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WPCNR SOUTH END TIMES. Statement from the French American School of New York. March 21, 2014:

The French American School of New York issued this statement, unsolicited by WPCNR, in observation of the filing of a lawsuit by the Gedney Association asking the New York Supreme Court to require the city to reexamine issues the Gedney Association charges in its suit that were not thorougly vetted before the Common Council voted a favorable Environmental Impact Statement on the school plans to build a campus on the former Ridgeway Country Club.

The Statement:

The study and scope of the environmental review of our school’s planned campus on the defunct Ridgeway Country Club property was the most thorough ever conducted by the City of White Plains. This multi-year, multi-million dollar review constitutes thousands of pages and encompasses virtually every conceivable aspect of the plan and its potential impacts. The Findings Statement alone is 129 single-spaced pages, involved more than two years of public review and environmental analysis and was adopted by a 6-1 vote.

The plan approved under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA):  significantly reduces traffic overall; shifts school traffic to a main arterial roadway (North Street); requires mandatory busing for eligible students; limits the total number of students; approves 75-plus acres for a permanent publicly accessible conservancy with pedestrian and open space linkages; extensively incorporates green technology and building practices; and incorporates a myriad of other positive features and designs minimizing the impact of the school.

While we are disturbed to see the personal attacks against individual Common Council members that are contained in the lawsuit, we are confident in the process that has been followed in the review of the plan. We are proceeding in advancing all of our applications and plans. The lawsuit will not delay the City’s review of the Site Plan or Special Permit. Few if any environmental reviews of this kind have ever been overturned by the courts.

As we respond to the lawsuit, we will continue to reach out and work with the many supporters of the school both in the Gedney neighborhood and across the city, and we look forward to joining the many high-quality educational entities that are privileged to call White Plains home.