Once More, Rivertowns Square Takes the Spotlight in Dobbs Ferry

Dobbs Ferry’s village board will thoroughly dissect—in public workshops—any final conclusions about the potential environmental impact of Rivertowns Square, Mayor Hartley Connett told a packed village hall Tuesday.

At least three work sessions, all of them open to village residents, will assess “the adequacy and accuracy” of the developers’ final environmental impact statement. Once the document passes muster, it must still undergo a public hearing, to be scheduled at the last of the workshops.

Please take a second to like our Facebook page. All you need to do is click on the button at the top of this page or Click Here.

Underscoring the project’s ability to attract a crowd, more than three dozen residents turned out Tuesday for what was billed as an "informational presentation" before the regular village board meeting. The developers, Saber Dobbs Ferry LLC and Lincoln Dobbs Ferry LLC, have asked the village to approve their plans for a mixed-use mall just off the Saw Mill River Parkway.

The 17.65-acre site, north of Lawrence Street, would bring to the village a shopping center, eight-screen theater and an apartment complex as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in new tax revenue. But it would also bring, its critics note, increased traffic and potential financial challenge for Dobbs Ferry’s downtown merchants. Moreover, these opponents point out, the biggest tax windfall—the million-dollar-plus prize—would go to the Ardsley school district, which encompasses the mall site.

As he has since the project was proposed almost 18 months ago, the mayor repeatedly emphasized Tuesday that no final decision had been made and that residents will have ample opportunity to be heard throughout the process. “We cannot communicate enough,” Connett said more than once. He asked residents coming to the microphone Tuesday, however, to restrict their remarks to questions about the final environmental impact statement.

Planning consultant Dwight Douglass opened the presentation, telling the board members they must determine whether the FEIS, as it’s commonly called, is “adequate” and “accurate.”

But Steven J. Rosenbloom, one of three residents with questions for the board, found that kind of language too vague. “I think I know what ‘accurate’ means,” he said, “but I’m not sure I understand in this context what ‘adequate’ means. . . . What one person thinks is adequate, another person thinks is just evading the issues.”

Clearly not a fan of what he described as an “overplanned, overbuilt,” Rivertowns Square proposal, the Round Hill Road resident noted that the “economic viability of downtown [Dobbs Ferry]” has yet been addressed. Rosenbloom suggested an economic analysis to determine the fiscal impact of the “monstrous proposal,” as he called it.

Some of those answers will likely be contained in a so-called “findings statement,” which the village board—as the lead agency assessing this proposal—will write. A findings statement identifies not only the environmental considerations but also  any social and economic factors that have gone into deciding whether to approve or reject a proposed action.

Pond Lane resident Roxana Avalos, who asked about the timing of that activity, was told the board had to wait at least 10 days after a FEIS has been filed to write its statement. But the board must make its findings no more than 30 days after the FEIS filing.

Douglass told the board members that when it comes to defining the “adequacy” of an FEIS, “the buck stops at your desk.”

Another resident, Susan Santini of Briary Road, urged the board to avoid scheduling the FEIS’ public hearing over a holiday period or when people are likely to be otherwise preoccupied with some special occasion like a graduation.

Connett assured her, “We’re going to be very much aware of that.” Still, noting the FEIS’ 10- and 30-day bookends, he said, “we do have a clock that’s ticking.”

The board will conduct its open-to-the-public workshops at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 31; Monday, June 4; and Thursday, June 14.