May 8, 2008
AP Farm Fields could cost taxpayers nothing
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Officials seek Legacy money
The proposed $3.5-million project to build athletic fields on the AP Farm Fields property across the street from John Jay High School may end up costing the town of Lewisboro and the Katonah-Lewisboro School District nothing. Earlier this week, the town, county and school district jointly announced the possibility of using Westchester County Legacy funds, which are earmarked for outdoor athletics projects like the fields, to finance the construction of one rectangular field and one softball field on the property, at a cost of roughly $2 million. The proposal will be presented to the public on Tuesday, May 13, at 7:30 in the John Jay High School cafeteria.
“It’s a classic case of intermunicipal cooperation,” said county Legislator Peter Harckham, 2nd District, who first approached the schools with the idea. “It’s a win-win. You’ve got a number of people who can take advantage of this, and it’s not going to directly impact the Katonah-Lewisboro School District taxpayers.”
The $1-million property, which is roughly eight acres and now cleared of buildings, would be donated to the school district along with about $500,000 in work by resident Adam Rose, with the prerequisite that a public vote approve the construction of athletic fields on the site, with some conditions on the construction of the fields to allay concerns of neighbors. But because the Legacy money can be used to pay only for fields owned by a town, and not a school district, the property will have to be donated to the town of Lewisboro instead, with the same restrictions.
“I am completely comfortable with it, because I know the result will be the same,” Mr. Rose told The Ledger. “The most important thing is the list of restrictions which protect the neighbors as well as the entire hamlet, and I am thrilled beyond words with the idea that the taxpayers will have limited expense to obtain a $3.5-million facility.”
According to school board President Peter Breslin, the town’s ownership of the land would not prevent the school from using it — the terms would be laid out in an intermunicipal agreement (IMA) that is still under negotiation. Mr. Breslin said the agreement would likely give the town responsibility for scheduling of the fields, with the school district getting priority for using it.
Avoiding history
Mr. Rose has placed a number of restrictions on the property to allay worries from neighbors that nixed a similar proposal two years ago. No lights, sound systems or parking would be allowed on the property, aside from a six-space lot to provide handicapped access to the site, and the fields would be allowed to be used only during daylight hours, and not in the early morning on weekends. To help mitigate the effect on immediate neighbors, buffer areas at the edge of the property would be sold to the two neighbors bordering the property.
In 2006, former Lewisboro Town Supervisor Jim Nordgren had proposed purchasing the property from its former owners, the Andes family, to build athletic fields using Legacy money, but that proposal died once Mr. Nordgren was not re-elected the following month. Mr. Nordgren’s successor, Edward Mahoney, did not pursue the site, instead focusing on using Legacy money for a much larger site in Goldens Bridge that would have also included senior housing and state police barracks, as well as playing fields. The county had expressed interest in using Legacy money for projects in the northwest part of Westchester, including Lewisboro, but committed it to other towns as the Town Board failed to move forward with a single site.
Town Supervisor Edward Brancati, however, has expressed his support for the new plan, according to Mr. Breslin.
“Pete Harckham is in support. Ed Brancati is in support. The school board is in support,” said Mr. Breslin. “You have all the stars aligned in support of this project. That was not the case last time.”
Mr. Breslin also pointed out how Mr. Rose had worked with neighbors before proposing his donation.
“The restrictions which Adam put on the property are in direct response to neighbor objections, and they were not there the last time,” he said. “I think that’s what’s different this time around. Adam has been very careful to make them part of the process.”
While representatives of the school board are expected to be at the meeting on Tuesday, Town Board member Peter Delucia told The Ledger that Mr. Brancati had not informed the Town Board of the meeting. Mr. Brancati was on vacation and unable to be reached for comment.
Legacy funds
According to Mr. Harckham, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano is in favor of using Legacy funds in the town of Lewisboro, as is the legislature’s leadership. He said that once the intermunicipal agreement was negotiated and approved by the county’s bond counsel, it could be sent to the county legislature for a vote. The money for the fields would then be raised by the county using a bond.
“There has never been a Legacy project before the legislature that has fallen on hard times,” said Mr. Harckham. “If we get the IMA negotiated by summertime, we could be voting on this by this summer.”
There have been 17 athletic fields built around the county using Legacy funds, according to Mr. Harckham, including many in southern Westchester. One of the objections against the use of Legacy funds for the proposal in 2005 was that it would require the town to allow other municipalities to use the fields.
“There is no reason anyone from Yonkers is going to drive an hour north to Cross River, because we built three brand-new soccer fields in Tibbets Park, and refurbished two others,” said Mr. Harckham. He pointed out that the Katonah-Lewisboro athletic programs include students from Bedford and North Salem, which would count toward the county’s open access requirement.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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