Mount Pleasant Officials Faced With New Proposed Group Home
The Mount Pleasant Town Board may fight a group home in Valhalla that has been proposed by a New York City-based organization which helps the intellectually and developmentally disabled.
Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi said last week the town plans to oppose YAI/Seeing Beyond Disabilities planned operation of a group home for six individuals at 5 Halsey Place.
The board recently received a notification of interest from YAI under the auspices of the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.
In a letter to residents, the Town Board said a meeting will be scheduled to discuss the proposal with the public and assured residents that it would be “protecting our community as our residents are top priority.”
“As it is standard practice for public meetings, the agency will present their proposal and all residents will also be given the opportunity to ask questions and provide their thoughts and positions; the Town Board will do the same,” the letter stated. “All recent e-mails and letters sent to the Town Board will be printed and consolidated for the public meeting.”
Fulgenzi said he understands that the residents who would live at the house need assistance, but the town already has 26 similar facilities that are off the tax rolls. If no taxes would be paid on the Halsey Place house, a combined $25,000 in town, county and school taxes would be lost, he said.
Fulgenzi added the board must do “what is right for the town.”
In its Nov. 20 letter to the town, YAI said one of its top priorities is the establishment of facilities to provide opportunities for disabled individuals to live in communities close to families and friends and encourage life-enriching experiences for them.
“The purpose of a community residential program is to provide supervision, activities and daily living and social opportunities in a homelike environment,” the organization’s letter stated.
The Halsey Place property was chosen because it’s in a residential neighborhood “close to a variety of amenities including shopping, medical, recreational facilities and other community amenities,” the YAI correspondence continued.
The group home would use one van to transport residents and would be parked off the street.
The facility would have to be certified by the state as a supervised Individualized Residential Alternative. The residents would receive meals and be supervised at all hours. During the day residents would be attending day service programs or vocational programs.
Under the state hygiene law, the town is required to forward its comments about the proposal within 40 days of receiving the letter. The town may accept the site, propose an alternative location or object to the proposal because it would result in a saturation of similar facilities in the vicinity and the character of the area would be substantially altered.
The two-story, 5,000-square-foot house contains five bedrooms and five bathrooms and is located on a .84-acre lot with a fenced-in backyard. There is parking available for up to eight cars in the driveway, which would be used by employees.
Two Town Board members said Monday it was early in the review process and residents would be given opportunities to weigh in on the proposal.
“The proposal is currently under review,” Councilman Anthony Amiano said Monday. “A public meeting date will soon be scheduled.”
“There has been no vote on anything yet,” Councilman Nick DiPaolo said. “Once we have all of our information and get to hear from those for and those against and also from the organization proposing it, then and only then will I be able to have an opinion.”
Messages left last week for YAI were not returned.
