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Eastchester REVIEW THE

January 27, 2017 | Vol. 5, Number 4 | www.eastchesterreview.com

Hotel developer’s $1.2M in tax breaks expires By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer

Center of attention

A two-day gun show at the Westchester County Center was embroiled in further controversy after pictures of pro-Nazi books and Confederate flags surfaced. The Review was also denied access to the weekend event in White Plains. For story, see page 6. File photo

Tuckahoe resident, Yonkers teacher enters village race

By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer Tuckahoe resident Nicholas Naber, a teacher in the Yonkers school district, has told the Review that he plans to seek the Democratic nomination for village trustee in the upcoming March election. Naber, 31, who has taught seventh- and eighth-grade history and social studies in Yonkers for 10 years, said that he’s been interested in politics and government since he was a teen, but that interest was invigorated by the recent presidential election. “I felt sort of empowered to make a move in politics and to make a difference on the side of Democrats,” he said. “I feel like Democrats were wrongly

labeled during this election; and I don’t think what we truly stand for was represented in the presidential election. “Democrats stand for working families,” Naber added. “They stand for the middle class; they stand for the environment; they stand for unions. They stand for smart government.” Naber, who has lived in Tuckahoe for four years, added that he wasn’t interested only in Democratic issues; he also hopes to focus on issues affecting the entire Tuckahoe community. “Obviously, [living] on Sagamore Road, I’m extremely close to Marbledale Road, and once I heard that they were going to build this hotel on a toxic landfill, I was obviously concerned,” he told the Review, re-

ferring to the site of a cleanup project proposed by a developer planning to build a Marriott, which has been approved by the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation. “My platform really consists of making sure that this development is held to the highest environmental standards. Being a Democrat, I feel obligated to defend this village from big developments and big business. That doesn’t make me against big business; I just want it to be done smartly and the right way,” he said. Naber added that he thought his different perspective would balance out a Tuckahoe Board of Trustees, which is currently all-Republican. The village board has not had been home

to a Democrat since May 2015, when then-Trustee Stephen Quigley, a Democrat, died. Quigley was replaced on the board with appointee Antonio Leo, a Republican. Three seats are available in this year’s election, which will be held on March 21. The mayor’s RACE continued on page 8

The development company planning to remediate a contaminated property in Tuckahoe to develop a Marriott hotel is no longer entitled to more than $1 million in tax breaks by Westchester County, the Review has learned. The developer, Bilwin Development Affiliates LLC, had until the end of 2016 to accept the tax incentives offered by the county Industrial Development Agency, IDA. Now, Bilwin is forced to apply for an extension with no guarantee that further incentives will be granted toward the project. In 2014, the IDA granted Bilwin an inducement for $1.2 million in sales tax exemptions and an additional $200,000 in mortgage recording tax exemptions toward a proposed 96,875-square-foot Marriott Springhill Suites Hotel project. At the time, the county reported that the project would create 80 permanent positions and 200 temporary construction jobs. According to a form the developer filed with the IDA in June 2014, Bilwin had originally estimated the project to be completed before November 2015 and the hotel to be operational the following month. The agreement between Bilwin and the county IDA stipulated that the right to tax benefits would expire on the last day of 2016. IDA documents show that Bilwin had not taken any tax exemptions between the time he had been awarded them in 2014 and when they expired in 2016,

as construction on the hotel has not yet started. Bilwin said he filed a document with the IDA on Jan. 16 stating that he did not accept any benefits in 2016, a copy of which was emailed to the Review. However, according to Bill Mooney, the director of the IDA, although the agency is in receipt of that document, Bilwin has not requested an extension, as of press time. Hotel construction has been held up until Bilwin remediates the proposed site of the controversial project on Marbledale Road—formerly an industrial landfill—and gets approval from the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation, DEC, through the agency’s Brownfield Cleanup Program, which offers tax incentives to developers for cleaning up and redeveloping contaminated properties. But while Bilwin’s access to county tax credits may be in question, the developer is still entitled to up to $35 million in tax incentives through the state’s Brownfield program. The developer must receive a certificate of completion from the DEC, and would then be entitled to tax breaks from the state as long as the remediation is finished before April 2026. Bilwin’s access to county tax incentives could also be contingent on the DEC’s approval of the remediation project, as the IDA yields to agencies with jurisdiction on a project site, which would include the DEC and Tuckahoe’s building inspector. CONTACT: corey@hometwn.com