Sleepy Hollow's Choice:

New Neighborhood for All to Enjoy or Mega-Development?

( SLEEPY HOLLOW, New York) - OVERVIEW

For more than a decade, Scenic Hudson has been helping village officials and residents of Sleepy Hollow create a plan for the 97-acre site of the former General Motors plant -- the largest undeveloped waterfront parcel in the lower Hudson River Valley, and a site with a rich and varied history. Mayor Philip E. Zegarelli and the developer Roseland Property Co. of New Jersey have accepted many of our suggestions.

Since 2001 Roseland Property Co. has been working on plans for the project, dubbed Lighthouse Landing. This huge mix of residential, commercial and office space could increase the village's population by more than one-third, placing a heavy burden on schools and taxes. Designed right, the project could reconnect village and valley residents with the river and their heritage.

In the nearby villages of Irvington and Tarrytown, we helped officials discover ways to turn industrially blighted waterfronts into places people can enjoy. The same potential exists in Sleepy Hollow, where traces of the 17th and 18th centuries remain and must not be overwhelmed by a mega-development.

ROSELAND ABOUT TO SUBMIT ITS FOURTH SET OF PLANS

Since 2001 Roseland has presented three revised plans for Lighthouse Landing. The village has rejected each for not adequately reflecting the concerns of residents and local officials. Some time this fall the developer will submit a fourth Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), which will contain the latest plans for the site. Public hearings on the FEIS are expected in the fall.

SPEAK UP -- BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE

- Make your voice heard at upcoming hearings. - Sign up for a free membership with Scenic Hudson so you will receive "you-heard-it-first" e-mail alerts and notices about public meetings. - Write letters to the editor -- to the Journal News, Hudson Independent and River Journal.

A RICH HISTORY

Located in a landscape immortalized by Washington Irving in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," the site of the GM plant once was a harbor called "Slapershaven," or "Sleepers' Haven." The Pocantico River, a major tributary on the lower Hudson River, flowed into it. When tides permitted, sloops could sail up the Pocantico to the gristmill at Philipsburg Manor, which has been reconstructed.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the harbor was gradually filled in. The site became home to one of the nation's first automobile assembly plants in 1899. GM purchased the facility in 1924. Shortly after, they rerouted the Pocantico.

GM shut down the plant in 1996. Following the closure, Scenic Hudson, along with village leaders and Historic Hudson Valley, undertook a three-year planning process that engaged the local community in shaping a vision for developing the riverfront site. It culminated with a proposed model featuring four goals:

1. Allowing people to connect with the Hudson River through a "green crescent" of interconnected parks and trails. 2. A neighborhood that functions as an extension of the lower village. 3. A commercial district integrated into the existing village. 4. Restoring habitat along the Pocantico River and creating a second branch along the river's original course.

Scenic Hudson remains committed to these goals.