18 Environmental Groups Reaffirm Support for French American School of NY Move to Ridgeway property

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WPCNR SOUTH END TIMES. From The French American School of New York. November 14, 2013:

With the environmental review in its final stages, a broad-based group of 18 environmental organizations and leaders including the Nature Conservancy, Scenic Hudson, Riverkeeper and the Pace University Academy for Applied Environmental Sciences have affirmed their strong support of the French-American School of New York’s (FASNY) plan to a create a new school and a 73-plus-acre open space conservancy in White Plains at the defunct 130-acre Ridgeway Country Club.

The letter signers stated that the letter sent to White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach and the city’s Common Council and forwarded to the White Plains Superintendent of Schools Tim Connors and the Board of Education, was written “to voice our continued strong support for the project – both to create a new educational campus and the Greens to Green Conservancy.”

The letter states that “the school itself would bring tremendous educational and economic benefits to the city and its residents.  By introducing a world-class bilingual educational institution to the city, FASNY would add diversity and strength to the educational options in White Plains and the region,” and adds that the signers “wholeheartedly endorse the conversion of a failed golf course into a publicly accessible nature preserve.  With no cost to the city, this would provide significant passive recreational and quality of life benefits to White Plains, its citizens and the region.”  The open space would be protected by a permanent conservation easement.

A previous letter of support from 16 environmental groups was sent to the city leaders in September 2012 at an earlier stage in the extensive and thorough environmental review process of which the Mayor and Common Council are the lead agency.  The new letter, including four new supporters, calls for the city to prepare “a fair and constructive (environmental) findings statement in support of a project that complies with all governing laws and offers a unique chance for city leaders to leave a legacy of a healthy, economically vibrant and livable White Plains for future generations.”

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