WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Westchester County Board of Legislators. April 21, 2008: County Board Chairman Bill Ryan (D, IN, WF-White Plains) today announced that a Supreme Court judge in White Plains has upheld the Board of Legislators’ decision to deny Amodio’s Garden & Flower Shop admission into the Westchester County Agricultural District.

Amodio’s, which presented itself to the legislature as a nursery and greenhouse, expanded its operations to include topsoil manufacturing, mulching and rock crushing.

“It was clear from all of the heavy processing equipment, large trucks, dust and noise this was not a nursery and greenhouse business that fit in with a residential neighborhood,” Ryan said. “This was a public nuisance.”

Amodio’s, located on Mamaroneck Avenue in the south end of White Plains, applied for entry into the county’s agricultural district in January 2006. Admission to the district would have protected Amodio’s  low-level industrialized use of the property. And while the Westchester County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board advised Amodio’s it would recommend admission, the County Board following a public hearing and special Committee on Environment & Energy meeting on the matter disapproved of the application.

In turn, Amodio’s decided the board’s decision was “in violation of lawful procedure, affected by errors of law, arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion and not based on substantial evidence,” according to court records.

Supreme Court Judge Rory J. Bellantoni disagreed. In his decision, Bellantoni said the board actions were not arbitrary or capricious.

“I am pleased the Supreme Court upheld our decision,” Ryan said. “We gave the matter serious consideration and saw that Amodio’s activities were inconsistent with farm work and did not meet the standards of inclusion into the agricultural district.”

Legislator Tom Abinanti, (D, IN, WF-Greenburgh) chairman of the Committee on Environment & Energy, added: "The Board of Legislators enacted the Agricultural District Law to encourage the preservation of farmland, not to reward commercial activity which disrupts a residential neighborhood."