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The French-American School of New York (FASNY) (FASNY) submitted its plans to build a $60 million private school campus on the former Ridgeway Country Club. The plans have drawn scrutiny from the surrounding Gedney Farms Neighborhood Association throughout 2012.
Members of the Gedney neighborhood association have argued that FASNY’s proposal to enroll 1,200 students in the three-school, 45-acre campus on the 129-acre former golf course site would exacerbate traffic, overburden the sewage system and ruin the character of the neighborhood.
FASNY submitted a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) in April, which the Common Council determined was complete during the summer. The public was able to comment on the DEIS directly to the city or at one of the three public hearings held Sept. 19, Oct. 17 and Oct. 30. The third was scheduled to accommodate those who signed up to speak but couldn’t because of the number of speakers.
“Gedney Farms is a significant portion of White Plains and always has been, and the school is going to change the environment dramatically,” Jack Weiner, a Gedney Farms resident, said at the first public hearing.
FASNY is now going through the comments received during the public hearing process and will, at some point, come back to the city with a draft final environmental impact statement.
“People are often disconcerted by change and we realize they’re afraid we will overwhelm their community,” Dupuy d-angeac, who has two children in FASNY’s upper school in Mamaroneck, said at the second public hearing. “We feel so strongly about this campus and I’ve never heard of an offer that is so generous.”
The school has said the remaining 84 acres would become a “Green to Green Conservancy” that would have a permanent easement. FASNY would maintain the site, which would include trails open to the public 365 days a year.
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