Ruling Denying Expansion of Ferncliff Cemetery in Greenburgh Upheld
A panel of State Appellate Division judges last week upheld a previous court decision that Ferncliff Cemetery on Secor Road in Greenburgh is prohibited from using a 12.5-acre parcel on the south side of the property to expand its cemetery.
“We hold that the sale of land designated for cemetery purposes to persons or entities with no affiliation to the cemetery, and with no authority of their own to operate a cemetery, constitutes an unequivocal affirmative act of abandonment of the right to use that land for cemetery purposes,” Supreme Court Appellate Division judges Mark C. Dillon, Jeffrey A. Cohen, Francesca E. Connolly and Linda Christopher, JJ. unanimously agreed in a May 20 ruling.
In December 2013, Greenburgh’s building inspector, John Lucido, denied an application for a building permit to remove an existing cottage on the property and replace it with a new, 5,000-square-foot “caretaker cottage with attached garage.” The garage was slated to be used “to store equipment, materials and supplies associated with the caretakers’ duties.”
In August 2015, the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals confirmed Lucido’s determination, finding that Ferncliff Cemetery Association did not own the property in 1963 when the Greenburgh Town Board passed legislation prohibiting the expansion of cemeteries then in existence.
In addition, the ZBA ruled the 12.5-acre parcel could not be considered “a protected enlargement of a non-conforming cemetery use.”
Ferncliff Cemetery Association, which is still permitted to use the 63-acre parcel it owns on the north side of Secor Road for cemetery purposes, filed an Article 78 to challenge the ZBA’s ruling. On November 15, 2016, the state Supreme Court found the ZBA had a rational basis for its determination. Ferncliff then took its case to the Appellate Division.
Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner said residents who live near the cemetery had expressed concerns their property values would significantly decrease if Ferncliff would have been allowed to use the 12.5 acres as a cemetery in a single-family residential neighborhood.
“A very substantial win for the Greenburgh Town Attorney’s office headed by Town Attorney Tim Lewis and for Deputy Town Attorney Ed Lieberman,” Feiner stated. “Town Board members – past and present – worked hard to be responsive to the community. We also owe a big thank you to the members of the Zoning Board – past and present- for their efforts and hard work.”
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