December 23 & 30, 2016 | Vol. 4, Number 52 | www.eastchesterreview.com
Residents sue Planning Board over hotel, cleanup By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer Nine Tuckahoe residents have launched a lawsuit against the village and state departments responsible for approving a remediation of a toxic site to build a 5-story Marriott hotel. The residents are suing to overturn several decisions which paved the way for a developer, Development Affiliates December 23 & Bilwin 30, 2016 | Vol. 4, Number LLC, to remove contaminants from a 3.5-acre portion of a former industrial dumping site on Marbledale Road and then build a 163-room Marriott Springhill Suites hotel and a 6,400-squarefoot restaurant on the property. The action names several agencies which have signed off on pieces of the development plan since it was first proposed in December 2014, including the New York state Department Yes, 2016 was a memorable year in more ways than one for the town of Eastchester and the villages of of Environmental ConservaBronxville and Tuckahoe. For a recap of the defining issues that helped shape the local community, see page 6. tion, DEC, the state Department of Health, the village Planning Board and the village building inspector. The lawsuit alleges that each tribute $250,000 to that fund The district plans to replace but one of the LaFrance trucks. of the agencies involved made By COREY STOCKTON next year according to its 2017 three of its trucks manufac- Fire Commissioner Steven premature decisions that led to Staff Writer budget. tured by American LaFrance Baker said during a Dec. 2 fire site plan approval for the develCome 2017, the EastchesThe fire board plans to take in 2000 and 2001. American board meeting, “We’re not go- opment. The Planning Board approved ter Fire District will look to advantage of a state law adopt- LaFrance filed for bankruptcy ing to store them somewhere; replace three of its oldest fire- ed in August 2012 called the in 2008 and went out of busi- we’re going to get what we can the site plan by a vote of 3-2 on Oct. 19, a month after it adtrucks out of pocket, planning Piggyback Law, which allows ness in 2014. Since the compa- get back [for] them.” to spend a total of $1.73 mil- governmental bodies to find ny’s dissolution, the fire board The board will also likely journed its decision for up to 60 lion for three identical KME- contracts awarded by manufac- has expressed concerns that it look to sell Engine 28, a Pierce days citing an ongoing study of made rigs. turers to other municipalities, could become increasingly dif- truck previously purchased the plan. Meanwhile, the DEC The fire board had original- and use them to get similar or ficult to find replacement parts for less than $10,000. That rig was overseeing additional site ly speculated that the replace- identical contracts without so- to repair and maintain the dis- was manufactured in the mid- testing by an environmental firm ment trucks could cost more liciting bids. The board plans trict’s three LaFrance-manu- 1990s; the district had been us- hired by the developer. “Both [state] agencies are than $3 million and would re- to piggyback off a KME con- factured machines. ing it as a reserve. deciding first and getting the quire bonding. Since Novem- tract with the Huntington Fire The district also purchased The new KME trucks would ber, the fire board has said that Department in Suffolk County, replace engines 27, 30 and 31, a new command vehicle from information later,” said David it will rely entirely on the dis- New York earlier this year. which are now housed at the Hendrickson Fire Rescue Gordon, an attorney who is reptrict’s reserve fund. The board originally North End station, the Ches- Equipment in 2016, which it resenting the plaintiffs. “And in
LOOKING BACK…
Happy Holidays
Town fire district to purchase 3 new trucks for $1.7M
The district has an apparatus reserve fund of about $2 million. While the new engines would deplete most of that fund, the district will con-
planned to make the purchase this month, but has pushed it back until at least January, according to Dennis Winter, fire board chairman.
ter Heights station and the Fire Department headquarters on Main Street in Eastchester. Once the new fleet arrives, the board will look to sell all
received in October. The vehicle was put into service on Dec. 1.
INSIDE
CONTACT: corey@hometwn.com
Story on page 5.
the case of the Planning Board, they’re deciding first and asking another agency to get the information later.” On Sept. 15, 2015, the village Planning Board ruled that the developer would not have to submit an environmental impact study of the site as long as it complied with the DEC’s Brownfield Cleanup Program, a program which allows independent developers to remediate a 38 | www.cityreviewnr.com contaminated property under the supervision of the DEC for the purpose of developing it. The lawsuit alleges that this action is illegal because the Planning Board passed responsibility off to another agency. The lawsuit also claims that the DEC and the state health department, in their approval of the developer’s plan to remediate the site, failed to adequately protect public health. The DEC-approved remediation plan does not address the process of leveling soil, known as deep dynamic compaction, which can cause dust to migrate. “The DEC has decided to approve a remedy when they don’t know how the site is going to be prepared and you’re looking at options, all of which are intrusive in one way or another to a toxic waste site,” Gordon told the Review. “The fact that they don’t yet know what [the developer is] doing means that there’s no way a Decision Document [the DEC’s plan of action for the developer to remediate the property] can be upheld as complete and rational in protecting public health.” But Linda Shaw, an attorney
Wegmans to Westchester?
HOTEL continued on page 8