Eighteen months after a court ruled that The Landing at Dobbs Ferry may not block access to a beach on the Hudson River, the condominium is suing the village for doing the same thing.
The Landing is demanding $4 million from Dobbs Ferry, in a lawsuit originally filed in Westchester Supreme Court, moved to federal court and yesterday moved back to county court.
The village has deprived condominium residents of the “use and enjoyment” of their property, the complaint states, by locking a gate on a bridge that allows pedestrians to cross over the Metro-North Railroad tracks to the waterfront, where Native Americans had fished and hunted for 6,000 years.
The developer of The Landing ”“ 103 homes in 36 townhouses between Mercy College and Wickers Creek ”“ was required to honor a conservation easement and restrictive deed covenants that granted villagers the right to “view the property in its scenic and natural state.”
In 2014, The Landing installed a gate on the footbridge, and in 2015 a lock and key fob system were added, enabling only condominium residents to get on the bridge and over to the waterfront.
The village and Friends of Wickers Creek Archeological Site Inc. sued The Landing for allegedly violating villagers”™ rights of access the beach.
The Landing argued that the footbridge itself was not part of the easement and therefore the gate could be locked.
Westchester Supreme Court Justice Sam D. Walker ruled on the last day of 2019 that The Landing must keep the gate unlocked and allow villagers to use the footbridge during daylight hours. His decision has been appealed.
Eleven weeks later, on March 20, 2020, Dobbs Ferry police locked the gate, according to The Landing, as part of an emergency declaration by the village mayor in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now The Landing is taking the position that it is the village that is violating the easement and unlawfully blocking waterfront access.
But the condominium is interested only in protecting access for its residents.
If the village had allowed continued use of the key fob system, residents of The Landing would not have been deprived of waterfront access, according to the complaint, but the lock “would have prevented non-unit owners from gaining access to the bridge and waterfront parcel.”
Mayor Vincent Rossillo did not respond to an email request for the village”™s side of the story.
The Landing is represented by Manhattan attorney Jon Kolbrener.
