May 27, 2016 by The Harrison Review

Honoring our heroes

Harrison REVIEW THE

May 27, 2016 | Vol. 4, Number 22 | www.harrisonreview.com

Town approves zoning amendment amid protest By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer

The third annual Matsuri Japan Cultural Festival opens with the hosts leading the crowd in radio exercises, raijo taiso in Japanese. Meaning festival in Japanese, the matsuri drew hundreds of revelers from Harrison and neighboring communities on Sunday, May 22 at Ma Riis Park. For coverage, see page 6. Photo/Sibylla Chipaziwa

Relations between EMS, town board show signs of life By ANGELA JORDAN Staff Writer After a dispute in late March, when Harrison EMS narrowly avoided ceasing its services due to the town withholding funds for it, the relationship between the two parties seems to have improved. The town released a payment of $45,833 for May 2016 during its last executive session, which took place on April 28. While the EMS normally receives a quarterly stipend of $137,500, Councilman Steve Malfitano, a Republican, says the town will continue to fund the EMS on a monthly basis until further notice. He anticipates that more funding will be released for June 2016 at the end

of this month. Malfitano said that some changes were made to the Harrison EMS operation, and that there has been a mutual effort between town and EMS officials to cooperate with each other since the stipend was withheld in March. “We’re hopeful,” said Malfitano, of ongoing dialogue between the town board and the EMS board. “We’re in a better place, but there’s no real answer to [the grievances] yet and we’ll have to see how it works out.” Al Mignone, the board chairman for the Harrison EMS, said that they’ve done a few things to rectify some of the issues brought to their attention by the town. These changes, according to Mignone, include greater scrutiny toward where EMS

funds are allocated, restructuring of the EMS Board, and making significant efforts to communicate its activities to the town more clearly and more often. Mignone also said that they’re going to energize their fundraising efforts and have more of a public presence throughout Harrison. “Things were tough for a couple a months, but now we’re working on [solutions], and we’re addressing the issues head on,” Mignone said. After Harrison EMS publicly stated on March 31 that they could no longer respond to emergency calls as of April 3 due to a lack of funds from the town, the mayor’s office sent out a press release outlining 17 separate grievances regarding the

operation of emergency services, and described Harrison EMS as “completely mismanaged for an extended period of time.” The list included allegations that the EMS board held “little to no meetings over the years,” had poor communication with the town about the allocation of funds, and did not keep proper records of meetings. There were also numerous complaints from the town board about the EMS chief at the time, Joseph Billotto, alleging that the EMS board allowed Billotto to take advantage of his privileges as chief. Some of these allegations included Billotto being allowed to work almost full time at his business in EMS continued on page 8

The Harrison Town Council unanimously voted through a barrage of boos to pass a contentious zoning text amendment, allowing the town to consider the construction of senior living facilities on four residentially zoned properties, including a Brightview center on Lake Street. Following the vote, several of the 80 audience members in attendance began chanting “You suck” at board members, while threatening to remove them from office. The town approved an updated version of the amendment, which put further restrictions on senior living facilities, including adding a minimum age of residency, eliminating five properties from the Special Exception Uses that were previously listed, and changing the required front yard space from 15 feet to 40 feet. West Harrison resident Sam Hoisington, who lives near the proposed site, the former home of the now defunct Lake Street Quarry, challenged the revisions to the zoning text amendment, which had not undergone public hearing. Jorge Golowasch and Glenn Daher, who both live near the old quarry, also rushed to the podium to address the town board. Mayor Ron Belmont, a Republican, urged the residents to hold their comments. “This is not a public hearing,” he said. “We had public hearings. I extended the public hearings, at everyone’s request, an extra two weeks. We extended the written comments an extra two weeks.

Everything is in. Everything has been reviewed.” Town Attorney Frank Allegretti said the fate of the former quarry and the Brightview senior living facility would be decided through a series of planning and town board meetings after the zoning amendment was approved. “The board is not addressing any specific site plan tonight,” he said. “It’s not approving any specific project.” But some residents are worried that the approval of the zoning text amendment will prevent them from contesting the Brightview site plan or a new zoning amendment if another developer wants to change the town’s zoning in the future. Golowasch told the Review that it is very hard to fight against the construction of a new site plan or zoning amendment. Golowasch added that he feared what would happen if Shelter Development, the company that plans to build the Brightview center, pulls out of the deal. He said this property could become a hospital or a jail. The zoning amendment only allows for the development of a senior living facility, however. The controversy surrounding the amendment has attracted the outcry of residents since it was proposed in March 2015. Residents opposed to the amendment have submitted hundreds of emails and have also filed both a print and an online petition with more than 200 and 555 signatures, respectively. In April, a group of residents also started an online donation ZONING continued on page 9