Residents filled the White Plains High School auditorium Monday for the latest round of public hearings regarding the French-American School of New York”™s proposal to build a campus on the site of the former Ridgeway Country Club.
An estimated crowd of more than 600 turned out, as residents voiced support for the project and reiterated concern over its impact on White Plains.
The hearings, held before the White Plains Common Council, were moved to the high school at the request of multiple residents. The first two rounds of hearings, held during the June and July council meetings at City Hall, drew well more than 100 residents, filling the Common Council chamber and forcing many to watch the proceedings on closed-circuit television in the hallway and lobby of the building.
Residents in the neighborhood surrounding the former golf club have voiced opposition to FASNY”™s plan, which would build a school campus near the former clubhouse while turning the remainder of the golf course property into a conservancy.
Opponents have had concerns on increases in traffic, fire department response times and potential neighborhood accessibility problems.
“Street closures are rare for a reason ”” closing an active and functioning city street is a very serious act,” said Terrence Guerriere, a former Common Council candidate who lives on Dupont Avenue, near the project site. “One could easily argue that safety would be impaired, not enhanced” by the closing of Hathaway Lane between Ridgeway and Gedney Esplanade, which is part of the proposal.
Regarding traffic concerns, Guerriere told the council there is no way to enforce the mandatory busing plan FASNY proposed to get students to campus as a way to alleviate potential traffic increases.
“There are clearly more questions than answers regarding such a plan,” Guerriere said. “Simple statements and assurances are not sufficient answers. ”¦ Without a truly mandatory busing plan, the traffic management plan falls apart.”
One resident suggested the school could have negative impacts on the White Plains public education system.
“I just don”™t see my children benefitting when a neighbor”™s child signs up for private school,” said Michael Kraver. With other private schools already in the city, Kraver said he worried about the effect that being the “private school capital of Westchester” would have on the city”™s public education system.
Others said they worried about the proposed campus”™ effect on the city”™s open space and parklands.
“This matter of space in this town has always been of critical importance, especially to some of us who have resided here for a long time,” said Jack Harrington, a former member of the White Plains Conservation Board. “You have to look at what we have. We”™ve been blessed here. We have a very diversified area ”” all kinds of terrain.”
FASNY”™s consultants spoke during the hearing to clarify the site plan and address residents”™ concerns.
“The site plan was developed based on a clear vision: Preserve mature trees and woodlands, maintain existing buffer vegetation, and value certain views afforded by the site,” said Diego Villareale of John Meyer Consulting, who gave an extensive explanation of the preservation of existing trees and vegetation on the site, including a number of large sycamore trees on Gedney Esplanade.
Villareale also responded to concerns over the architectural fit of the school in the neighborhood. “The project team has gone to great lengths to produce a design that responds to the neighborhood”™s scale, material, massing and character,” he said. “The views provided indicate the distance buildings will be from the adjacent properties will minimize visual impacts to those properties.”
FASNY consultant Graham Trelstad of AKRF Inc. said closing Hathaway Lane would not affect emergency vehicle access to the Gedney Farms neighborhood and could actually benefit the area.
“The closing of Hathaway Lane would allow FASNY to enact a site circulation plan for the lower school and upper school that would further separate automobiles, school buses and pedestrians,” Trelstad said. “Closing Hathaway Lane would not have detrimental effects on traffic, and would likely have a benefit in removing a cut-through route that residents have complained to the city about for years.”
The roughly $60 million to $70 million project would consolidate the schools”™ three campuses in Scarsdale, Mamaroneck and Larchmont into a single site for 950 students.
A Common Council vote on FASNY”™s proposal remains unscheduled.
Look at your second paragraph, “as residents voiced support for the project.” What meeting did you attend? The opposition was fierce. Were you listening to the handful of residents that supported the project? 99% of the time they were either parents or grandparents, or employees of the school. And, there absolutely has not been complaints of Hathaway lane as being a cut through.