A storm has been brewing in the quiet suburbs of Dobbs Ferry, not from the sky, but over the future of a modestly-sized, wooded plot roughly the size of a football field, known simply as “the Knoll.” Nestled adjacent to the Juhring Estate Nature Preserve, Dobbs Ferry’s largest park spanning 76 acres, the Knoll has been under threat from proposed residential development.

At the center of the controversy is developer Andrew Cortese of Hillside Street, LLC, and his plan to build up to four new homes along an undeveloped “paper street,” a road that exists on planning documents but was never physically built, a road which slices through the existing green space. 

This type of street, including the one through the Knoll that was originally mapped in a 1926 subdivision, was the focus of a 2005 Dobbs Ferry Board of Trustees resolution that “de-mapped and discontinued” all 41 of the Village’s paper streets. Reinforcing this stance, the 2010 Dobbs Ferry Vision Plan, in a section dedicated to “the Knoll,” mandated taking “whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the formerly mapped paper streets remain off limits to development.” The directive was based on concerns that development on these paper streets had led to “out of scale infill development on wooded, topographically challenging terrain widely used and enjoyed as open space,” which, if developed, could “dramatically alter the character of the neighborhood.” 

Despite this, Cortese’s proposal challenges the 2005 resolution and 2010 plan, featuring a 436-foot-long, 20-foot-wide road, complete with new stormwater management systems and a sewer line. 

David Steinmetz, attorney for the Cortese company, explained, “Mr. Cortese is either the owner or contract vendee of four of the lots on the Knoll. His goal is to ultimately develop four houses, one house on each of the four lots, and the homes have already been presented to the Village.”

The current plans focus on developing two single-family residential homes on lots 151 and 152, with the new road facilitating access, while lots 147 and 153 are planned for coming development, with their footprints included in planning documents. The initial developments on lots 151 and 152 will each occupy lots of approximately 7,500 square feet, with impervious surfaces, such as driveways and walkways, consuming over a quarter of each lot and the buildings themselves accounting for about 20% of the lot.

Local residents, driven by frustration over the land purchase by Cortese in early 2024, quickly organized into the “Protect the Knoll” group. In May 2024, they presented a petition with roughly 300 signatures to the Village Board of Trustees, requesting a construction moratorium.

Despite the effort, on July 31, 2024, Mayor Vincent Rossillo and the trustees decided against the moratorium. In the statement, they argued that “the 2005 Board were not properly advised on the limitations of their authority,” to restrict development since they did not have jurisdiction over privately owned areas:

“The Knoll has remained privately owned since its 1926 subdivision and was never dedicated to the Village… even if the Village had ownership rights of the street known as The Knoll in 2005 and could properly de-map that street, the Village could not have prevented development of the adjacent lots given the property owners’ deeded rights of access to Village streets.”

Steinmetz elaborated, saying, “Almost 100 years ago, the 1926 subdivision plat was approved and filed in the Westchester County Clerk’s office. My client purchased lots on that subdivision plot, just like everybody else who lives in that neighborhood.”

The planned construction of the houses will cover significant portions of The Knoll, requiring the excavation of about 37,000 cubic feet of material and reaching depths of up to 25 feet. The development will create around 20,500 square feet of impervious surfaces, such as driveways and rooftops, which are expected to increase water runoff and reduce the land’s natural filtration ability.

“We really feel that if this [plan] were to go through, it would set a really dangerous precedent,” Allison Eggleston, an Upper School Spanish teacher whose home directly borders the Knoll, said. “Suddenly, many more of these green spaces in our village would disappear.” Eggleston’s property line extends into the area where the proposed street would go, bringing the road just six feet from the wall of her house.

The plan, she warned, would significantly alter the area’s natural watershed. “They’ve already marked over 100 established trees to cut down,” she said. “This is taking an existing ecological area that’s providing benefit in these regards, like flood management and air quality, and removing that.” 

The Protect the Knoll group also continues to emphasize the Knoll as a vital drainage zone, writing on their website, “The Knoll has natural water retention properties, releasing rainwater slowly during the winter months. Destruction of The Knoll would exacerbate flooding for residents and homeowners living in the floodplain below.” 

The Knoll also stands next to the Juhring Nature Preserve, which is recognized by New York State as a Critical Environmental Area due to its role in drainage and as an open space. An environmental assessment form completed by the Dobbs Ferry Planning Board confirms the soil at the site is indeed classified as 100% well-drained, but the same report also concludes that the development would not impact floodwater or exacerbate flooding.

In response, a new “Subsurface Stormwater Management Area” has been planned to mitigate the environmental impact. In an interview with TBN, Steinmetz said:

“There are always legitimate environmental concerns when it comes to development and creating new homes that anyone lives in. My client shares the concerns about the environment that his neighbors do, and actually, the development we are proposing would incorporate a number of environmentally sensitive and sound engineering practices that would protect the environment.”

In addition to drainage concerns, the development will drastically reduce the area’s forested land from nearly 50,000 square feet to under 5,000 square feet. The construction is expected to be visible from the Juhring Estate and other scenic locations, potentially obstructing views that define the character of the area and are cherished by the community.

Steinmetz added, “The Village of Dobbs Ferry and its boards and its professional staff and outside consultants take their role very seriously. No one is getting anything approved without going through, at a minimum, an exhaustive and comprehensive land use, planning, zoning, engineering and environmental review.”

With tensions rising, the Dobbs Ferry Planning Board has scheduled a public hearing on Feb. 6 at 6 p.m., anticipating an unusually large turnout. In response, the board will limit each speaker to three minutes, a departure from its typical open-ended format. Whether the hearing sways the decision or not, one thing is clear: the battle over the Knoll is far from over.