This Wednesday, September 9th at 7:30pm, the Town of Greenburgh has scheduled Public Hearings on proposed legislation changes to zoning requirements for Assisted Living type facilities and to create a new Floating Zone for a specific type of senior living.
Minimum Distance Requirement Between Assisted Living Facilities
The first public hearing on legislative changes proposes a zoning amendment that adds three requirements to the existing special permit process for Assisted Living and other similar senior living developments:
- Adds a requirement for a minimum distance of 4,000 feet or approx. ¾ of a mile between facilities.
- Requires developers to provide information about the percentage of beds that will be set aside as affordable.
- Requires developers to provide information regarding their policies for emergencies.
The Hartsdale Neighbors Association Executive Committee met last week and voted unanimously to endorse and support this proposal. We believe the minimum distance proposed between facilities is an addition that will benefit our community and will help maintain the quality of life for residents of Greenburgh. The proposal will also help increase the transparency about the potential impacts of these proposals and will enhance the review undertaken during the special permit process.
Assisted Living and Independent Living Facilities Proposals Reviewed via “Floating Zone
The second public hearing on legislative changes is the more complicated of the two and it sets up an approval process for “Continuum of Care Facilities”. These are facilities that have both assisted living and independent living beds as part of the same facility. The proposal is for the Town to review development proposals for these types of properties via a “Floating Zone”.
The Hartsdale Neighbors Association Executive Committee unanimously voted to withhold an endorsement for this proposed change, and we plan to raise two specific points at the public hearing:
- We do not see adequate evidence provided as to why these specific types of senior living facilities should be approved via a different procedure from Assisted Living, Nursing Homes, Convalescent Homes and other senior living facilities all currently approved via special permit. There is uncertainty in the leeway that Floating Zones would give the Town Board to approve or deny these facilities and using a floating zone to rezone these facilities opens up their possible placement in commercially zoned areas.
- We have concerns that the density limitations proposed for these facilities are very different from limits for Assisted Living and other similar facilities. Specifically, the maximum beds allowed per acre is 40% higher than for assisted living and the maximum impervious surfaces allowed is 50% higher than that for assisted living. These and other details in the bill for the site plan requirements are much more lenient and no reason has been given for this proposed change.
We join both the Town Conservation Advisory Council and the Town Planning Board in opposing the adoption of “Floating Zone” for CCF approvals.
How To Get Your Voice Heard and Attend The Public Hearing
We encourage all to attend and speak at the hearing, to share your point of view with the Town Board. If you wish to speak at the public hearing (up to 5 minutes), email
PublicHearingt@GreenburghNY.com. include which hearing you plan to attend in the email.
Email PublicComment@GreenburghNY.com to share written comments. If you only wish to watch the meeting, you can do so on channel 76 for CableVision, channel 35 for Verizon, or online here.
If you have questions , please email us at info@hartsdaleneighbors.org