November 4, 2005

COUNTY BOARD STEPS UP INVESTIGATION OF SOUTH WHITE PLAINS GARDEN CENTER PROBLEM

---Board’s Solid Waste Committee Determined
to Bring Relief to Residents---

Distressed over the seeming inability of the City of White Plains to resolve a longstanding problem involving Amodio’s Garden Center, Bill Ryan (D-WF, White Plains), Chair of the County Board of Legislators, has retained an investigative firm to help determine “just what’s really going on.”

Ryan’s action, to hire Hawthorne Investigations, was done in consultation with Tom Abinanti, Chair of the Board’s Solid Waste Committee, which has been conducting hearings on the issue.

“My constituents have told me that Amodio’s business has evolved, over the years, from a small neighborhood nursery to a low-level use/ industrial type operation in the midst of a residential neighborhood,” Ryan said. “That’s of serious concern to them and to me. Are they conducting an activity that should be licensed and regulated by the county? To answer that question, the county needs a technical assessment of their operations. The county needs to determine if Amodio’s is operating as a nursery or as a nursery with a solid waste transfer operation. If it’s the latter, then the county’s Solid Waste Commission has jurisdiction to regulate the business.”

The county regulates and licenses solid waste businesses operating in Westchester. The local municipality determines where a solid waste business in its community can operate.

“Residents testified before the Committee and presented compelling evidence,” Abinanti said. “The consultant we have hired, who has significant expertise in the field, will help us to determine whether Amodio’s is running an operation that under law needs to be licensed by the county.”

Abinanti said that the consultant’s report will assist the Committee in determining whether the matter should be referred to the county’s Solid Waste Commission for further action.

“If Amodio’s is running a solid waste transfer station, as residents allege, the county’s Solid Waste Commission can then exercise its regulating authority,” Abinanti said. “The county can demand that Amodio’s secure the appropriate licenses to operate. If it secures the appropriate licenses, that’s as far as the county’s authority goes. It then becomes a local zoning matter that the City of White Plains must resolve."