Developers of the proposed Mariani Gardens townhouses in Armonk are demanding that the Town of North Castle reinstate a permit to allow the project to move forward.
The property owner, 45 Bedford Road LLC, claims that the town board acted arbitrarily and capriciously, according to a petition filed Feb. 11 in Westchester Supreme Court, when the board refused in January to extend a special use permit for the project.
The developers need the permit to build four structures with 43 dwellings on 4.2 acres at Bedford Road and Maple Avenue.
The property was formerly used for a garden center and other enterprises run by Mark J. Mariani. It is a half-block away from town hall and around the corner from the hamlet’s business district.
Mariani, George Galgano, and David Linn formed the 45 Bedford Road partnership in 2018.
In 2019, the town granted their request to rezone the property from a nursery district to multifamily residential, according to the petition, and approved a special use permit for one year.
The town board extended the permit twice, for a total of 15 months through this past Jan. 14, but denied a third extension as “not in the best interest of the town.”
There was no valid reason to deny the extension, the developers argue, because the plans and circumstances have not changed.
The board’s resolution, included as an exhibit with the petition, does describe circumstances: “the applicant’s inability to process a site development plan via the planning board”; disrepair of the site; efforts by owners of nearby office buildings to convert vacant spaces to residences; and potential traffic and parking problems.
The petition is silent on previous legal actions that could be impeding the project.
Galgano and Linn, minority partners in the project, petitioned Westchester Supreme Court in 2020 to dissolve 45 Bedford Road LLC over alleged mismanagement of $10 million in loans by Mariani, the majority partner.
Then NCD Acquisitions, a Long Island company that acquired about $10.7 million in loans on the property, sued for foreclosure.
And last year, Mariani filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, declaring nearly $12.2 million in liabilities and only $177,241 in assets.
The bankruptcy automatically suspended the two lawsuits.
In the new case, 45 Bedford Road is asking the court to direct the board to extend the special use permit.
Mindy Berard, confidential secretary to town supervisor Michael Schiliro, said in an email that the town does not comment on active litigation.
White Plains attorneys David S. Steinmetz and Kory Salomone represent the developer.
