WPCNR SOUTHEND TIMES. By John F. Bailey. September 21, 2005, UPDATED September 22, 2005 1:05 A.M. E.D.T.: Surveyors were sighted taking readings and marking distances on Saxon Wood Road and Rosedale Avenue this week. Saxon Woods Road is the quaint little two lane road with a 200 year old Revolutionary War stone wall and ramble of woods and grassy knolls framing the leisurely flow of the sometimes pure Mamaroneck River winding its way to Long Island Sound. The Rosedale Avenue area in question is on the West side of Mamaroneck Avenue, feeding in to Saxon Woods Road.
The Saxon Wood Neighborhood Association is curious and wants to find out the facts behind the surveying activity. An unidentified Surveyor from Maser Consulting, was again discovered taking readings at the junction of Saxon Woods Road and Saxon Woods Park Drive Monday.
The surveying team activity, according to the Saxon Wood Neighborhood Association, had caught the eye of a Rosedale Avenue resident, who started asking a member of the survey crew questions. He engaged one of the surveying team in conversation who revealed that the surveyors were under contract to the City of White Plains, and that they were taking readings to prepare a study for the widening of both Saxon Woods Road and Rosedale Avenue by up to 25 feet. The resident said he was told such a widening would take front yards of some homes.
On Monday, the surveying team was back taking readings at the intersection of Saxon Woods Road and Saxon Woods Park Drive.
The Saxon Wood Neighborhood Association has scheduled a meeting for September 27 at 7:30 P.M. at Ridgeway School to discuss the situation, and other possible pending incursions on the neighborhood including the extension of the Greenway Trail from Hillair Circle to Romar Avenue and along Saxon Woods Road to Saxon Woods Park and the Amodio's on-going topsoil operations.
The Association announcement of the meeting reveals that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with Mayor Joseph Delfino's office to get information from the city on the purpose of the surveyor survey. Previously, the Delfino Administration, and two previous administrations had assured the neighborhood that the roads would never be widened or realigned and the rural character of the neighborhood would not be changed.
Peter Katz, President of the Saxon Wood Neighborhood Association, speaking to WPCNR today said that a resident reported to him this morning that she was told by a secretary in the Department of Public Works, that Saxon Woods Road would not be widened. Mr. Katz said he had not received a response to his city hall inquiries that began last Thursday.
A person with the Department of Public Works, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WPCNR Wednesday evening at the White Plains Hospital Center Gala that the surveying taking place on Saxon Woods road was routine and something that would be done prior to any major construction project involving a road. The source said the only construction envisioned was repaving the road which he said would be taking place in about 18 months, he denied any widening was being considered.
