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Sometime before October 5, 2005, the owner of 77 Smith Avenue property had fill dumped on the property. The Mount Kisco Planning Board at two meetings reviewed this action by the property owner with the last meeting in April 2007. The prosecution of the alleged illegal dumping has been held up in Mount Kisco Town Court for over two years.

At the October 5, 2005 Planning Board meeting, the Village of Mount Kisco’s planner expressed reservations about the fill dumped on the property and the damage the fill was causing. According to the Planning Board Minutes, Nanette Bourne said:

I am actually concerned about this site being left any longer than it already has been. Personally, I am more concerned about the material that is on the site. The trees have died; you can go out there and see the ones that have been choked to death. You don’t know if they have been killed because of the soil being packed up against, or the soil on this site is not clean

According to informed sources, there are PCBs and other contaminants in the soil used as fill.

Although the Planning Board wanted to meet again on this property shortly after its October 5, 2005 meeting, there was, according to a search of the minutes, no further public discussion until April 10, 2007. At that meeting, the property owner was represented by Eric Jacobsen, recently elected to Town of Bedford Judge in November 2009.

At the April 10, 2007 meeting of the Mount Kisco Planning Board, both Nanette Bourne and Planning Board member Stanley Bernstein expressed concern about the site and its effect on the water supply. According to Nanette Bourne:

We looked at this a couple of years ago as a result of a fill that had been put on the site. There was a concern about what the fill would do to existing specimen trees and the impact that the fill would have on the drainage channel or stream channel at the bottom. It is a designated stream; you created a disturbance within the buffer of the stream . . .

According to Mr. Bernstein:

So, in effect, the fill killed at least four specimen trees that I can remember. There might be more. So we would have to know that. And the mitigation: based on the code that we have in the Village, is that it has to be mitigated by a basal tabulation. In other words, the amount of wood on the tree that was destroyed has to equal the amount of wood on the trees that were put back. You can’t take a 36 inch tree and put back six (6) 4 inch trees. . . .There is also a stream. It’s not an intermittent stream, but it’s an unnamed tributary of Branch Brook in the Village, which is a tributary of the Kisco River, which dumps into Croton Lake, which is part of the New York City Water System supplying ten million people. There has to be a hundred foot buffer by any stream.

This case was sent to the Mount Kisco Town Court for prosecution in 2007. The case has remained buried like the alleged PCBs and other contaminants for nearly three years.

Three years seems like a long time to adjudicate an illegal dumping case but, according to Mount Kisco Town Court Judge John Donohue, it is part of the process. In a November 1, 2009 article in The Journal News, Judge Donohue denied dragging out cases and was quoted as saying “the village prosecutor and defense attorneys make the recommendations for adjournments.”

On Thanksgiving, as we give thanks for all of our gifts, we should thank the charitable organizations that take care of those less able and fortunate.

On November 7, the Foundation for Educating Children with Autism, a charitable organization that supports a school for children with autism, a vocational program for adults with autism and a scholarship fund for special education teachers that want to continue their education, held a benefit, named Stayin’ Alive, to raise funds for their programs.

At the benefit, Melanie and Drew Schaffran of Katohah received a Lifetime Achievement Award for their leadership and commitment to excellent and accountable services for individuals with autism.  Also receiving a lifetime achievement award was Neil Boyle, the vocational director for the Devereaux Foundation for his enthusiastic persistence in establishing vocational programs for those affected with autism and other developmental disorders.  The Bethel Nursing and Rehabilitaion Center was awarded with the Employer of the Year Award for welcoming the students at the Devereux Millwood Learning Center into facility.

Pictures above: (left) Fumiko Bradley, Pat Morrissey (owner of P. Morrissey Contracting, Inc.), NYS Assemblyman and White Plains Mayor Elect Adam Bradley, and Maureen Morrissey; (center) Pete DiChiara, Ann DiChiara, CVS Caremark Vice President, and Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Neil Boyle; (right) Devereux Millwood Learning Center students and vocational program participants.

From Thanksgiving through December 31, 2009, all commissions earned by mountkisconews.com through the Amazon Store (see link to the right) will be donated to the Foundation for Educating Children with Autism.

The Mount Kisco Recreation Department mailed its brochure of its winter programs.  The winter programs include the annual tree lighting ceremony on Friday, December 4 at 6:00.

A link to the brochure is included in the links included on the right side of the main screen ubder Kisco Links and below.

http://www.mountkisco.org/departments/recreation/200911169740.375

Mount Kisco, one of the few remaining communities that vacuums leaves left at the curbside, will suspend recycling collection on Monday, November 23 and Tuesday, November 24 so that the Village can expedite leaf collection.  Recycling will resume on Monday, November 30.

If possible, Mount Kisco residents should mow their lawns and mulch their remaining leaves.  It will be good for their lawns and the environment.

On November 12, 2009, U.S. Magistrate Judge Smith granted the Village of Mount Kisco summary judgment against an action by Mauricio Arriaga, owner of the Mango Café. Mr. Arriaga initiated a law suit against the Village/Town of Mount Kisco for alleged violations of his First Amendment rights arising from the enforcement of Mount Kisco’s “Landlord Registry” law.

From late 2004 through late 2006, Mr. Arriaga owned 50% of a two-family house at 104 Grove Street, with his brother. On September 20, 2004, the Village Board of Trustees adopted its Landlord Registry law. The Landlord Registry law applies to “all buildings containing residential units which are rented, leased, let or hired out to be occupied which shall be limited to two-family, multifamily, or mixed use.” In 2005, Mr. Arriaga received a letter from the Village’s Building Department concerning registry of the property, but, after discussing it with his brother, they decided to ignore it.

On May 13, 2007, a local newspaper, The Journal News, published an article in which Mr. Arriaga is quoted as saying the following:

[Arriaga] also says he has had trouble with some village policies, like a 2004 landlord registry law that requires owners like him of multi¬family homes to provide Mount Kisco officials with their contact information as well as how many housing units are in a building.

Arriaga said he got the registry form from the village, but has refused to fill it out. “I said to them: ‘This is not Cuba. This is America,’ “

On May 16, 2007, the Building Inspector issued an appearance ticket, charging Mr. Arriaga with violation of the Landlord Registry law. At this time, Mr. Arriaga did not have an interest in the property although the village records at that time mistakenly still showed that Mr. Arriaga did have an ownership interest in the property from his earlier property ownership.  Interestingly, if Mr. Arriaga or his brother registered the property, the Village’s records would have been more accurate.

Mr. Arriaga’s First Amendment retaliation claim is based on his allegation that criminal charges were brought against him in retaliation for his statement to the press criticizing the Landlord Registry law. In the case of a private citizen suing a public official, the plaintiff must prove, “(1) he [or she] has an interest protected by the First Amendment;” (2) defendants’ actions were motivated or substantially caused by his [or her] exercise of that right; and (3) defendants’ actions effectively chilled the exercise of his First Amendment right.”

The judge noted that Mr. Arriaga did not provide legal support for the notion that there was no probable cause. After all, Mr. Arriaga was not denying that the property was not registered under the Landlord Registry law.  The judge noted that probable cause can exist even where it is based on mistaken information, so long as the officials acted reasonably and in good faith. Furthermore, the judge noted that Mr. Arriaga has neither argued in his opposition papers, nor provided any evidence, that the exercise of his First Amendment rights was “actually chilled” by the issuance of the appearance ticket.

As a result, the Village was granted summary judgment and the judge dismissed the action. Mr. Arriaga may appeal this decision. Mr. Arriaga does have an additional lawsuit against the village regarding an appearance ticket related to the Village’s application of its cabaret law.

Developer John Bainlardi and his architect, Ira Grandberg of Grandberg & Associates are working to renovate the old Calico Corners building at 681 E. Main Street for a Dunkin Donuts and another store. Mr. Bainlardi and Mr. Grandberg have been appearing before the different review boards to renovate the vacant building and transform it into a vibrant storefront at one of the commercial gateways to Mount Kisco.

Appearing before the Architectural Review Board, architect Ira Grandberg discussed the renovation of the buiding currently in a state of disrepair. Mr. Grandberg discussed that the building is to have a brick facade with aging copper canopies.

Grandberg & Associates is a note architectural firm that designs both commercial and residential buildings.

The Friends of the Mount Kisco Library will sponsor a free performance of Neil Simon’s comedy “The Good Doctor” on Sunday, November 22 at 2PM at the Mount Kisco Public Library Community Room.

The Friends of the Mount Kisco Library is an association whose mission is to encourage public involvement in the Library and its programs and services. Your membership dollars help to:

Sponsor cultural events, particularly performing arts programs;
Fund the many children’s events held throughout the year; and
Purchase equipment, furniture, and materials beyond the scope of the Library’s operating budget.

Thank you to the Friends of the Mount Kisco Library for thier involvement with the library and its programs.

The American Leigion Moses Taylor Jr. Post 136 in Mount Kisco commemorated Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11, with a ceremony in front of Mount Kisco Village Hall and the Mount Kisco Library. As it does each year, the local American Legion organized a 24-hour honor guard at the memorial to veterans outside Mount Kisco Town Hall on Main Street from 11 a.m. Tuesday to 11 a.m. on Wednesday. Among the veterans keeping guard were Mayor Michael Cindrich and Trustee George Griffin.

Thank you to our veterans and we wish a speedy and safe return to all military personnel currently serving.

The Fox Lane Volleyball team, Section I Class A champions for second year in a row, will play on Wednesday, November 11 at 6:30 pm at Orange County Community College. They play Cornwall Central High School, a very difficult opponent from New Windsor that defeated Fox Lane in the playoffs last year. Good luck to the volleyball team.