A Little Trail at the Heart of a Big Controversy

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.