Mamaroneck schools enter fray over Hampshire Country Club housing plan opposed by village

Cramped for classroom space and in need of recreational fields at its middle school, the Mamaroneck Board of Education is considering striking an unusual deal with Hampshire Country Club, the school’s neighbor by Long Island Sound.

Doing so would insert the school district in the decade-long battle over proposed residential development at the 106-acre golf club — a battle that has run up hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer-financed legal fees through a spate of lawsuits, appeals and counterclaims.

That includes a case pending in state Supreme Court in which the developer is seeking $58 million in recompense from the Village of Mamaroneck, following the village Planning Board’s determination that none of 16 alternative schemes suggested by Village Board were suitable for development.

A “memorandum of understanding” under review by the school board would allow the developer to donate about six acres of land to the school district along Hommocks Road. But that would only occur if Hampshire wins approval from the Mamaroneck Village Board for a zoning change that would allow construction of 121 condominiums on one acre by the clubhouse.

That would allow the retention of the club’s 18-hole golf course while building housing geared to those ages 55 years and older.

That’s the original plan put forward by the developer in 2014 that the Village Board refused to even consider. As many as 16 alternatives were subsequently studied by the village Planning Board, which determined no development was possible at the 106-acre site on Long Island Sound.

The most recent rejection was for 44 single-family homes and 61 townhomes on 65 acres, which would reduce the course to nine holes.

Now the developer has added a sweetener to its plans — at least for the space-hungry school district. Developer Dan Pfeffer said the district approached them about a possible deal.

Mamaroneck Superintendent of Schools Robert Shaps said that relocating Hommocks Road to the northeast would open up land by Hommocks Middle School's auditorium and rear parking lot for a playing field, tennis courts and building expansion.

A vote by the school board is scheduled for late July.

“We are just saying that if the project were to move forward, we would get the gift of land,” said Shaps, who will retire in October. “In order to represent our interests, we agreed to engage in the memorandum of understanding. As a district, we have space challenges. If given the opportunity to get a gift of land, we would accept it.”

Mayor: 'Not a good move' for school board

The issue has created an uproar in Mamaroneck.

Village Mayor Tom Murphy noted the Village Board refused to entertain the plan for the condominiums in 2014, and would take the same position again, even with the promise of the land gift for the Mamaroneck schools. He said he met privately with four members of the Board of Education last Thursday to explain his position.

That’s enough needed for a quorum of the board, which would require a public meeting.

“They are chasing a mirage,” he said. “They are getting in league with a developer whose only motivation is to make $55 million to build condos at the clubhouse. It’s not a good move for a school board to get in league with a developer to pressure a municipality that a previous board has already denied.”

School board president Ariana Cohen acknowledged that a quorum of the board had met privately with Murphy, in the latest apparent violation of the Open Meetings Law by a Mamamaroneck public body.

"There was never an intent for a quorum of the Board of Education to meet to conduct our business at the Mayor’s office," wrote Cohen in an email. "Rather, various members accepted an invite from the mayor to listen to his perspective, one that was shared publicly at two Board of Education meetings.

Murphy said developers aren’t guaranteed they can get government approvals to build on their land.

“People who invest in real estate seem to think the job of government is to ensure that they make a lot of money,” he said. “They want unfettered capitalism, as if there is some guarantee on the investments. Sometimes you invest and it doesn’t work out.”

What the developer wants

Pfeffer is hoping that the school board's interest in land donation could be a way to end the seemingly endless litigation, and find a solution that benefits the school, provides property-tax income, and lets him develop the property his company bought in 2010.

"We were proceeding down the path of litigation when the school district approached us," he said. "If we move Hommocks Road, that would free up some land. But we can only do it if we get the condo plan approved."

More: The Hampshire Country Club housing project is still stalled. Here's why.

Pfeffer and his investment partners had an eye on residential development in 2010 when they bought the country club, which had gone on the market after the club found it could no longer make ends meet with declining interest in the sport.

After the club rejected an offer from the town and village to buy the land, Pfeffer’s development company paid $12 million to purchase it. The Village Board refused to consider the initial request for rezoning and then instructed the developer to seek a plan that complies with zoning on the golf course. The course has half-acre zoning for single-family homes, and allows attached townhouses with a special permit.

That process stretched on for six years, with the Village Board asking the developer to present 16 alternatives. None were acceptable.

That’s when the developer filed suit, saying the village had effectively rezoned the golf course property from residential to conservation zone, and took away the property owners' right to build. That case, filed in 2021, continues to wend its way through the courts.

That’s in addition to another case under appeal, in which a judge ordered the Planning Board to revisit the issue. But that has yet to occur because the Planning Board has appealed that ruling.

“Hampshire purchased the property with the reasonable expectation that they could build there,” said David Cooper, Hampshire’s attorney. “Now the village has taken away that right, and the developer deserves compensation for having that right taken away.”

Leading the opposition to the development is Celia Felsher, who owns four houses by the golf course.

At a June 12 meeting of the Board of Education, Felsher maintained that New York state law prohibits a municipality from making a gift of land contingent upon passage of a local law. She added that the memorandum of understanding was only for six months. She predicted the public process on the condominium plan could take as long as another decade to receive approvals.

“You’re a pawn for the developer,” she told the board. “It’s not a gift. It comes with so many strings.”

But Mamaroneck parent Melissa Manice urged the village to back the condo plan, which would preserve the 18-hole golf course, provide expansion land for the schools, and not worsen the district's enrollment crunch because it would be housing for empty-nesters.

“A plan that preserves the golf course is compelling to me,” she said, “rather than 106 single-family homes that decimates it.”

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David McKay Wilson writes about tax issues and government accountability. Follow him on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@lohud.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mamaroneck schools weigh land donation from Hampshire Club developer