A Little Trail at the Heart of a Big Controversy
Reopening the historic connection between Sleepy Hollow Manor and Rockwood Hall faces stiff resistance from Birch Close residents.
Note: Kendal on Hudson has provided a response to this issue. It is attached in the document section, to the right, for you to read.
A storm of discontent is raging in Sleepy Hollow about a path through the woods. Despite four years of community inquiry and activism, the issue remains unresolved.
At the end of a quiet dead-end residential street in Sleepy Hollow Manor known as Birch Close, there used to be public access for walkers into Rockwood Hall Park. It was the only direct access from the Manor to the 88-acre park, part of the larger Rockefeller State Park Preserve, and appears on surveys dated as early as 1930.
Local resident Leonard Andrew remembers using the path in the late 1970s when he worked for IBM, then located on the park’s northern border.
“I remember carrying my briefcase through the woods and arriving at work with muddy shoes,” he said.
But access to the area was blocked eight years ago as a concession to neighborhood objections to the construction of Kendal on Hudson, a retirement community located near the southern border of the park.
“It was understood that it was being closed as a safety issue because it was a construction site,” said James West, vice president of the Sleepy Hollow Manor Association. “We didn’t realize it would be so hard to get it reopened.”
Construction was completed six years ago and the fence blocking the historic access point remains intact, despite the fact that Kendal is required to provide pedestrian access to and from the Sleepy Hollow street system if the Village requests it.
The situation has ignited a maelstrom. For four years, there have been dueling petitions, an anonymous survey, citation of conflicting legal documents, intimations of law suits, nasty telephone messages and other personal attacks pitting those who want access restored against those who do not.
Opposition exists strongly among the residents of the nine homes on Birch Close and amounts to concerns over safety and speculation that public access will mean illegally parked cars, trash left by visitors and damage to wetlands.
“I have three small kids under age six and we just open the door and let them outside,” said Birch Close resident Alejandra Badillo. “If you have people coming as walkers, no telling what kind of people they are. We don’t want strangers walking around.”
Birch Close resident Sean Dugan, a trial attorney, environmental lawyer and a member of the Board of Directors at Phelps Hospital which owns the land now leased by Kendal, has led the opposition. Dugan wrote a petition in 2000 which contributed to the area being blocked-off and another petition last May signed by 19 residents who reiterated their continued opposition.
“People who reside here and people who would be directly affected by a trail, don’t want it,” he said. “The second issue is safety. There are no sidewalks or lights on Birch Close to make pedestrian use safe.”
Currently, walkers who want to pass through Sleepy Hollow Manor to the park or vice versa are forced onto Route 9, a busy four-lane highway with no sidewalks.
“Walking on Route 9 is not very pleasant and down-right dangerous,” said William Lichten, a resident of Kendal who has taken an active role in pursuing the issue.
Dugan’s petition cites a resolution of the Sleepy Hollow Board of Trustees dated June 19, 2001 when Phil Zegarelli was mayor which states “Neither (Kendal’s) promenade nor any internal project walkway will provide direct access to the Sleepy Hollow Manor neighborhood.” However as construction got underway, problems arose that resulted in this language being changed.
“Kendal had to create two large flood control basins, which wasn’t addressed in their original special permit,” said Nicholas Robinson, then chairman of the Sleepy Hollow Planning Board. “As a result more open space and walkways were being destroyed.” To mitigate this loss, the Planning Board, among other things, asked Kendal to add a trail connecting to the Village of Sleepy Hollow Street system.
As a result of this negotiation, the Wetlands Permit dated May 13, 2002 says “Kendal on Hudson shall provide public pedestrian access over its walkway system ….to and from the Village of Sleepy Hollow street system … and… shall indicate a potential location where such a connection could be made if and when the Village requests it.”
Robinson said the Planning Board identified three possible locations for the trail and asked Kendal to choose.
“They chose Birch Close,” said Robinson. “A trail connection between Birch Close and Kendal is shown on the project’s blue prints.”
Public support is overwhelmingly in favor of a trail which could be part of the Westchester RiverWalk project, a fifty mile footpath along the banks of the Hudson River. The Sleepy Hollow Manor Association has conducted three surveys of its residents since 2008, all showing majority support for a pedestrian trail connection to the Kendal trail system. One hundred and sixty-four Kendal residents and 250 Sleepy Hollow residents signed separate petitions asking for the reestablishment of direct access to Rockwood Hall Park through the Kendal trail system.
The Philipse Manor Improvement Association (PMIA) also supports open access. “We have discussed it over and over,” said PMIA member Kathy Yeager. It was open before they built Kendal so we see no reason why it shouldn’t be opened again.”
Patricia Doyle, executive director of Kendal on Hudson said it is incumbent upon the Village of Sleepy Hollow to make the first move.
“We take our legal obligations seriously, but we haven’t heard from the Village," she said.
Days after Doyle made those comments, Sleepy Hollow Mayor Ken Wray says he has had a preliminary conversation with Kendal and intends to schedule a meeting with its board. However Doyle would not return phone calls to clarify the status of such a meeting.
“We have to be certain that we follow the legal process to get this gate open,” said Wray. “If someone is going to sue us down the road, we have to make sure everything is done correctly.”
Making sure everything is done correctly requires that the Sleepy Hollow Board of Trustees amend the documents that allowed Kendal to be built, something Wray says the village is prepared to “expedite.” It will also require some type of additional environmental study as the area is designated as “wetlands” and the construction of a small bridge and footpath in keeping with the design standards of the park, all at Kendal’s expense.
“Kendal needs to do the right thing and get this trail open,” said West.
joy
9:36 am on Thursday, April 7, 2011
The trail should be opened.
Mary Westerfield
10:47 am on Thursday, April 7, 2011
My brothers. myself and many friends used that path all the time when we were young to access Rockwood. The boys also had an incredible fort along the path. It was always a wonderful way to enter Rockwood. While I can appreciate some of the concerns of the few people voicing them, the path was always open to the public before Kendal. Seems to me it should be reopened!
ASleepyBoy
10:51 am on Thursday, April 7, 2011
Trail should be opened for numerous reasons.
1. It historically was open and the construction of Kendal on Hudson should not permanently close it.
2. The environmental issues are minimal provided that they are done properly. These are also neither state nor federally regulated wetlands.
3. This will be an integral part of the RiverWalk.
4. The safety issue is a joke. There are no sidewalks ANYWHERE in SH Manor yet people clearly walk. bike, jog, etc. regularly throughout the manor. Furthermore, it is unlikely that anyone will be parking on that street to utilize the path when they can use the free parking at Rockwood as opposed to risking getting towed and/or ticketed by illegally parking on Birch Close. Only pedestrians and bikers would be using this path!
5. The "we don't want strangers walking around" argument is also flawed given that there was historically a path and this would simply be a resoration of it. It would be one thing if there never was a path but that is simply not the case. Although many manor(s) residents would like it to be otherwise, they do not live in a gated community. Personally, the "strangers" that the Birch Close residents are worried about are not the type of people who will be out enjoying the outdoors. In my entire life living in SH, I have never encountered anyone what I would hesitate to invite into my home while out on trails or parks such as the aqueduct, Rockwood, etc.
ASleepyBoy
10:58 am on Thursday, April 7, 2011
That being said, I can understand the concerns of residents on an emotional as opposed to logical level and believe some sort of concessions to that fact should be made such as limiting use of the path to day light hours, verifying that a similar path could not be acheived elsewhere, and providing for strict enforcement of the no parking provision.
OverTaxed - Fed up with spending
11:34 am on Thursday, April 7, 2011
It looks like Kendal could just take down a portion of the fence and the issue would be done. Once Mr McCarthy gets involved, its going to cost a boat load of $'s.
davideac
1:39 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011
The only resident who matters in this is Mr. Dugan, who apparently can use his position at Phelps to prevent the trail from being reopened -- or at least make things very, very difficult. If Kendal and Phelps refuse to budge, the Village would have to sue Kendal to implement the conditions in the Wetlands Permit.
That is unfortunate, since Mr. Dugan and the other Birch Close residents would benefit from the trail more than anyone else in Sleepy Hollow. I, for one, hope that he has a change of heart. It would be a clear benefit to the community.
And if no-one pays attention to that land soon, the wisteria and porcelainberry vines will bring down the trees and everyone on Birch Close will have a fine, completely unimpeded view of Kendal. Then the land will not function as a buffer at all. Wouldn't this be even less desirable than seeing a retired professor or two a day walking by on their way to the train station?
There is also an important lesson for the Village in this: If you do not dot absolutely every last "i" and cross every single "t", things can become very much more difficult in the future. How sure are we that every detail in the development of the GM site has been considered?
Tim Murphy
11:45 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011
I live on Hemlock Drive on what is, at present, the ONLY route to the hospital or the park; and for over 15 years, I've watched a very few people proceeding on their way past my house. Those who are so afraid of hoards of strange people coming down the street are working on groundless fears. There will be a few hospital workers who take the train up to Philipse Manor station and still need to walk a whole mile to get to the new gate. And if there is any increase, it will 90% comprised of SHM and PM neighbors, who have been locked out of the #1 area resource for way too long!
I hope the Mayor and those on the village board and planning board have the courage to lead on this issue and not be intimidated by powerful and or highly vocal individuals who seem to hold highly disproportionate sway in this matter. There is always somebody who is going to sue if they don't get their way. We need to be brave. Government has to be brave and not afraid to countersue under SLAP suite laws that protect us from bullies! I am sure that if we enforce street parking, access hours, loitering and perhaps even create a 'quiet' zone at the access point, the good folks on Birch Close will not even notice their own neighbors walking into the park for a much needed stroll.
Artie Mund
12:27 pm on Friday, April 8, 2011
Hey, No one ever uses that path anyway! what's the big deal. ask most townies about it and they will go .What trail? most won't even know where birch close is.
Ed Murphy
1:42 pm on Friday, April 8, 2011
It is a shame to hear that a couple of narrow minded individuals have blocked the trail. As residents of Philipse Manor in the 1930s and 1940s many of us used that trail. As teenagers we had an unofficial group consisting of kids from Both Manors who had a club in Birch Close. We built bicycle trails through the woods there and had access to a clean spring which provided us water. The area on the river side of the road contained a grove of Beech trees which were inscribed with the initials of young lovers from the area dating back to the late twenties. The children of families in sleepy Hollow Manor and Philipse Manor enjoyed and respected the area. Among the youth were the Four Robinsons, Three Ensigns, Two Monroes, Two Giamattis, two Broomes, the Holts, Murphys, Ferrises, Schmidts, Wegledges, Barretts , Jagos and many others who lived in the Manors. The little spring was used by workers building in the area. It is a beautiful area and the trail was open and used by the public as is the aquaduct trail through Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown. Why not fence in the world so no one can enjoy it????
Edward S. Murphy, ab7bn1@me.com
Ed Murphy
1:44 pm on Friday, April 8, 2011
I love it !!!
ASleepyBoy
3:06 pm on Monday, April 11, 2011
Great reply Ed!
cathy
5:39 pm on Monday, April 11, 2011
Couple of NIMBY's (literally) against so many. I'm sure the construction of your big McMansions was quite distressing to the neighbors as well. Shame on you, Sean Dugan. You need to be a better neighbor and set an example for your hospital. Otherwise why should we support your hospital in donations, time and business? There's a wonderful hospital in Mount Kisco that really is community oriented.
ASleepyBoy
10:13 am on Wednesday, April 13, 2011
While I agree about the NIMBY comment, I have to wonder which McMansions you are talking about? Haven't the houses on Birch Close been there for a long time now?
That being said, I really can't see what the big deal is. Now Kendall being built in the first place......