Mount Kisco Amends Code to Protect Leonard, Flewellyn Parks

The Village of Mount Kisco approved a new amendment to the village code designed to protect Leonard Park and Flewellyn Park from alienation, which enables a municipality to sell the land for non-recreational purposes.

Mayor Michael Cindrich said during the Aug. 5 public hearing on the issue the board’s action would add a chapter to the code requiring support by a board supermajority of at least four of its members to begin the alienation process. Similar to today, it would then need enabling legislation from the state legislature for alienation to take place.

Discussion about protecting parkland was raised in light of the temporary consideration by the previous Village Board over alienating a piece of Leonard Park for a proposed cell tower.

Much of the discussion at the hearing concerned whether to include other village parks in the updated zoning. Cindrich insisted that in order to include other parks there needed to be deeds validating ownership and any potential restrictions. Deeds to many of the village parks aren’t accounted for, according to Cindrich.

“I have to know how we acquired those properties and if there are any restrictions,” he said.

Mount Kisco Conservation Advisory Council Chair John Rhodes supported the amendment.

“This is a good rule and it’s important to make it harder for future village boards to alienate any of our open spaces or parks,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes said there are currently no protections for J. Edgar Fox Memorial Park and the playground outside the Community Center on Maple Avenue, which should be addressed.

“What these two properties have in common is that they are both targets of development,” Rhodes said of Fox Memorial Park and the Maple Avenue playground. “If this law is to protect parkland and park-like recreation facilities from development and from future village boards, it would seem that you would first protect the properties that are under threat of development.”

Trustee Lisa Abzun said all public parks and playgrounds in the village should be protected, including Kirby Plaza, Fox Memorial Park and the playground.

“These parks offer needed respite to families living nearby and improve the quality of life of residents who live close to these parks,” Abzun said. “There should be specific reasons as to why these other parks should not enjoy the same protections.”

It was suggested by the village’s counsel for the board to begin identifying all of Mount Kisco’s parks and add them for protections.

Cindrich said he would like to include a general clause to the amendment that would cover other village-owned parcels defined as parkland, including another park on Lexington Avenue, Fox Memorial Park and the Will Jennings Memorial Park.

Trustee Karen Schleimer also supported adding a general clause and an amendment that could provide a procedure for protecting additional parks.

“There’s no telling what properties in the future the village may acquire that we may decide to treat as parkland,” Schleimer said. “And it may be at some time in the future that some of the trails be considered parkland.”

Adding a general clause to include more parcels in the future would require the new law to be re-noticed and a new public hearing scheduled.

Cindrich pointed out that all parkland is protected by the state and that none of the other park parcels are currently slated for development.

Voting in favor of the new law to protect Leonard Park and Flewellyn Park from alienation was Mayor Cindrich, Deputy Mayor Theresa Flora and Trustee Angie Garcia-Guerra. Schleimer and Abzun voted against the resolution.

The new law will go into effect once it is filed with the New York Secretary of State.