Discourse about the future of the now-defunct Lake Street Quarry came to a head at the Feb. 10 Town Council meeting. As a result of a public hearing regarding a zoning text amendment that would allow a special exception use for a “senior living facility” to be developed on “limited properties,” an online petition has spawned.
If the project, proposed for 600 Lake St. in West Harrison, was to move forward, the quarry site would be transformed into a four-story, 160 to 170-unit independent and assisted living facility, known as Brightview Senior Living of Harrison.
The petition for a zoning amendment in an effort to redevelop the quarry site was put forth more than a year ago.
In response to 37 separate code violations, the Lake Street Quarry, which is owned by Lawrence Barrego, was issued a stop work order in 2009, which ceased any excavation and banned any heavy machinery from the premises, and a second stop work order was issued in 2014 that forbade any activity on the property. The town settled out of court with Barrego back in December 2014 and under that agreement, if Barrego ceased quarry-related activity, then his current iteration for the site, a senior living facility, would be given consideration.
But neighborhood backlash to the project has evolved since then. An online petition to halt the zoning amendment alleges to have 470 signatures as of March 1. The petition can be found online at stopzoningamendment.com.
During the nearly three-hour public hearing, a stream of nearby residents approached the podium citing many concerns, including the effects that the development project could have on property values, local traffic, the surrounding environment and overall quality of life.
Town Councilman Steve Malfitano, a Republican, wanted to make it clear that the issue before the council was not about the specifics of the proposed facility, rather about a nonspecific zoning amendment that would allow such a facility to be built in the first place.
“Now it just so happens, that the reason this is coming up is because clearly there is a project that is being contemplated here,” Malfitano said. “But the fact of the matter is this hearing is about nothing other than the zoning text amendment.”
More specifically, the Special Exception Use would allow a “senior living facility” to be built on properties with the R-1 and R-2 districts of Harrison that are six acres or larger, have at least 1,500 feet of frontage along an “arterial” roadway, and is designated as non-residential.
Therefore, eight other properties in addition to the quarry site are mentioned in the zoning text amendment. They include parcels of land on the SUNY Purchase campus, Manhattanville College, Harrison Avenue School, Louis M. Klein Middle School, Passidomo Veteran’s Memorial Park, and Willow Ridge and Old Oaks country clubs.
Former Harrison Mayor Joan Walsh, a Democrat, asked the council why these properties are being included in the amendment if many of them would be ineligible to have a senior living facility built on them.
“They have no relation in size or location to the property [Barrego] really wants rezoned, which is the Lake Street Quarry,” Walsh said.
The former mayor told the Review that, she thinks the additional properties were added simply to prevent spot zoning, which is the rezoning of a single parcel of land within an entire zoning district to benefit that one property.
“The town [council members] said that these properties would never be developed for housing, so that leaves spot zoning for this one property,” Walsh said.
Malfitano denied the spot zoning accusations and said, “there are a number of properties that just so happen to fit these parameters.”
Malfitano, also a former mayor, stressed that none of the other properties are being considered for development. He also added that he believes that this issue has been blown out of proportion by a handful of people with a political agenda. “It is hysteria, and it’s been purposely engineered to upset people,” Malfitano said. “We have a handful of people playing on the fears of others, and it’s unequivocally wrong.”
He said the reason those other properties were included was because the developer created the parameters of the zoning amendment, and then included any and all properties in the community that fit under those parameters, regardless of whether or not they would ever be realistically developed.
David Steinmetz, the attorney representing the Brightview project, reiterated Malfitano’s reassurance that the topic of discussion was simply about a potential special exception use, and that the parameters outlined in the amendment are “appropriate” and were carefully planned.
“This is a win-win for Harrison, and for the community-at-large, because this allows the town to permanently get rid of the quarry operation,” Steinmetz said.
The topic closed for written comment on Feb. 29.
