Thursday 4/20: Shelbourne Zoning Hearing. Monday 4/24: Supervisor's Petition Hearing.

Important Upcoming Meetings Affecting Edgemont 

Thursday, 4/20 at 8 pm at Town Hall: Zoning Board hearing on the variances for Shelbourne Assisted Living. 

Monday, 4/24 at 7:30 pm at Town Hall: Supervisor's hearing on the legal sufficiency of the petition for a referendum on incorporation.  
 

Shelbourne Zoning Hearing

The Zoning Board will continue its public hearing this Thursday on the application of Formation-Shelbourne for the variances it needs to build its 94-bed assisted living facility on the site of the Sprainbrook Nursery. The site is more than a mile from where the Town’s zoning code permits such facilities to be located.

In making its determination under that statute, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) must “engage in a balancing test, weighing the benefit to the applicant against the detriment to the health, safety, and welfare of the neighborhood or community if the variance is granted.” 

The ZBA must also consider several factors, including the following:

• Whether the requested area variance is substantial and whether the proposed variance will have an adverse effect or impact on the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood or district.

Here, the applicant is seeking to locate more than a mile from the nearest state or county road -- a 3,000% increase over the limit. This is unprecedented and so substantial than that it’s tantamount to a change in the zoning code. 

As such, it's important for residents to come and speak out about the potential for disturbance to the community, a strain on our emergency resources, and public safety challenges due to the dangerous hairpin curves along Underhill Road (particularly in bad weather). 

The Greenville Fire District has requested that the ZBA studies the issue further, but no new data has been provided. We believe the zoning and planning decision affecting Edgemont's long-term quality of life issues should not circumvent laws and must be accompanied by detailed, credible impact analysis. Please attend on Thursday to express your concerns.

Petition Hearing
 

As you know, the first hearing was a fiasco because the Supervisor denied citizens their right to offer testimony against the objections. Angry residents were heard loud and clear.

The Supervisor is holding a second hearing on the legal sufficiency of the petition. This time, he has promised to keep his original promise to allow both sides to speak, in accordance with the statute.
 
Please attend again and be heard. Your testimony as to the objections is will become a part of the written record, just like the objections themselves. The burden of proof is on the objectors, so it is important that you share any relevant experience, including a visit from a private investigator.

Again the meeting this time will be held at Greenburgh Town Hall on Monday, 7:30pm. It is NOT at the AF Veteran center.

Thanks,

The EIC.