Affordable in Ardsley
A former restaurant site in Ardsley is on track to become 17 affordable housing units and five units priced for and reserved for the likes of volunteer responders.
The Greenburgh Town Board voted unanimously July 14 to sell the foreclosed former Waterwheel Restaurant site on Route 9A ”“ a parcel owned by the town ”“ to Ardsley Waterwheel Partners L.L.C. for $1.2 million.
The site has become in the six years since the restaurant closed a jungle of sumac and briars. There is no visible structure there. Jersey barriers and an overgrown parking lot with a homemade skateboard ramp have barely defied the verdure.
The fate of the parcel, across the street from Macy Park, was perhaps sealed when the Ardsley Village Board voted earlier this year to zone it for affordable housing.
“I have been working toward this in one way or another for four years,” said village of Ardsley Mayor Jay Leon. “The original impetus was for affordable housing for volunteer firefighters, civil workers and EMTs.” The equation now calls for five units to be set aside for that original purpose.
In those four years, an agreement on affordable housing between the federal and Westchester County governments has been hammered out and signed. “With 17 affordable housing units in a village that not long ago had none, that should make five work-force units more palatable to the federal monitor overseeing the agreement,” Leon said.
Countywide issues
The agreement calls for the county to spend some $50 million of its own money, plus other unspecified funds, to build or acquire 750 individual housing units, 630 of which must be provided in towns and villages where black residents constitute 3 percent or less of the population and Hispanic residents make up less than 7 percent. The 120 remaining units are to meet different cost and ethnic thresholds still to be determined.
The county has seven years to complete the deal.
“People are accepting of affordable housing,” said Paul Feiner, Greenburgh supervisor since 1991, citing a 30-year tradition of affordable units scattered across Greenburgh and pointing to several as he drove toward the Waterwheel site.
“Greenburgh is different than the rest of the county,” Feiner said. “We”™re embracing rather than fighting affordable housing. We”™ve always been a progressive community and we know there is a need for affordable housing. People have a right to a decent place to live and we recognize the need to build safe, good quality housing stock.”
“There is a substantial purchase price involved,” said Leon. “We”™ve worked closely with neighbors and representatives of nearby developments to make sure this project was satisfactory and would not affect property values.
“We”™ve got a long way to go, but this is the first major hurdle cleared.”
On the county level, the New York City-based Anti-Discrimination Center Executive Director Craig Gurian wrote July 8 that the federal monitor “has now rejected Westchester”™s second attempt at an implementation plan. As we had said in respect to Westchester”™s first try, the second March submission constituted neither planning nor implementation.” The center had joined the federal government in the housing lawsuit that led to the settlement.
There are 31 communities in the county seen as eligible to participate in the settlement and Ardsley is one of them.
The center put the price tag for abiding by the settlement countywide at $62.5 million and noted the county has till Aug. 9 to submit a third plan. It anticipates further legal action in the future.
”˜Boots on the ground”™
Leon”™s take envisioned more comity July 15 when, in a written statement, he said: “The developer indicated he would be filing his applications with the village later this week. Then the SEQRA process will begin and there will be public hearings in Ardsley.”
The five work-force housing units are intended for those who are volunteer firefighters, EMS responders and other civic employees. Feiner said the Ardsley Fire Department and Ambulance Corps volunteers favor the plan.
The supervisor said there remained the possibility obstacles could stymie the project. “It”™s conceivable one or two people might object and that can take on a life of its own,” he said. “We sent emails. We reached out. But there were no negative responses. We have a track record already ”“ affordable housing in Hastings and Ardsley. We”™ve scattered affordable housing for over 30 years and there really have been no problems.”
“This is good for the village and for the county,” said Ardsley Deputy Mayor Peter Porcino. “We have boots on the ground and we”™re ready to start the approval process.” He said constituents were “generally in favor when we explained about affordable housing.”
Porcino called the development “our most visible and fruitful project to date.”
The move comes as Westchester County mulls its own response to the settlement reached under the administration of former County Executive Andy Spano.
The county recently announced it was swapping law firms ”“ from New York City-based Epstein, Becker & Green P.C. to Winston & Strawn L.L.P., also with offices in New York City ”“ as the administration of County Executive Rob Astorino addresses the issue.