As I travel throughout District #8, and speak with many residents, I'm surprised and frankly, dismayed at how many people are not aware of the County's and the local Towns and Villages Board's eagerness to build on any open space, creating huge, apartment style buildings.
There is a County initiative to build affordable housing apartments along Rt. 119 from the Marriot Hotel, westbound to Rt 9, in Tarrytown. From there their plan is to head north along Rt. 9 on the Hudson River to Peekskill. Can the two-lane Rt.9 handle much more traffic? Can Rt.119 handle any more? I don't think so. When Police Officer Christopher Ridley was tragically shot and killed in White Plains, and White Plains PD basically shut down traffic, the repercussions were felt across the Hudson River as far as the Airmont Road exit on the Thruway. I know because I was stuck in it.
Many are aware of what's been referred to as the Stop and Shop project, roughly where the old Premier Theater used to be. But Stop and Shop is a convenient smokescreen I believe is being perpetrated by DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise and Wiederkehr, LLP. They want a zoning change and are not concerned about what the neighborhoods and their people want or say.
There are several factors here in play. To the best of my knowledge and it's my opinion, here's what I have found out while attending over a years worth of Greenburgh, Elmsford, Irvington Town Board meetings:
1) White Hickory's (herein WH) attorneys, DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise and Wiederkehr, LLP (herein DelBello), requested this project stop being referred to as The Stop and Shop project. My understanding for this is because they are not obligated to, or want to, commit to building a (Stop and Shop) supermarket at this location. They could build a supermarket there. They have requested a zoning change and are pushing the Greenburgh Town Board (herein GTB) to act on it asap. The reason is they would like to have this done quickly is they need it done before the Greenburgh Comprehensive Plan is adopted.
2) A Comprehensive Plan severely limits what can be built as the governing body must maintain the zoning in place when the plan was adopted - forcing the current zoning to stay as is and not easily able to be changed. Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner is racing through the Town of Greenburgh's unincorporated areas doing what I believe are illegal spot zoning for developers under the guise of developing homeless-affordable-workforce-Section8 housing and "taxables" for the zoning is locked in by the Comprehensive Plan. The plan should be ready shortly.
Why would any politician do this? I cannot say for sure, but possible Greenburgh Supervisor candidate Patricia Weems always says its about money or power. She's probably right.
3) The County has executed a study to see how viable it would be to utilize unused parking spaces in office parks to build apartment buildings. Their misguided thought was that residents of the apartments will park in the fewer available parking spaces at night. When they go to work in the morning, a worker from the office park will slip into that now unoccupied space. They claim this would be young urban people, not families with kids who will live here. Is it any wonder the County is the highest taxed county in the USA?
4) Everyone that I've discussed this with doesn't mind development. It's OVERdevelopment they are against. This is what the failing Spano administration is doing to our neighborhoods, our lifestyles and the quality of life in Westchester. We have traffic congestion that at times makes traffic in NYC seem like the Indianapolis 500. It's time for a change. We need to throw the incumbents out. It's time for US to be heard!
