Westchester County was thwarted!

The regime of County Executive Andy Spano was stopped from a bait-and-switch land deal, thanks to an alert legislator and a motivated group of homeowners. What the heck, I’ll take a little credit, too.

As reported on this bog and in The Journal News, the county originally had offered to sell a half-acre of vacant county-owned land to the city of New Rochelle for one dollar. Whenever surplus land is to up for disposal, the county must first offer it to the host community—that’s the law.

The parcel, which had been virtually forgotten for 80 years, sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood on Flandreau Avenue. Locals had turned it into a kind of wild-garden park.

The New Rochelle City Council seized on the offer and voted 7-0 to accept the property. But it turned out the county really didn’t want to give it way. Not by a long shot!

What it really wanted to do was sell the property at auction to a developer (an insider, no doubt) who would then shoehorn in two or three houses. The property is believed to worth at least $250,000.

So the county turned around and pressured the city council to vote again, and TURN THE DEAL DOWN. The council complied with a 4-3 vote.

But Jim Maisano, the Republican legislator from New Rochelle cried foul, and so did people living near the property. Maisano blew the whistle through my column, researched the law and helped mobilize the neighbors. Then he lobbied his fellow county legislators and presuaded them last night to table the auction of the property. The park was saved.

Also credited with an assist were Councilwoman Marianne Sussman and state Assemblywoman Amy Paulin.

Maisano said today that he will draft legislation to add the Flandreau property to the county-run Nature Study Woods which is across the street.