Yonkers council approves path for film-and-education campus after heated public comment

The Yonkers City Council on March 11 adopted, as amended, an ordinance creating a special-use permit for a planned film-and-educational development in the MG zoning district, voting 4-2 after more than three hours of public comment and debate. The council amended the ordinance to replace the term “movie theaters” with “screening rooms.”

The amendment establishes a procedure under which projects meeting the new use definition — the ordinance language refers to sites with 25 contiguous acres — may seek a special-use permit from the city. Supporters said the project would create education and job opportunities through a film campus tied to the Robert Halmi school; opponents said the change was broadly written, would allow taller, denser buildings, and that environmental review had been inadequate.

Residents and local physicians recounted concerns about air quality, tree removal, traffic and neighborhood character. “This ordinance allows for a movie theater to be built on this property in a residential neighborhood,” said Eileen O’Connor, who gave her address as 71 Valentine Lane. “We do not want monstrous concrete buildings mar the landscape.”

Several speakers detailed specific concerns about the draft language and its citywide reach. “This ordinance is not site specific. It does not just apply to 501 Hawthorne Avenue. It applies…