Protect The Knoll

A developer is proposing to build houses in a wooded area known as “The Knoll,” which is adjacent to the Juhring Nature Preserve. “Protect The Knoll” is a group of Dobbs Ferry neighbors who have banded together to fight this ill-conceived project. Some of us have lived in Dobbs Ferry for nearly 40 years; others moved here only three years ago. We are all deeply troubled that the quality of life we cherish is in grave danger of being ruined, and we are asking for your help.

Andrew Cortese, dba Hillside Street, LLC, has applied to the Village’s Planning Board to build four houses on a “paper street” in the Knoll area. That street—along with 40 others in Dobbs Ferry—are described as “paper” because they exist only on old Village maps going back nearly 100 years, long before modern Village codes were drawn up.

All 41 of the Village’s paper streets were “de-mapped and discontinued” by a 2005 resolution approved by the Dobbs Ferry Board of Trustees. In passing its resolution, the Board cited “potential severe community impacts and quality of life concerns” if the paper streets were built upon. By even considering this recent application to build houses on a paper street, the Village is violating its own 2005 resolution.

This issue does not just jeopardize The Knoll Neighborhood. Building here would set a deeply troubling precedent for potential paper road development on other paper streets and green spaces throughout the Village.

Clearing the land for that housing project will undoubtedly cause problems. It will harm the abundant wildlife there. It will increase traffic congestion on Briary Road and on Ashford Avenue. And—since The Knoll absorbs a lot of rainwater—it will worsen the already-serious flooding problems in the lower Knoll Neighborhood between Lefurgy and Briary, which lies in a floodplain.

We believe the Village must abide by its own 2005 resolution and keep The Knoll’s paper street, and all 40 others in Dobbs Ferry, permanently demapped.

Here’s how you can help:

1) Make a contribution to the Protect The Knoll Fund. Your contribution will help provide much-needed resources in our continued fight, allowing us to expand awareness throughout Dobbs Ferry, fund expert independent studies on storm water, traffic, and environmental impacts, and cover other expenses as needed.

2) We have a new batch of yard signs. If you would like one, please write to us and we would be happy to give it to you. For those of you who already have a yard sign, thank you for showing that you stand with us.

3) If you have yet to read and sign our petition in support of an immediate moratorium on developing The Knoll and other de-mapped paper streets in the Village, please do so here: https://www.protecttheknoll.com/petition

4) Write to the Village Mayor and Trustees, and members of the Planning Board to express your objections to this development:

https://www.dobbsferry.com/board-trustees

https://www.dobbsferry.com/planning-board

You can learn more about this on the Protect The Knoll website (https://www.protecttheknoll.com) and on Instagram. Thank you for your consideration. We appreciate any and all support you can offer.