Despite opposition, Ridge Hill groundbreaking in Yonkers - News Archives 2007 Cuomo

""THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: November 26, 2007)

YONKERS - Though work crews began cutting down trees months ago, Yonkers and Forest City Ratner officials plan a ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday for the long-embattled Ridge Hill Village, the city's biggest development project to date.

Forest City Ratner announced Friday that it had signed leases with Whole Foods, L.L. Bean, Banana Republic, New York & Company and movie-theater giant National Amusements. The Brooklyn-based Forest City, which is behind the controversial Atlantic Yards development in that borough, hopes to open retail stores in late 2009, said Loren Riegelhaupt, a Forest City vice president.

Ridge Hill, situated between the New York State Thruway and the Sprain Brook Parkway, is to have 1.3 million square feet of retail, restaurant and cinema space. It also includes 1,000 apartments, 160,000 square feet of office space, and a hotel and conference center.

Though work is moving ahead, the project is still under fire from neighboring municipalities. The biggest complaint is traffic.

"It's planning at its worst. They've given them the approvals and they didn't think it through," said Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner, criticizing Yonkers officials.

Greenburgh and the villages of Ardsley and Hastings-on-Hudson sued Yonkers over the development. They later dropped their court case as part of a deal that created the Ridge Hill Task Force, which is to seek short-term and longer-term traffic improvements in the area around Ridge Hill. The deal called for the three municipalities to share $5 million for short-term traffic fixes.

Another plan to relieve congestion - construction of an interchange with the Sprain Brook Parkway - is stalled after Westchester County refused permission for highway ramps to cross county parkland.

To find and fund a new access road to the development, Yonkers announced in June the hiring of former Gov. Mario Cuomo and his one-time deputy Mary Ann Crotty. Cuomo was hired to serve as the task force's special adviser, while Crotty is serving as task force manger.

Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone defended the project and its planning in an interview last week, adding that the Sprain Brook Parkway interchange was not needed to resolve traffic issues.

"The environmental impact statement covered all issues including traffic," said Amicone, referring to the project's lengthy review document. "And the final determination that was voted on and approved by the City Council was that all traffic issues have been adequately mitigated."

Yonkers officials see Ridge Hill as an important element in the city's financial recovery. Ridge Hill officials say the project will provide $54 million in tax revenue in its first year, including $15.4 million for Yonkers.

The Ridge Hill development has a long and twisting history that includes a state court ruling that threw out the Yonkers City Council's original zone change. The court ruled that the approval lacked the five-vote supermajority needed to overcome the opposition of the Westchester County Planning Board. Eventually, the City Council gained a fifth vote needed to approve the zoning.

Then in March the Yonkers City Council was served a federal subpoena seeking two years of its records. At that time a source close to the investigation told The Journal News that the order sought information about the City Council's role in the $660 million Ridge Hill Village.

So far the task force has hired a traffic consultant to recommend traffic improvements that would be made in Greenburgh, Hastings and Ardsley. Hastings Mayor Lee Kinnally said he was skeptical that the $5 million set for traffic improvement would be sufficient.

"I think it is just going to begin to make a dent," Kinnally said.

Kinnally said that Jackson Avenue, a major east-west corridor serving his village, already faces periodic congestion from traffic generated by the Stew Leonard's development in Yonkers. Ridge Hill would only worsen it, he said.

"I think one of the solutions will be once they start building this and they can't get people in and out, they are going to have to rethink it," Kinnally said.

It's not clear what progress has been made in the larger-scale effort that Crotty was brought on board to forge.

Crotty, a transportation and infrastructure specialist for Pattern for Progress, a Hudson Valley planning group, did not return several calls to her office last week. Crotty is being paid $15,000 a month for her work and expenses under the agreement announced at her hiring in June. ""

Source
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