Letter to the Editor: Say No to Developing Soundview/Underhill Property in Yorktown
How is it possible that seemingly overnight, the Soundview School (in the Underhill mansion at Underhill and Route 118) went from being a private school to – without any notice whatsoever to the general public – being purchased by a developer (Unicorn Contracting) that plans to carve it up and squeeze in enough residences to accommodate hundreds of people and up to 300 vehicles?
This piece of property is of extreme historical value to Yorktown. The land and many of the structures on the property are original and hail from the Underhill family, who were one of the first families to call Yorktown home, hence the road named Underhill. In fact, this property was many times bigger than it is now, encompassing much of the downtown Yorktown area. It is fantastic that their home and land are still there and in good shape.
If Yorktown was smart, appropriate and valued its history, our leaders would do all they could to keep this piece of property intact and convert it into a public park and museum. They could move the Yorktown museum into the big house, add artist space and a gallery on the upper floors. They could have a café and art openings. They could create trails and picnic areas in the back. Have a place for performers to perform and event space to accommodate weddings or parties.
It’s a beautiful piece of property that contains an original man-made lake and offers wetlands, specimen trees and forested land/open space, which is something increasingly rare in Yorktown. It’s a phenomenal opportunity to showcase the heart and history of our town.
If anyone has ever been to Caramoor in Katonah, an absolutely gorgeous piece of land throughout which incredible music concerts are performed year-round, you can imagine the Underhill property (although smaller) could serve a similar purpose. This is what the Underhill property should be – Yorktown’s version of Caramoor.
Other huge problems in developing this piece of property include impossible traffic issues; water, sewer and drainage issues; zoning issues; noise issues; school crowding; and the additional strain on emergency responders.
If you wish to object to this development project, please let the Yorktown Town Board know ASAP. E-mail the Yorktown supervisor and councilpersons at Supervisor Matt Slater, mslater@yorktownny.org; Councilperson Tom Diana, tdiana@yorktownny.org; Councilperson Ed Lachterman, elachterman@yorktownny.org, Councilperson Vishnu Patel, vishnuv@optonline.net and Councilperson Alice Roker, aroker@yorktownny.org.
Jennie Sunshine
Yorktown Heights
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