Addressing Issues Facing Greater Teatown

What the Greater Teatown area needs most is facilitated cooperation among all local governments, neighbors, and other stakeholders. This is an ecologically sensitive area that needs specific action steps to work toward the solution we all desire.

First, we must get together and talk. This means meeting with the Hudson Institute, the Sunshine Home, Danish Home, and all involved stakeholders to get to the bottom of the challenges and find solutions to them together. Cooperative approaches lead to lasting solutions. After some very productive conversations with several Greater Teatown Area advocates and neighbors, I have taken to following steps to help facilitate cooperative solutions.

In my capacity as Majority Leader of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, I will formally ask the County Board of Health to re-examine the water usage standards for all projects in greater the Greater Teatown area, in particular the proposed Sunshine Home and Hudson Institute expansions. We have requested initial meeting time to begin that process. I understand that pending litigation may also impact the future of this project.

I have spoken to the Town of Ossining about hosting a stakeholder meeting to air the issues surrounding the Hudson Institute. My legislative aide is working with neighbors, municipal stakeholders and representatives from the facility to set the initial meeting sometime in the next few weeks.

On the matter of the proposed cell tower at the Danish Home site, I have made initial contact with the District Attorneys office and will share information given to me about the potential conflicts with the DA Investigative unit. We should be able to host a meeting with an Investigator to review the information shortly.

During the review of upcoming capital projects, I asked for the project study status for the proposed changes to the Quaker Ridge Road bridge. The Department of Public Works staff said that the study was approximately 30% complete and that they would be ready to give more updates in approximately 6 months. I expressed the neighbors’ concerns about enlarging this bridge and changing the historic and picturesque nature of the area. I will continue to follow up in this matter. However, there is no new funding currently being requested in the 2018 capital budget to work on this project.

I have requested that the Board of Legislators Committee on Labor, Parks, Planning, and Housing use its purview over the County parcel of land in the Greater Teatown area and take two concrete steps to find joint solutions. First, we must hold a committee meeting with all stakeholders so that, on the record, we can discuss what needs to get done. Second, I will request that the committee hold a site visit so legislators who do not represent the area, but have a say over how the County uses its resources, can better understand the situation.
These combined efforts will hopefully put us on a path to finding real progress.

I look forward to working with all stakeholders on these issues to find good, productive solutions to protect and preserve the beautiful Greater Teatown area.

Yours Truly,

Catherine Borgia

Majority Leader, 9th District

Westchester County Board of Legislators