In a 3-2 vote, Harrison’s Town Council issued final approval for the potential Brightview Senior Living Center on Lake Street which has elicited challenge from hundreds of West Harrison residents since last year.
The developer has made several changes since the Planning Board issued a site plan approval in December, reducing the number of units, lowering the building height and setting it further back from the property line. The initial proposal would have put 160 units on the 7.3-acre site. The approved proposal allows for only 148 units on that property.
“The applicant was very willing and gracious to have open discussions,” said Councilman Steve Malfitano, a Republican who voted in favor of the project. “We looked at this and thought in similar ways that the number of units that we had in [the initial proposal] was probably more than we wanted to see.”
David Steinmetz, an attorney for the developer, added that the 12-unit reduction lowered parts of the building by up to 8 feet.
Regardless of the developer’s attempts to quell concerns over the size and density of the building, residents have continued to argue that putting the senior center on that lot will create a constant source of noise, light, odor and traffic and would put a strain on the town’s emergency services, reducing both quality of life and property values for its neighbors.
The plans for the senior center have been subject to two public hearings since the Planning Board issued the site plan approval. The final hearing, on March 23, ran for more than two hours, including a discussion of the changes made by the developer, commentary from the Town Council, and additional qualms against the development by residents. Some of those residents are members of Save Harrison, a community group which filed a lawsuit after the town approved an amendment to the zoning code last May to allow the Brightview center on the Lake Street property. The Westchester County Supreme Court dismissed that lawsuit in February.
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Last month, Al Pirro, an attorney for Save Harrison, said his client was planning on filing an appeal. Steinmetz confirmed that a notice of appeal has been filed.
“We hope the neighbors recognize the futility of pursuing further litigation,” Steinmetz added. “It’s time to work together in a neighborly and productive fashion.”
The continuing objections to the development from within the Harrison community drew the attention of two council members who voted against issuing approval for the project.
Councilwoman Marlane Amelio, a Republican, said her decision to vote against the project was based on the accumulation of residents’ concerns rather than one specific issue. “When there are that many residents who express concern with a project like that, they should have a voice,” she said.
And freshman Councilman Richard Dionisio, a Republican who campaigned for a seat on the Town Council last November in opposition of the Brightview development, said he was astonished that the board approved the development given the volume of public outcry. “It doesn’t fit,” he said. “And I understand the residents. They did a wonderful job representing themselves and explaining to the board how they felt.”
Both Amelio and Dionisio, along with Mayor Ron Belmont, a Republican who supported the project, are up for re-election this November.
In May, before Dionisio was elected to the board, the Town Council voted unanimously to approve the zoning text amendment which allowed senior living centers to be built on several residential properties within the town, including the site of the now-defunct Lake Street Quarry. That property, then owned by Lawrence Barrego, had been operating in violation of several town zoning codes for decades. In 2014, to settle a land use dispute with the town, Barrego agreed to sell the property to the developer of a senior living facility, to discontinue all excavation, and to sell all heavy machinery still on his quarry property. In return, Harrison waived more than $800,000 in violation charges.
According to Belmont, turning this property from a noisy quarry site to a senior living facility was meant to improve the quality of life for the owners of neighboring properties.
Pirro could not be reached for comment as of press time.
