WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR SOUTH END TIMES. From the French American School of New York March 21, 2019 updated WITH CLARIFICATION, 10 A.M. SUNDAY, MARCH 24, 2019:

IN A NEWS STATEMENT FRIDAY, The French-American School of New York (FASNY) has decided to divest part of its Ridgeway property in White Plains.

FASNY recently retained CBRE, a commercial real estate services firm, to market and sell three undeveloped portions of the property, while retaining the 28 acres that are approved for construction of its Secondary School campus and a 51-acre nature conservancy.

FASNY is selling what are known as Parcel B (14 acres between Gedney Esplanade and Heatherbloom Road); Parcel C (15.5 acres between Heatherbloom and Bryant Avenue); and a portion of Parcel D (18.4 acres starting from Hathaway Lane and heading towards Ridgeway) that is not part of the dedicated nature conservancy. The parcels are zoned for single-family residential use.

FASNY entered a stipulation of settlement with the City of White Plains and ultimately obtained site plan approval and a permit for a reduced project for its Secondary School (grades 6-12) campus only on Parcel A.

The conditions of the approval pertain only to Parcel A and the conservancy, with residential use remaining in effect for the balance of the property.

The FASNY Board of Trustees remains committed to the vision of a future permanent campus for the school and is working to create the best conditions to fulfill this vision. 

John Sheehan, President of the Gedney Association involved in a legal action challenging the city approval of the new school construction on parcel A (not for sale)  gave WPCNR this statement on this development:

“The Mayor and the Common Council has egg on their faces,“ was Sheehan’s first reaction to the news of three parcels for sale.

“They didn’t require information on what the school would do with the rest of the property after the revised (Parcel A) school plan was approved. When Councilperson Nadine Hunt-Robinson asked what they would do, the city was told by FASNY they would build nothing with the undeveloped property for 15 years. The Gedney Association will insist that the R-30, 30,000 square foot zoning of the (Parcels B,C, D) will be strictly enforced.”

CLARIFICATION: In a written statement to WPCNR Sunday, Mr. Sheehan added this information to clarify a White Plains Week program comment by John Bailey:

“I never said that the 47 acres now on the market) to be sold could accommodate approximately 50 homes. I might have said the entire property might accommodate 50 homes according to earlier estimates. I have no idea of the potential number for these parcels. I would say however that parcel c and d have mapped wetlands and steep slopes.  Areas dedicated for new roads would also be deducted from any lots. Also, parcel A is approx. 28 acres, not 79.” 

Asked if the Gedney Association might initiate a new legal action against this effort to sell of property, violating SQRA regulations forbidding segmentaion, Sheehan said “That’s an interesting question.”

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Vegan environmental activist Ray Ippolito will lead a conversation on what we can do to save the planet in a forum at the Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at White Plains (CUUC) on Sunday, March 24, from 11:30–1:00. The forum is sponsored by the congregation’s Animal Advocacy Social Justice Team and is open to the public; it is suitable for school-age children and adults. Light food and beverages will be provided.

CUUC is located at 468 Rosedale Avenue, White Plains, NY 10605. Childcare can be provided if requested by noon on Wednesday, March 20; send request to CUUCevents@gmail.com.

See the event flyer at files.constantcontact.com/5b85a1ab001/7742f8fd-34e9-456d-90d5-954de68b2bac.pdfA

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ANNOUNCES BEGINNING OF PHASE II OF MUSEUM DEVELOPMENT. $1.74 MILLION IN INTERIOR RENOVATION TO COMPLETE IN MAY. NO COUNTY MONEY INVOLVED.

WPCNR asked Mr. Latimer about whether Standard Amusements is still interested in taking over management of Playland. Mr. Latimer said, “The lawyers are still in negotiations.” He said Westchester County would run Playland this summer and by November 1, the county would see where things stood with Standard. He said he could not comment further because he did not want to influence the talks still going on.

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Posted on March 13, 2019 by John Bailey

WPCNR SOUTHEND TIMES. By John F. Bailey. March 13, 2019:

Promising his audience at the Council of Neighborhood Associations he would “give you all the answers,” Robert Weisz did just that last night

As he began his presentation on his “The Flats” apartments now in public hearings before the White  Plains Common Council, before he’d even spoken two sentences, murmurs and raised voices from the circle of CNA representatives rose in clamor, before they were admonished by CNA President telling them to hold their questions until after Mr. Weisz had finished, calming the crowd for the duration of the meeting.

MR. WEISS EXPLAINING HOW HE WILL HANDLE ACCESS TO RIDGEWAY CONCERNS. WPCNR VIDEO

By meeting’s end,  Mr. Weisz had won them over.

His patient, clear, unruffled answers and refreshing sincerity of style had  appeared to have given most of the concerned satisfactory answers to their concerns and support of the project from most of the delegates. His passion as an owner was contagious to the crowd. He showed the audience he  cared about being a good neighbor, saying,

“We have micromanaged this project. We don’t want to be a nuisance to anyone. We have tried very hard to do the right thing.”

Concerns of those at the Council raised centered on the heights of the 5-story apartments; whether  paths leading into the Ridgeway neighborhood would be closed off from the 1133 complex to prevent access by pedestrian/trespassers; lighting from the complex and ability of the redesigned parking lot at 1133 would handle all the cars of 303 apartment dwellers and 1133 business tenants. Significantly, no traffic concerns or situations appeared an issue.

 Saying he intended to build 250 additional parking slots for a total of 1,250 and redesigning the parking configuration with narrower parking slots, a traffic circle, landscaping, he eased parking capacity fear. He announced a daily shuttle service to take residents and workers to and from the White Plains Metro North Station and the the 1133 complex at various times during the day. He said he is working on designing an evergreen copse of trees to shield the Ridgeway and North Street areas from the compled during the winter when existing trees were devoid of leaves. 

He assured them the 5-story apartments (to be erected on the Westchester Avenue/Maple Moor Golf Course side of the property) would be built on a 10-foot lower grade slope than the existing 1133 building assuring the tops of the solar-paneled rooftops would not be visible over the top of the 1133 office roof.

Weisz disclosed that his outreach to firms  who were tenants at 1133 and looking for office space, had indicated, that they were interested in renting apartments as corporate suites for use by their companies, and apartments for their workers if they were to take space at the 1133 office complex, which currently is 90% rented, Weisz said.

He said the complex already is a natural gas customer of Con Edision, so it was not affected by the Con Edision moratorium on new natural gas connections after March 15. He also said that his existing building already had interrupted service installed, allowing them to use oil fuel in event of an excessive demand for natural gas.,

The new apartments with the name “The Flats” is to contain 170 one-bedroom apartments, 120 two bedroom apartments, and 10 three-bedroom apartments.

He anticipated getting approval by mid-summer, starting the project before winter (“We’re ready to go,” he said, and opening the project sometime in 2021.

Weiss commented his meeting Monday evening with the Ridgeway Association went well, too. He described a meeting where most of the participants were positive to the project at the close.

Weisz, answering a question of the CNA President about why White Plains appealed to him and the future of city zoning proposal allowing residential apartments in White Plains office parks in the city Here was his answer:

WEISZ ON IMPACT OF RESIDENCES IN WP OFFICE PARKSS

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WPWeek for 3-8 has been posted 

the link to youtube is https://youtu.be/h38OlLGtdPI 

The link to whiteplainsweek.com 

is http://www.whiteplainsweek.com/ 

KAT BREZLER ADDRESSING COMMON COUNCIL ON WHITE PLAINS WEEK