Photo by Art Cusano
The Country Children’s Center plans to put a daycare center at this home at 862 Kitchawan Road. Residents are angry that a variance was issued to allow the center to pave the front yard of the $1.25 million home.
Yorktown residents say variance
should have never been issued
A group of Yorktown residents have filed a lawsuit against the town in order to fight a proposed daycare center in their neighborhood.
The lawyer for the residents of Old Kitchawan Road say the town zoning board acted illegally when it granted a special permit and assorted variances to the Country Children’s Center, owner of the property in question at 862 Kitchawan Road.
Attorney Clifford L. Davis said the town board limited commercial-property use to parcels of at least 160,000-square feet in 1990 in order to restrict development in residential areas.
“It is outrageous that the zoning board, in granting the largest area variance ever granted by the town, is usurping the power of the town board,” Davis said.
The Country Children’s Center (CCC) is a group of independent, non-profit, tax exempt daycare centers licensed by the New York State Department of Social Services. All of its four centers are located in northern Westchester. The centers receive income from parent tuition, the department of social services, the United Way and other non-profit programs.
Many of the CCC participants are children of IBM employees, and the group has another center at the nearby Watson IBM Facility.
Davis said his clients are also upset that the zoning board gave permission to the owners to locate parking on its front yard, saying it is against town code for any parking to be allowed in the front yard. Davis said the new owners plan to pave the front lawn of the home, which was listed at $1.25 million.
Vicki Campbell, a resident of Old Kitchawan Road, which runs behind the daycare center, said she and her husband Mark joined in the lawsuit to preserve the peace and quiet they purchased when they bought their home.
“You search your whole life to find a place like this,” Campbell said, noting the adjacent horse farm and the peaceful reservoir down the street.
Campbell said she understands the need for daycare centers and the need for people to run businesses, but feels that there are plenty of other places to put such an enterprise.
“If it were just 15 kids I would say nothing, but this is like 70 kids plus the staff,” Campbell said. “And I love kids. I have five of them.”
Campbell also questioned the logic of putting the center right next to a busy road.
“That road (Route 134) is a speed demon road, if just one kid gets out…” she said.
Brian Carroll, another resident taking part in the lawsuit, said the town has made the claim that the area is not rural and therefore would not be affected by the business. Carroll argues that the area is indeed rural. He points to a nearby organic farming operation, an equestrian center, and several nearby preservation areas, including the Teatown Lake Reservation as proof of the area’s bucolic nature.
The attorney for the Country Children’s Center, Al Cappellini, said the business would not be detrimental to the neighborhood because the children being catered to would be only infants and toddlers up to 5-years old. He also said a fence would be put up around the property and that the business would be closed on weekends.
Yorktown town attorney John Buckley said the town was fighting the lawsuit but could not comment further because it was a matter of litigation. John Bucci, the zoning board president who oversaw the variance, also declined to comment.
Calls to the Country Children’s Center headquarters in Katonah were not returned by press time.
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