March 3, 2017 by The Harrison Review

Harrison REVIEW THE

March 3, 2017 | Vol. 5, Number 9 | www.harrisonreview.com

Supreme Court rules against Save Harrison in lawsuit

Helping hands

By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer

As part of the Harrison Emergency Lifesaving Program, a new community initiative designed to teach residents emergency lifesaving techniques, Harrison Emergency Medical Services provided free CPR and first aid training courses to community members. For story, see page 6. Photo/Andrew Dapolite

Westchester lawmakers push to ban sale of synthetic weed By JAMES PERO Staff Writer With a new piece of legislation, Westchester lawmakers will look to piggyback on a recently passed New York City law blockading the spread of a synthetic marijuana known commonly as “spice.” The county legislation, introduced jointly by Republican legislators David Tubiolo and John Testa, would enact a countywide ban on the sale of the synthetic drugs—which are currently sold legally over-thecounter under state law—by amending portions of the county’s consumer protection code. “We’re doing what we can to make our county as safe as pos-

sible,” said Tubiolo, of Yonkers. “These are deadly toxins.” In New York state, both the sale and consumption of the drug have been under increasing scrutiny over the past year, spurred in part by 33 Brooklyn residents who overdosed this past summer on a popular brand of the product sold under the moniker “K2.” The side effects experienced by users of that strain of the drug included extreme disorientation, loss of motor control, and erratic behavior that required police intervention. According to Testa, of Peekskill, at times, the reach of drugs like K2 has hit close to home. Earlier this year, Testa explained, White Plains first

responders were called to intervene after multiple individuals began exhibiting what he described as “strange behavior.” Later, Testa said, it was determined that they had ingested synthetic marijuana which had been sold to them only a block away from the county government’s White Plains headquarters. “It was a wake-up call for us to pay attention to this and combat it in Westchester,” Testa said. This past summer, the drug also swept multiple Yonkers residents which resulted in police intervention according to Yonkers Police Sgt. Dean Politopolous. While regulators on both a state and federal level have

made attempts to quell the spread of synthetic marijuana—most notably through a 2012 congressional act that listed many of the compounds found in those drugs as Schedule I substances, the most serious class—the fight has often been a battle from behind. According to Tubiolo, while state and local governments have banned many of the compounds found in the commercially sold drugs, manufacturers have skirted embargos by altering their recipes by just a few molecules. “We were aware that people had been changing the chemicals,” Tubiolo said. “We’re trying BAN continued on page 9

Days before the Harrison Town Council may issue a final approval allowing a Brightview Senior Living Center on the site of the former Lake Street Quarry, the state Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the town’s 2016 decision to change that property’s zoning in anticipation of the development. But a resident group, which launched the initial lawsuit in June, may look to appeal the court’s decision. On Feb. 22, Judge Gretchen Walsh ruled in favor of Brightview and various Harrison agencies, including the Town Council and Planning Board in a suit filed by Save Harrison Inc., a group of West Harrison residents who claim that the proposed senior living center would adversely impact the surrounding area, which had been zoned for lowdensity residential properties. Save Harrison’s lawsuit aimed to dispute several steps in the process leading to Brightview’s pending approval, but was centered on a controversial zoning amendment passed by the Town Council last May, which allowed the construction of a senior living center on the potential Brightview property—600 Lake St.—as well as several other residentially zoned properties throughout Harrison. The lawsuit alleged that Harrison’s amendment to the zoning code at the request of Brightview was an instance of spot-zoning, an illegal zoning process in which a municipality rezones a small parcel of land to benefit a property owner that comes at the

detriment of neighboring owners. However, the court ruled against this claim, explaining in its ruling that the zoning amendment was in line with Harrison’s comprehensive plan and in the best interest of the community. “We are quite pleased that this important zoning amendment and the town’s meticulous review of the extensive record was upheld by the court as entirely lawful,” said David Steinmetz, an attorney representing the Brightview project. Now that the lawsuit has been resolved, Brightview must clear one last hurdle before it can begin construction of its 160unit, 165,000-square-foot senior facility. On March 2, after press time, the Town Council will continue a public hearing that began in midFebruary, and could vote on final approval for the senior living center after closing that hearing. Meanwhile, Save Harrison may look to extend the legal battle. According to Al Pirro, an attorney for Save Harrison, the resident group plans to appeal the judge’s ruling. “[My] clients have spoken to me and have advised me that they disagree with certain portions of the decision,” Pirro said. “I think certainly that there are some very significant portions of the judge’s decisions to be reviewed.” If approved, the senior center would be built on the site of the now-defunct Lake Street Quarry, which, according to town records, had been operating outside of the zoning code for decades. To settle land use violations cited by the town, LAWSUIT continued on page 9