White Plains issues moratorium on Ridgeway property
The White Plains Common Council on April 4 voted to impose a six-month moratorium on approvals for development plans on properties in two zoning districts, including the Ridgeway Country Club property, which is to be the new home for the French American School of New York.
Although the French American School has yet to officially submit plans to the city, it has revealed its intentions to develop a portion of the 128.6-acre Ridgeway Country Club so that it can consolidate its leased campus buildings in Scarsdale, Larchmont and Mamaroneck. Those preliminary plans have elicited strong opposition from local neighborhood groups that have expressed concerns about potential traffic and environmental impacts.
The French American School bought the property in January for $11 million.
In response to the Common Council”™s vote to impose a moratorium that will last until October, the school released a statement terming it “unfair” and “unnecessary.”
“Our application for creating a low-density park-like campus on the Ridgeway property, which we plan to submit to the city next month, will unquestionably reflect those objectives,” the French American School stated. “Our plan, which conforms to the vision and goals of the city”™s Comprehensive Plan, will preserve over 60 acres of permanent and publicly accessible open space for the city. It will also concentrate development of the site to one section of the property with less than (5) percent of the site covered with impervious surfaces.”
The school later stated, “We believe that the moratorium is unfairly targeted at a limited number of properties, including our Ridgeway property. We also believe that the moratorium is unnecessary from a technical and regulatory perspective and will generate unnecessary legal exposure for the city, procedural confusion and additional financial costs for the city.”
Mayor Thomas Roach said he favors the moratorium, which he said covers other sections of the city with significant open space, including the Fenway, Westchester Hills and Maple Moor golf courses. “Basically it gives a six-month period for the city to study and review its land-use regulations, to make sure that they are in conformance with the goals of the city”™s Comprehensive Plan,” the mayor said.
He added that the moratorium permits applications to be filed on properties in the affected districts, but bars any city approvals on those plans.
While saying he has not formulated an opinion as yet on the preliminary plans floated by the French American School at several open houses, he said, “I have concerns about the impact on the neighborhood.”
Representatives of the French American School of New York could not be reached for comment at press time.
According to a fact sheet on the project on the school”™s website, the development plan calls for retrofitting the existing buildings on the site, as well as adding new buildings totaling approximately 100,000 additional square feet.
In addition, the school states, “Our plan will restore the natural conditions of the property, improve the existing drainage conditions and stop the use of irrigation and pesticides. We are exploring possibly uncovering the underground streams if they exist, creating natural storm-water retention ponds, and using rain gardens and other green management measures to bring the site back to a more natural look and feel.”