks to profit from land development OR from their skills, products or skills for sale or hire. And what is absent from the article is that this was not a simple misreading or even, if provable (which it has not) an intentional misreading of the map. The undisputed truth is that several Town officials were consulted and all pointed to the map as the final arbiter. The real problem for Edgemont is not with the developer and his project but with the Town government which was "lax" in correcting the zoning map on which there were other known but still tolerated errors. And, since this article is reprising 2012, what it should have mentioned, but did not, is that it was not until Fall 2012 (six years after the purchase), when the Town got around to correcting these existing and known errors.
This ineptitude and tolerance of same by the Feiner administration is but one of many reasons for Edgemont residents to seek incorporation if Edgemont residents really care about how their part of Greenburgh is governed.
Whatever the final legal outcome, 'the fault dear Bob lies not with the stars but with Feiner whose true nature and willful incompetence is known throughout the firmament'.
Hal Samis