This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

fASNY: IF THE PROJECt DOES NOT FIT, THE CITY MUST EVICT!

August 10, 2013
Dear Mayor Roach and members of the Common Council,

Once again, I am writing to urge you to vote NO to granting FASNY a special permit to build their proposed 1200 student preK-12 regional educational complex on the site of the former Ridgeway Country Club in the Gedney Farms neighborhood.

Since January 2011 concerned White Plains citizens have been actively involved in the SEQR process for this project.  Project details and more importantly the process have been fully played out on both sides.
It is now time for you individually to vote your conscience based on the facts, expert witness testimony, the City's officials and department heads interpretation of the voluminous materials presented by FASNY, the unprecedented public hearings and most importantly the SEQR process.

You, the elected stewards of the City of Plains, have been appropriately silent about the project up to this point.  Now the time is approaching for the vote on FASNY's request for a special permit.  Please vote in a manner which preserves White Plains 'The City of Neighborhoods'  character and core values.

This is a White Plains matter that you must decide.  The ramifications of your decision are enormous for the entire City for decades to come.  Most involved parties are aware that lawsuits will happen regardless of your decision.  With that in mind, please don't be swayed by FASNY's enormous financial resources as a wealthy developer proposing a project that just doesn't fit with the residential nature of the site.  The project is the size of five County Centers or four-plus Super Stop and Shops.  It is enormous and inappropriate for the neighborhood which was voted one of the ten most interesting communities in Westchester by Westchester Magazine, March 2013:
"Gedney Farms, White PlainsThis historic residential park across from Archbishop Stepinac High School has 345 pre-war homes—mostly Tudors and Colonials—and quiet streets. Hoping to keep it that way, residents are fighting plans by the French School of New York to move into the old Ridgeway Country Club."

FASNY recognizes that traffic concerns are the first of many problems associated with their proposed development.  In their pFEIS, they concoct a totally unenforcible 'mandatory busing' program to try to circumvent the traffic concerns.  This is happening in the backdrop of the county-wide movement by local school superintendents to try to end state-mandated busing to private schools for budgetary reasons.

FASNY then slices up the property in a variety of ways with three versions of their Modified Project Plan to avoid entering the site on Ridgeway.  They even ''demap' Hathaway Lane in an attempt to make the 230,836 square foot development 'fit' in the neighborhood.
As you saw in the public hearings, over 2,000 White Plains citizens from EVERY neighborhood in the City signed real hard-copy petitions urging you to vote NO to granting FASNY a special permit.  These citizens are voting, involved members of the White Plains community.  Please listen to the citizens of White Plains and do the right thing for the City.

Thank you,
Anne M. Casey M.D.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?