Greenburgh IS Considering Granting a 3000% VAriance for a PrivaTE Equity Firm that WOULD IMPAIR THE COMMUNITY and cost Edgemont about $500,000/year.

Greenburgh Law states that Assisted Living Facilities (aging care facilities where medical services are provided by the surrounding community, not the private facility itself) must be located (1) within 200 Feet of a state or county road, and (2) on a minimum of 4 acres.

The private equity firm, Formation-Shelbourne Partners, seeking the variance wishes to buy the Sprainbrook Nursery, and build a 94-bed facility on the property. The project requires a variance because the land lies more than 6000 feet away from the closest state or county road, Central Park Avenue, and is only 3.79 acres in size.

The Private Equity Firm's lawyers are arguing that this transaction requires an area variance, as if it needs a building height or setback adjustment, but they are fundamentally changing the use of the land. 

The property is zoned R-30, for single family homes on three-quarter acre lots. The existing farm/agricultural use on the site was grandfathered decades ago before adoption of modern zoning codes. Assisted Living by contrast is a football-field sized medical hotel without medical staff. The impacts of this change are discussed, at length, by members of the Greenville Fire District. 

This website walks through the following key issues: 

It's easy to see why the Town favors the project: the Town would reap around $500,000 in building fees (previously in the budget and then removed leaving a deficit) and cost avoidance as the applicant would cover the cost of road and water improvements for the town on Underhill Road (improvements that would otherwise be the responsibility of the Town).

But it should be equally easy for the Town to recognize the serious financial, safety, and environmental impacts this project would have on the Greenville/Edgemont community:

• Substantial risk to our firemen and women as they travel at emergency-level speeds on dangerous Underhill Road. 

• Over $500,000 of incremental cost to current Edgemont/Greenville taxpayers every year going forward.

• Significant environmental impact to the homes along Underhill Road and in the adjacent community north of the proposed site.

• The dangerous precedent of Greenburgh granting variances in order to zone around any governing law, while knowingly ignoring data and leaving us vulnerable to further lawsuits from future developers who also want absurd variances.

• The Town's risky "budget trick" of prematurely counting on future building fee revenue to plug budget gaps, even when projects are in preliminary stages, compromising the integrity of the zoning process with budgetary pressure.

How did we get here?

Assisted living facilities offer important services for the elderly and their families, but they require substantial land, access to commercial areas, and perhaps most importantly, easy access to emergency services as they do not provide their own medical staff and must therefor rely upon local government to provide emergency medical services to be funded entirely at taxpayer expense. Greenburgh's zoning code stipulates assisted living facilities must be on 4 acres of land, and must be with 200 feet of a state or county right-of-way (state or county road), and access to such right-of-way must be direct and not through a "circuitous route." 

Formation-Shelbourne partners, a $2B private equity firm that develops and sells elderly care facilities is looking to buy the Sprainbrook Nursery, a 3.79 Acre lot at the corner of Underhill and Sprain Road. The closest state or county right-of-way to the proposed site is Central Park Avenue, at over 6000 feet away. Not only is the distance over 6000 feet, but's also via Underhill Road, a hazardous and curvy road with two "S" curves, a known dangerous segment requiring improvements.

Thus, Formation-Shelbourne partners needs a variance from the Town in order to legally build its assisted living facility on the Sprain Brook Nursery site. And the town has the option to study the data presented by the applicant and also to independently investigate on behalf of the residents. However, if the Town actually does the study, they are then bounded by the results of that study. This creates a perverse incentive not to look at the data. A petition was created in May to demonstrate community interest in such a study with 230 signatures. 

The Town has pressed forward on this issue and Paul Feiner continues to assert that Formation-Shelbourne's project would create a substantial win for the residents of Edgemont because of the amount of taxes the facility will pay to the School District and Fire District. But since town officials have refused to carefully study and verify the data from the applicant, critical points are willfully being ignored. 

Zoning board Video from 10/20/2016

Click on the video below to hear a brief explanation of the concerns
of over 230 residents, many of which live along Underhill Road. 

Subsequent to this video being aired at the zoning board, the claim was made that there was no data to support the claims when all we spoke about was distance. 

ZONING BOARD VIDEO FROM 11/17/2016

Click on the video below to hear the explanation