Tuesday, January 20, 2015

TONIGHT-BOARD TO ACCEPT GOUVEIA, SCHOOL REMAINS ON PROPERTY, A MESSAGE FROM CROTON UNITED

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TONIGHT: BOARD TO ACCEPT GOUVEIA, SCHOOL REMAINS ON PROPERTY, A MESSAGE FROM CROTON UNITED

January 19, 2015

Dear Neighbor, Tuesday, Jan 20 at 8pm, the Village Board  will vote to acquire the Gouveia property.

The Gouveia property, located at 1300 Albany Post Road (at the foot of Arrowcrest Drive), was, until recently, a private residence. For several years the current village administration has expressed its support for acquiring this property as a public park, and thereby foregoing the approximately $40,000 in property taxes it generates, despite significant public opposition.  If the village takes the property, it does so with the agreement that it will maintain it forever as parkland and never develop the property (nor transfer it to anyone who would develop it), no matter what the cost. The land, if acquired, comes with a one-time bequest of $1 million dollars.

The Board put the vote on this issue on the public agenda on Friday afternoon of the holiday weekend, with a large number of related documents as exhibits.  Among those exhibits is the report of the citizens Ad Hoc Committee that investigated possible uses of the property.  The Committee report was never circulated to the citizens of Croton, and there has been no public hearing to discuss the report. Likewise, despite the Mayor’s promise, there is no updated cost-benefit analysis, only the outdated analysis done at a time when it was assumed that the former owner would be responsible for years of maintenance of the property.

The reason becomes apparent when you read the Ad Hoc Committee report: not only is there no concrete plan for revenue generation other than collecting rent from the operation of a private school run by a politically connected nonresident, but in fact the Committee says that the house should be “off limits until further study” as a means of avoiding the costs associated with bringing the private property into compliance with laws related to public use.  

READ MORE HERE https://www.facebook.com/notes/397827597040944/

4 comments:

  1. I've been meaning to ask. Are there people living in the house? I see the lights on at night, in the middle of the night, on different floors, windows open and closed, since the summer. Does anyone know?

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  2. a hundred dollars a month rent is all the school will be paying. lord it's good to have friends.

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  3. This deal was cooked long ago and so I can see no point in attending but I will watch because I do want to be able to laugh my ass silly with a neighbor who was foolish enough to vote for these people and who somehow believed they would never take Gouveia.

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  4. Oy... enjoy the new "park" Crotonites. Sorry your elected and paid leadership is not leading with their eyes open and a sharp pencil in hand.

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