Lesnick Predicts Ridge Hill Project Approval Tonight

The council is holding a public hearing on the proposed zone change this evening and is expected to vote on the matter after the hearing is concluded. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. and opponents and proponents are expected to pack Saunders High School in a last minute attempt to sway council members one way or the other.

At a pro Ridge Hill Village rally held on the steps of Yonkers City Hall on Monday, Lesnick made an unscheduled appearance and said, "I am glad you are here and glad you are supporting the project as I will too tomorrow night." Lesnick tells GlobeSt.com that he believes the council will vote 5 to 2 and grant Forest City Ratner the zone change it needs to begin construction.

Representatives of the county's building and construction trades, and the ironworkers, firefighters, police, teachers and communications workers unions also expressed their support for the project at the rally and called for the council to approve the measure.

"It is now or never for this project," says Marybeth Linder, former president of the Yonkers PTA and a spokeswoman for the Progress for Yonkers Coalition. "It has been delayed for so long, we are lucky that the developer hasn't pulled out. We have already wasted so much time and missed out on millions in tax revenues because of the delaying tactics of a small group of people. This is our last chance to secure the $23.7 million in annual tax revenue and the thousands of jobs that Ridge Hill Village will create."

A 5-to-2 vote in favor of the project would be a critical victory for the project to be built on an 81.4-acre tract off the New York State Thruway. If approved, Ridge Hill Village will feature 1.3 million sf of retail, restaurant and retail use, 800 rental apartments, 150,000 sf of office and research space, a 350-room hotel, a 40,000-sf conference center and approximately 7,000 parking spaces.

On May 2, New York State Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella issued a ruling that voided the city council's 4-to-3 vote last December in favor of the zone change of the Ridge Hill Property. The judge ruled that the council violated city and state regulations that required a five-vote supermajority to approve the zone change. If the vote tonight goes 5 to 2 in Forest City Ratner's favor, most observers believe the complaints lodged in the lawsuit would be moot.

Lesnick was one of the plaintiffs in that case which is being appealed by the city. Lesnick was not a member of the city council when it voted 4 to 3 in favor of the zone change in December.

The critical fifth vote for the project is likely to come from City Councilwoman Sandy Annabi, who announced on June 15 that she would vote in favor of the project's zone change now that Forest City Ratner has agreed to increase the taxes it would pay on the project during the next three years from a $900,000 to $10.9 million.