FASNY Vote Opens Path for Special Permit and Site Plan Application
The White Plains Common Council voted Thursday evening, passing a resolution to approve the Environmental Findings Statement (EFS) regarding development of the proposed private educational facility by the French American School of New York (FASNY) at the site of the former Ridgeway Country Club in White Plains.
The vote was six to one in favor with Councilwoman Milagros Lecuona dissenting.
The passing of the Environmental Findings Statement marks the end of the New York State Environmental Quality Review process and paves the way for FASNY to apply for a special permit to operate a school at the site. The proposed school will combine three schools currently operated by FASNY in Westchester County: an elementary, middle and high school, plus pre-school.
The approving Council members and Mayor Tom Roach indicated that issues regarding density and traffic flow on the proposed development had been mitigated by FASNY in the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
The original plan had called for a population of 1,200 students with attending staff. That number has been reduced to 950 students.
Entrance to the property from Ridgeway would have compromised the use of Ridgeway, a city road, which could not accommodate the additional traffic.
A plan by FASNY to reposition buildings on the site and open the property from North Street mitigated those traffic concerns. North Street is a county road and apparently able to handle the increased traffic to and from the school each day, according to traffic studies. FASNY would pull any overflow traffic onto its own site for management.
The fact that the FASNY entrance would be directly across from the entrance to White Plains High School was not discussed during the Tuesday meeting.
There was also comment that Hathaway Lane, a road running through the Gedney neighborhood from just off Bryant Avenue and meandering towards Ridgeway, would be demapped to disallow drivers seeking a speedy route to the school through the neighborhood.
The demapping of Hathaway Lane was not part of the Thursday vote, but would be a part of future discussion.
Mayor Roach also commented that security procedures to ensure FASNY monitored the traffic were important and would be strictly enforced should the Special Permit be granted.
Each Council member commented, saying their vote to approve the EFS was not necessarily a vote in favor of the Special Permit and that once FASNY moves forward with that application the proposed site plan will be thoroughly analyzed.
As the one dissenting vote, Councilwoman Lecuona said she did not feel the traffic situation had been mitigated and that a plan for mandatory bussing that might be similar to a plan adopted by the German School in White Plains, not far from the FASNY site, was not sufficient because of the difference in the school population size.
Councilman Benjamin Boykin made his last legislative decision as a White Plains Council member with a yes vote Thursday. When he leaves for the County Legislature, his seat will be left vacant and a new Council member will be appointed, who will have to come up to speed on the FASNY situation.
To approve the FASNY Special Permit and Site Plan a majority vote of five to two is needed. With Councilman Dennis Krolian (along with Councilwoman Lecuona) having voted against accepting the FASNY SEQR statement earlier in the process and changing that vote Thursday due to what he determined as positive changes in the development plan, it is anyone’s guess how the final vote will fall.
The attending audience in Council Chambers was set pretty much like a wedding with FASNY supporters seated on one side and White Plains residents on the other. Overflow seating and TV monitor were set up in the city hall rotunda.
