Grace Warns Board Members About Vote on Sober Home
Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace warned his fellow board members they could be held personally liable for legal damages if they vote against issuing a special permit for a proposed facility for recovering alcohol and substance abuse addicts on Underhill Avenue.
While emphatically expressing his support for the town’s first sober home during a work session that followed a regular meeting at Town Hall last week, Grace told councilmen Terrence Murphy and Vishnu Patel and newly elected Councilwoman Susan Siegel he would not set aside $250,000 from the town’s coffers to defend in court a denial of a three-year special permit Compass Westchester needs to have as many as 14 individuals live together for between 30 to 60 days to continue on a path to sobriety.
“I don’t see any downside to this at all. I see this as a group of people committed to sobriety. I think it’s a wonderful statement for this town that we will embrace them,” Grace said. “A denial is an easy thing to pander to a voting block. You are going into very dangerous territory. The elephant in the room is this is a sober living home for recovering addicts. Once you decide to pull out a group of people with certain characteristics, does that stand constitutionally?”
In July, the Yorktown Zoning Board of Appeals supported a written opinion by Building Inspector John Winter that the proposed facility at 425 Underhill Avenue fell under the definition of a “convalescent home.”
The majority of the ZBA denied an appeal from neighbors Linda Gironda and Al French that the sober home did not fit the criteria of either a convalescent home or a nursing home, which are treated the same in the town’s Zoning Code and, therefore, it should not be allowed to be considered for a special permit. That decision is being appealed in state court.
Siegel, who was sworn into office last Tuesday to fill the final 13 months of former Councilman Dave Paganelli’s unexpired 13-month term, questioned the Town Board’s authority to issue a special permit. Town Attorney Jeannette Koster stated in her opinion case law was behind the Town Board.
In addition, Siegel maintained there were many “deficiencies and inconsistencies” in the submission materials from Compass Westchester that warranted a denial of the permit.
“I’m not voting for a plan that has deficiencies,” Siegel said. “Standards have to be met first, not as part of a condition.”
Murphy, who was elected to the state Senate last month and will be leaving the board at the end of the year, didn’t outright say what direction he was leaning in but did make a few statements in opposition to a sober home-type facility being able to operate in any residential neighborhood in town.
“We have to set some parameters to where these homes can exist,” Murphy said. “That’s crazy that a single-family home you can do whatever you want.”
Patel said he has many reservations about the sober home project and took exception with Grace, an attorney, lecturing the board.
“Why are you threatening me? My mother never gave me so many sermons,” Patel remarked.
After a spirited discussion, the board instructed Koster to prepare two separate resolutions, one approving the sober home permit and one denying it, for its consideration at a future meeting.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
