Here We Go Again: Another Town Land Use Debacle

If Edgemont becomes a village within the Town of Greenburgh, rather than just a part of the unincorporated area, it will gain the same powers to manage its own zoning and planning that the six existing villages within Greenburgh already enjoy. Last week, it became clearer than ever why that localized power is so critical.

On May 12, the Town Board approved a $9.5 million settlement of a lawsuit brought by the would-be developer of the Dromore Road property in Edgemont. Only $2.75 million of that is covered by insurance — leaving some $6.75 million (plus interest), not to mention over $4 million of legal fees already expended.

That huge debt will fall solely on the backs of unincorporated area taxpayers. Village residents don’t have to pay for the Town’s land use mistakes and misconduct, because the Town does not control their land use.

The problem began in 1997 when the Town prepared a faulty zoning map, which mistakenly reclassified two acres of property on Dromore Road that were zoned for single family homes as being in the Central Avenue mixed use zone. The Town then failed to correct the error year after year, even when a would-be developer, aware of the Town’s mistake, met with Town officials to notify them of its intention to build multifamily housing on those two acres (where, in fact, such a project would not have been permitted but for the Town’s mistake).  

Even though it had ample opportunity to do so for nearly ten years, the Town did not seek to correct its error until after the developer filed its plans with the Town in February 2007—but by then it was too late. The Town’s blunder led to years of litigation in which the would-be developer first sued the Town in state court and then, having succeeded there, brought suit in federal court claiming interference in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

And here we are, 14 years later.

Disturbingly, this is not the first time the Town has gotten itself in trouble over land use and zoning. Unincorporated area taxpayers are still paying off a 2013 settlement in the amount of $6.5 million for the Town’s violation of  the First Amendment rights of a Mount Vernon-based congregation (Fortress Bible) that sought to build a new church on Dobbs Ferry Road. At the time, that was the largest religious discrimination settlement by a municipality ever in the United States.

At the Fortress Bible trial, a federal district judge found Town Supervisor Paul Feiner’s testimony “not credible” and was “troubled by his refusal to answer a simple question.”  On appeal, the Second Circuit affirmed the trial court’s findings that “Town staff, including at least one Board member, had intentionally destroyed discoverable evidence,” that “the Town was acting in bad faith and in hostility to the project,” that the Town “attempted to extort from the Church a payment in lieu of taxes,” that the reasons the Town offered for its actions “were not sincere,” and that the Town was  “motivated solely by hostility toward the Church.”

One would assume an embarrassing incident of such gross incompetence and mismanagement would result in new leadership. But despite periodic challenges to the incumbent Town Supervisor, he’s been safely ensconced in Town Hall since season two of Seinfeld. That has less to do with the challengers and more to do with the current political structure in Greenburgh, in which a majority of voters live in the Town’s six incorporated, self-governing villages. Those residents control the outcome of Town elections, but they pay only minimal taxes to Greenburgh and do not have to pay anything for debacles like Fortress Bible or Dromore. If the Town gets sued over land use issues, it’s not their problem; only those of us who live in the unincorporated area must pay. 

Unincorporated taxpayers have eaten the Fortress Bible bond debt service in an average amount of nearly $650K per year since 2015. It mercifully pays out in 2024. But, presumably, the Town will soon issue a companion “Dromore bond,” which we estimate will initially exceed $800K and could run past 2030. For a couple of years, non-villagers will need to service both bonds--this, after already footing crushing legal bills.

It doesn’t have to be this way. An incorporated village of Edgemont would have its own zoning ordinance, zoning map, planning board, and zoning board of appeals. We would choose our own land use officials, and hire competent managers who won’t get us embroiled in litigation disasters and settlement-driven bond payments. And we would no longer have to pay the freight for the Town’s ineptitude and misconduct.