Decision Will Delay $600M Project

The previous super majority requirement of five council members needed to vote in favor of the zone change was due to the Westchester County Planning Board's recommendations issued in July and August of last year to the city council that the Ridge Hill project be modified or rejected. Although the council was not bound by the recommendation, the county board's negative view on the development thus required a five-vote super majority to pass a zone change on the project.

Justice Colabella ruled that the council failed to comply with state and city regulations that required a public hearing as well as referrals to the Yonkers Planning Board and the Westchester County Planning Board prior to its vote on General Ordinance No. 12. A spokesman for Yonkers Mayor Philip Amicone says the city would appeal the ruling.

"Frankly, the judge has been wrong on the law regarding the Ridge Hill issue before. Once before he issued a restraining order on the city council that was unanimously overturned on appeal," the spokesman says. "The city is appealing and we are confident we will win on the merits." He did say that the ruling will delay the Ridge Hill project by months from breaking ground.

The development, to be built on an 81.4-acre tract between the New York State Thruway and the Sprain Brook Parkway, if approved, will feature 1.3 million sf of retail, restaurant and retail space and 800 rental apartments. Plans also call for 150,000 sf of office and research space, a 350-room hotel, a 40,000-sf conference center and approximately 7,000 parking spaces.

"We are disappointed by this decision, but confident that it will be overturned on appeal," says Bruce Bender, executive vice president for Forest City Ratner, in a prepared statement. "The real losers in this senseless political battle are the taxpayers of the City of Yonkers. As forces both inside and outside the city posture, Yonkers taxpayers are being deprived the $23.7 million in annual taxes and the local economy is being cheated out of the 9,000 construction and permanent jobs that Ridge Hill will bring." He later adds that the company remains committed to the Ridge Hill project.