Yonkers towing company claims fence does not make for good neighbor

Two businesses in a Yonkers historic district claim that other property owners in the complex have installed a fence and locked gates that block their trucks from coming and going.

Coal House Properties, doing business as Transit Towing, and Lubin Flowers sued three other property owners in the Alexander Smith Carpet Mills Historic District, May 11 in Westchester Supreme Court, to remove the obstructions.

Without the relief, Michael Rotanelli says in an affidavit, Transit Towing could lose a contract with the city of Yonkers that requires quick response times.

But one defendant says the fence and gates were installed out of concerns about security.

“Our client followed all the appropriate procedures to obtain the permission of the city,” White Plains attorney Gerry E. Feinberg stated in an email on behalf of R.J. Rose Realty, and “all those who we believed might be affected” were notified before the fence and gates were installed.

The historic district is a 38-acre site with 85 industrial and residential buildings built by the Alexander Smith Carpet Mills from 1871 to 1930 along the Saw Mill River. The carpet works closed in 1954. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

One of the peculiarities of the densely built site is that a business can have an address on Saw Mill River Road but no access from that street. Transit Towing, according to Rotanelli, is landlocked.

The problem was solved 64 years ago by creating easements that allow vehicles to move unimpeded through the complex.

The best way in and out for large tow trucks is driving a relatively straight line, according to Rotanelli, but the recently installed fence and gates block the most direct route to his business.

There are other ways in, but those paths require drivers to maneuver tight turns.

“Tow truck drivers have accidentally and unintentionally come into contact with various obstacles, causing damage,” Rotanelli says.

He claims that emergency vehicles also have been delayed getting to locations in the complex.

Transit Towing and Lubin Flowers are asking the court to confirm everyone”™s responsibilities under the easements, declare the obstructions a public nuisance and order the defendants to remove them.

Efforts to contact two of the defendants failed. They are 252 Lake LLC, Mount Vernon, and 242-52 Lake Ave. Realty Inc., of Yonkers and Blauvelt, Rockland County.

Yonkers attorney Robert F. Zerilli represents Transit Towing and Lubin Flowers.