Judge calls White Plains conduct ‘farcical’ as FASNY lawsuit moves forward
The French-American School of New York can proceed with its lawsuit against the White Plains Common Council and Mayor Thomas Roach after a judge had harsh words for the lawmakers.
State Supreme Court Judge Joan B. Lefkowitz said in an April 19 ruling that the city”™s handling of FASNY”™s application to build a new campus in White Plains was “farcical.”
Lefkowitz said the city was attempting to wage “a war of attrition” to dissuade FASNY from continuing its pursuit to build a $60 million, five-building campus on a former golf course in the city, which Lefkowitz said “appears to be a legal use of its land.”
Lefkowitz”™s ruling denied a motion from the city to dismiss a lawsuit FASNY filed in September challenging the common council”™s de facto rejection of the school”™s proposal.
The decision is the latest in a dispute that dates back five years. In 2011, FASNY proposed a plan to consolidate its three Westchester campuses into one new facility on the former Ridgeway Country Club near the Gedney Farms neighborhood in White Plains. FASNY bought the property in 2010 for $11 million. The school would cover students from pre-school through 12th grade and include a 78-acre public park that the school would maintain.
The project has faced steady opposition from residents, led by the Gedney Association. The association represents about 450 households in the Gedney Farms neighborhood. The group has fought the project out of concerns that it is too big for the neighborhood and would cause traffic and drainage issues. They”™ve rallied other neighborhood groups to weigh in with letters opposing the project as well.
The project was red flagged by the White Plains Board of Education in 2014, citing worries that increased traffic from FASNY could be a safety hazard to students at White Plains High School.
The current legal battle stems from a common council vote against closing a city road to accommodate the FASNY campus.
In August, the common council voted 4-3 on a measure that would close a portion of Hathaway Lane, leaving it a vote short of the supermajority it needed to pass.
FASNY”™s plan incorporated the partial Hathaway Lane closure during the environmental review process with the common council. The final environmental impact statement, approved in a 6-1 vote, called for the road to be partially closed as a public safety measure.
FASNY threatened litigation immediately following the vote in August against closing part of Hathaway Lane and followed through the next month. The school, represented by Zarin & Steinmetz in White Plains, said the city has put it in a Catch-22 situation: the council required the closure of Hathaway Lane as a mitigation measure in the environmental review process, but then rejected a measure to actually close the road.
Council member Nadine Hunt-Robinson was one of the votes against closing the road. She said before the vote that “seconds matter” during an emergency and the closing could mean increased fire response times.
The common council was also scheduled to vote on a special permit for its site plan at the same meeting, but tabled the resolution. The city has maintained that it cannot vote on the site plan without approval for the partial closing of Hathaway Lane.
Lefkowitz ruled in January that the city council had to vote on FASNY”™s site plan, but the city tabled the vote again at the following meeting, announcing that it would appeal the court”™s decision.
In the April ruling, Lefkowitz said the Common Council has “plainly and purposefully frustrated and thwarted the normal application review process, and will in all likelihood continue to do so, so that any attempt by FASNY to acquire a final determination ”¦ would be an exercise in futility.”
The common council, represented in the matter by Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP in White Plains, has 20 days to respond to FASNY”™s petition challenging the alleged rejection of its plan.
In a statement, Karen Pasquale, senior adviser to Roach, said the city has expended $72,000 defending the action brought against it by FASNY, $50,000 of which will be reimbursed through insurance.
“The city must respond to this litigation, as it must respond to any litigation brought against it to protect the interest of the city and its residents,” Pasquale said.
Meanwhile, FASNY released a statement celebrating what it said is the third straight legal ruling in its favor.
Attorney Michael Zarin said the decision shows that the “writing is on the wall.”
“The court”™s decision, which recognized the council”™s bad faith actions, will support a federal damages claim, which would allow FASNY to recover millions of dollars that have been wasted by the ”˜war of attrition”™ the council is still waging,” Zarin said. “It”™s time to stop litigating and start building.”
The decision also emboldened one White Plains neighborhood group, which claims to represent more than 800 residents, to hold a news conference at the steps of city hall on April 28 in favor of the project. The group of residents, which goes by White Plains Neighbors ACT and includes some FASNY parents, called on the city to “stop wasting tax dollars” on a “losing legal battle.”
Neighbors ACT member David Kohl, a Gedney Farms resident, called the legal battle “the wrong fight for White Plains.”
“The city is fighting a school and a park,” Kohl said at the news conference. “We”™re talking about school kids and bluebirds, folks, not a toxic waste dump or prison.”
John Sheehan, president of the Gedney Association, said many of the members of the neighbor group have been speaking out in favor of the project from the start and that the press conference was “no surprise.” He believes his group, which he said has a petition with more than 2,000 signatures opposing the project, better shows the city”™s overall sentiment.
Sheehan said the city has acted properly in its dealings with FASNY and he believes that will be clear once the city complies with the state court”™s request and responds to the school”™s petition.
“In fact, I think the administration bent over backward trying to help FASNY,” Sheehan said. “But it was just too difficult ”¦ it”™s a site that doesn’t lend itself to that use.”
Marc Siegel, a member of the Neighbors ACT group and a Gedney Farms resident, said more events are in the works from his group to advocate for the school, including walking tours of the potential nature park to show what is “at risk to be lost.”