4 | OPEN IN OSSINING JULY 4, 2016 | VOL. 52, No. 27
11 | LEGAL HARVEST westfaironline.com
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Troubled Mt. Vernon agency falters under a new regime
GUTTER GOLD
BY BILL HELTZEL
SEE PAGE 2
bheltzel@westfair.com
A
From left, brothers Ryan and Ken Parsons have found “marketing gold” in naming their Dutchess County company. Photograph by John Golden.
public hearing is postponed. A key policy is outdated. Questions are left unanswered. Economic development projects are delayed. That pretty much sums up the headaches that an ambitious new mayor is facing as he tries to change the culture of a troubled government agency. The agency in question is the Mount Vernon Industrial Development Agency. The mayor is Richard Thomas, who has sometimes taken a confrontational approach in what he has described as a “hostile takeover” of government.
He has even sued city council members and Comptroller Maureen Walker — an IDA board member — claiming they were bypassing his authority to review and sign vendor checks. The agency’s executive director, secretary and sole employee, Margaret Finlayson, was appointed by Thomas’ rival, the previous mayor and IDA chair, Ernest Davis. IDAs use tax incentives, property leases and financing to create jobs and promote economic development. Thomas has a low opinion of how the agency operated under his predecessor. The board seemed to have “winged it,” he said recently, and when he tried to call a meeting earlier this year, people listed as board mem» IDA, page 6
Jefferson at Saw Mill project dissolves TWB Loan Decision Banner Ad 6” w x 1.5” h 2-23-16
LANDOWNER TERMINATES CONTRACT WITH DEVELOPER
BY ALEESIA FORNI aforni@westfairinc.com
PLANS FOR A 272-UNIT RESIDENTIAL complex on a brownfield cleanup site in Ardsley have been scrapped, according to Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, citing an email from a representative of Akzo Nobel, the Dutch company
that owns the 11-acre property off the Saw Mill River Parkway. “This email is to inform you that Akzo Nobel has terminated contractual relations with a prior potential purchaser of its site at 1 Lawrence St. in Ardsley, NY and has commenced marketing the property for Commercial or Industrial development,” wrote Richard
Rucoba, public affairs manager for Akzo Nobel, in an email to Feiner. Formerly the location of an Akzo Nobel chemical plant, Texasbased developer JPI Multifamily Communities had planned to construct on the vacant lot an apartment complex named the Jefferson at Saw Mill, a four-story 239,000-square-foot building with
438 combined parking spaces in both a garage and an uncovered lot. But the development, which was the subject of multiple public hearings before the Greenburgh Town Board and a petition signed by more than 1,300 people, faced an onslaught of opposition from the community. Residents’ griev-
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ances ranged from potential flooding risks to the impact the residential units would have on the Ardsley school system. A lack of parking and increased traffic around the property, especially when coupled with the number of large residential housing complexes going up in the area, were » JEFFERSON, page 6
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