Two Ardsley Manor homeowners have sued Ferncliff Cemetery Association in Hartsdale for allegedly building a massive retaining wall near their backyards in violation of Greenburgh zoning regulations.
Sheila Macks and Theodore M. DiGilio are demanding the immediate removal of the wall, in a complaint filed Dec. 12 in Westchester Supreme Court.
“The construction of such a huge wall so close to their rear property line has created a devastating visual blight in their modest backyards,” the complaint states.
“Ferncliff secured land use approvals more than two years ago,” the cemetery’s attorney, David S. Steinmetz, said in an email. “The wall at issue … is in complete compliance with the Town of Greenburgh’s zoning ordinance, and is consistent with numerous retaining walls throughout the town.
“This is unfortunate harassment of a well-established and high regarded cemetery.”
Sheila Macks, 84, and her late husband, Lester, bought a house on Forest Boulevard, next to Ferncliff, in 1974. DiGilio, 84, of White Plains, bought the house next door in 1993 and transferred it to a family corporation as an investment property.
Ferncliff Cemetery is the final resting place of scores of celebrities and dignitaries, such as novelist James Baldwin, composer and pianist Bela Bartok, and musician Thelonious Monk.
In 2021, Ferncliff filed a site plan application to build a nearly one-acre burial ground on a lawn at the cemetery’s northern border.
The plans called for removing about 50 mature trees in a grove that shielded the homes from the cemetery, excavating the lawn, bringing in thousands of cubic yards of fill to raise the ground level, installing dozens of in-ground crypts, building a retaining wall to hold back the earthwork, and planting trees to screen the retaining wall from the neighbors houses.
Drawings submitted to the town showed portions of the retaining wall ranging from four feet to 12 feet high, according to the complaint. The 12-foot section also extended another 3.5 feet below ground and was to be topped by a 3-foot high metal guardrail. The distances between the wall and the property line were not disclosed.
The homeowners contend that the zoning allows the wall to be no more than 8 feet high and requires it to be at least 18 feet behind the property line.
Town officials approved the plans, a building permit was issued and in spring 2022 construction began.
By summer, the complaint states, the retaining wall behind the Macks and DiGilio properties appeared to be 20 feet high. When the ground level was raised, it looked about 12 feet high, the wall behind their neighbors’ houses was lower, and the wall was only six feet behind their property line.
“We did everything by the book,” cemetery president Kevin Boyd stated in a joint-email with attorney Steinmetz. “The retaining wall is necessary to hold back the earth supporting the new burial plots … (and) serves as a privacy barrier between mourners attending burials and our neighbors.”
The homeowners claim they tried to resolve the dispute and reach a settlement for more than a year, “but never came close.”
The town’s alleged failure to enforce the zoning laws “has effectively destroyed the use and enjoyment of their backyards,” the complaint states, “thereby diminishing the value of their properties.”
Scarsdale attorney Robert B. Bernstein, representing the homeowners, is asking the court to declare the wall a nuisance, order Ferncliff to remove it, and award damages for diminished value of his clients’ properties.
“The town did its job, now the courts will have to do theirs,” Steinmetz said. “Ferncliff expects the lawsuit to be summarily dismissed.”
