Maple Commons: What might have been.

Via the NY state Freedom of Information Law we obtained all the qualified proposals for the "Katz" property. The village chose one with minimal green space.

Artist’s conception of plan submitted by Ralph Rossi and Phil Spagnoli

Despite the headline on this article, it is not really intended to be a lament about what “might have been” built on the “Katz property” on Maple Street. What’s done is done, the tenants are moving in, and nothing will change that (except the ravages of time and tide that may one day in the distant future put much of Croton under water.)

Rather, this post is about the process by which decisions about housing projects in the village are made, and how democratic that process is, or is not. We have raised that question in several articles about the prospective sale of Parking Lot A to WBP Development, LLC, and that company’s plans to build 100 condominiums on the site. We pointed out that despite the fact that village land is being sold, as it was with the Katz site, Crotonites have effectively been shut out of the decision over who the village decided to sell the land to.