High Stakes for Quaker Ridge Golf Club

Attorneys, concerned residents, a landscape architect and the management of Quaker Ridge Golf Club appeared before the Scarsdale Planning Board on Wednesday night 6/23 seeking a ruling that would allow the club to lift restrictions on the use of the second hole of the golf course, and meet the approval of the homeowners of Brittany Close. Currently, the second hole cannot be used after 1 PM on select days of the week because errant golf balls have been entering the yard of a neighboring home.

At stake, was a proposed 60-foot high fence that would be installed to shield the residents of 8 Brittany Close from flying golf balls. Gail and Leon Behar of 8 Brittany Close contended that during one 7-day stretch 69 golf balls landed on their property. Struck at high speeds, these balls could be lethal. The Behars want a 60-foot fence installed to protect their home, which is situated in a relatively new development of homes off Griffen Road called Scarsdale Manor

In December, 2009 the Behars sought approval for a variance from Scarsdale Village to construct their own 40-foot high fence, which exceeded the maximum height allowed, but their pleas to the Board of Appeals was denied in March, 2010. With golf season looming, the Behars hired attorney Julius Cohn to take action against the club and demanded that they either reconfigure the golf course or construct a 100-foot fence to prevent balls from travelling onto the Behars property.

The case was heard at the State Supreme Court in White Plains in early June and the judge recommended that the club erect a 60-foot net on club property for which the Behars would contribute $10,000 of the cost. However, the Village would need to approve the height, appearance and placement of the fence.

With this ruling, the Behars undoubtedly thought their troubles were over as no one from the their team appeared at the Planning Board meeting this week. Perhaps they were not aware that their neighbors objected to the construction of a 60-foot high fence that would loom over the cul de sac and destroy the bucolic site lines.

Representatives from the Scarsdale Manor who spoke for seven of the twelve homeowners in the circle asked the Planning Board to consider the effect of the construction of an enormous screen on the aesthetics of their neighborhood. At 60 feet high and 160 across, the screen would measure 7,200 square feet, which is six stories high and double the height of the homes in the development. They contended that the stakes that would anchor the mesh screening would be as high as cell phone towers and measure 16” in diameter.

To give context to the decision before the Planning Board, the residents offered some background on Scarsdale Manor. The community was built on land once owned by the Winston Estate and ten years of planning went into the design of the community. The Tudor-style homes sell for upwards of $3.7 million and they surround a large, landscaped retention basin. There are strict association rules concerning appearances and no clotheslines, poles or antennas are permitted. Even the power lines have been buried underground. Therefore, in their view, it is particularly egregious that 60-foot stakes would be installed just 6” off the Behar’s property line.

The Behar’s themselves had asked the Homeowner’s Association to bend the rules to allow them to construct a pool and they proceeded. In the process, the Behars removed some of the trees that had screened their home from the golf club. The problem was compounded when additional trees fell on the golf course in 2008. To some degree, they had created the situation themselves. The Homeowner’s Association reminded the Board that last December the Behar’s were fighting for a 40-foot fence and questioned why another 20 feet were now deemed necessary.

Instead, the Homeowners Association proposed that a temporary 40-foot fence be erected, surrounded by a screen of large trees on both sides of the fence. Once these trees grew in, they requested that the fence be removed. The also asked the Planning Board if two poles, rather than four could be used to hold up the fence.

The Homeowners suggested that even the Golf Club would prefer to screen with trees, but that they had agreed to the unsightly 60-foot fence in the hopes of quickly re-opening the second hole.

The Planning Board posed many questions to the lawyers, landscape architect and residents. They wanted to know if any data was available on the severity of the problem…just how many golf balls fell on the Behar’s home? The Quaker Ridge Golf Club did a study during the period from 5/28-6/2, 2010 and found that out of 2,109 tee shots 19 balls, or less than 1% cleared the 25 foot fence that is now in place and landed on the Behar’s property. Behar’s stats were much higher and he also claims that two landscapers at work in the yard were hit by flying balls.

Jane Veron of the Planning Board asked for clarification on the court ruling. Was the 60-foot fence recommended or required? The attorney for the club, Jerold Ruderman explained that the 60-foot fence was a compromise that was negotiated between the club and the Behar’s attorney, and it was recommended but not mandated.

After the meeting, the Planning Board decided to hold over the matter, pending the following:

• Receipt and review of additional information including alternatives to the fence –including trees to provide natural screening coupled with a temporary screening structure
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• Scientific data regarding the height of the proposed netting to determine whether or not it would effective
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• Continued communication between the applicants and their neighbors to come to an amicable resolution.

So for now it seem the neighbors were heard, and there is a moratorium on the construction of a 60-foot fence. That means that restrictions on the use of the second hole at Quaker Ridge will remain in place until all parties settle on a screening solution.