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 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 page on the website YouCaring to raise money to sue the town if the board passed the amendment. As of press time, the group has raised $45,000, more than triple the amount it had raised before the town’s May 19 vote. Their goal is set at $60,000.
Hoisington, who has helped organize the donation web page, said the next step is legal action, although he added, “We really don’t want to take legal action against our own town.”
Residents have protested the zoning amendment as an example of spot zoning, which is the allowance of a special exception in zoning laws for the benefit of a single developer or entity. Spot zoning is considered illegal.
Anthony Grgas, who lives above the Lake Street Quarry, said, “This zoning amendment, if you look at the language, it has been tailored to fit this one property.”
Councilman Steve Malfitano, a Republican, argued that the town is following a process, and that the board is following the rules.
