| PEPA - Purchase Environmental Protective Association

Falcon Group's Sherman Ave. Subdivision Application Denied by Planning Board

Fri, May 11, 2012 • Sherman Avenue

PEPA has learned that the applicant (Falcon Group) has filed an Article 78 , a special proceeding which allows for the challenge or review of administrative action in court. When an applicant disagrees with an agency decision, they can appeal the decision to the New York courts.

They can do so by bringing an "Article 78 Proceeding." It is named after the section of New York law that sets out the rules for this kind of case: Article 78 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules. The Town of Harrison will be defending the challenge to the Planning Board’s decision.

PEPA is pleased to report that the Findings adopted by the Planning Board on February 28, 2012 pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) are against the Project. This means that the Board has rejected the Project!

Important statements in the Planning Board’s SEQRA Findings include:

"[I]t is clear that the project does not respect the Site’s environmentally sensitive areas. Rather than reducing hazards, the propose development of the Site will increase hazards due to erosion, sedimentation and flooding. Finally, the clearance and development of the Site, at the top of the escarpment, where new buildings will extend up above" (Findings at 8);
"While each of the cluster alternatives reduces development related impacts to varying degrees, collectively they all fail to preserve the physical attributes and character of the Site." (Findings at 8-9);
"The Applicant has apparently intentionally failed to fully disclose the full extent of the on-site wetland, and the impacts the development of the Site would cause to those wetlands." (Findings at 14);
"The Planning Board finds that the design, layout and configuration of the Project does not reflect a sensitivity to the Site’s extremely constrained soil and topographic features." (Findings at 27);
"[N]o assurance exists that the [proposed stormwater management] system can operate without creating impacts such as increases of pollution, siltation, increases in stream temperature, stream bank erosion, or the preservation of the integrity of the stream channel of the East Branch of the Mamaroneck River." (Findings at 28-29); and
"The Planning Board finds that the proposed development will result in the generation of traffic that, while not degrading existing surrounding intersection levels-of-service, would have a potential adverse impact of the efficient and safe operation of the surrounding roadway network." (Findings at 32)

The Findings also have a lengthy discussion explaining why the Project does not conform to the Town Steep Slopes Law. (See SEQRA Findings at 15-27)

Falcon Group's Sherman Ave. Subdivision Application Denied by Planning Board

Categories

Archives