Thursday, December 14, 2006

444 UNITS OF HOUSING TO BE BUILT IN E IRVINGTON

The Town Board took an important action step that will lead to the development of 444 units of housing in E Irvington when the Board adopted the findings statement pursuant to SEQR. OVer 10 years ago the property owners sought permission to build about 800 units of housing at the site. We worked cooperatively with the Village of Elmsford and E Irvington Civic Association reviewing this proposal. The Town Board adopted steep slope laws and an open space plan. We acquired 200 acres of open space in E IRvington (Taxter Ridge). Eventually, an agreement was reached. 444 units of housing will be built, 10% affordable housing.
Special thanks to Danny Gold, head of the E Irvington Civic Association for negotiating a compromise that we could live with. 444 units of housing is better than 800!
If the town had prohibited the developer from building on the property or if we had downsized the project by much more - the developer could have brought an action in court against the town - claiming that we were "taking his property". Local governments cannot prohibit development on property unless we purchase the land.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can we ask that there be a preference list for the affordable housing with town/village police/firemen given preference? I have seen point systems where applicants are given points for

1. First responder status.
2. Other town/village employee/volunteer.
3. Town village resident of more than last 2 years,

etc etc

can we look into this now, and get it in place??

Anonymous said...

In the next Town election cycle I will be looking for candidates who realize that Greenburgh is becoming a magnet for builders wishing to build vast projects which are destroying our quality of life on every level. Hopefully such candidates will have as their goal, a plan to combat this overdevelopment of the Town.

Paul Feiner said...

If you e mail me your name we can enlist you in our most recent effort to save the property near the nature center in Edgemont as open space. I'm currently working on finding additional funds so we can acquire this important parcel of land. Since I took office the town has increased our open space from 200 acres to more than 600 acres.

Anonymous said...

444 Units! Will the Police and EMS departments size be increased. Im sure this will add to their call volume and take away from their other duties serving the rest of the established town.

Anonymous said...

Which districts will they be in - school, fire, police. etc?

Anonymous said...

Surprised that Steve & Francis did not vote the same way. Did you see the body language of Francis after Steve told the Bd off?