Four and a half years ago, after nearly a year of looking into the matter and after several months of speaking with residents throughout Edgemont, a four-member subcommittee of the Edgemont Community Council issued a detailed written report recommending that Edgemont incorporate itself to become Greenburgh’s seventh village.
The ECC thanked the subcommittee for its work, posted its report on the ECC website (along with the 2005 Edgemont Village Exploratory Committee or EVEC report, which had already been posted) and recommended that, consistent with the report’s recommendation, if any residents of Edgemont were interested in pursuing incorporation, they should do so.
The ECC also made clear at that time, also consistent with the report’s recommendations, that any further efforts in that regard would have to be undertaken outside of the ECC, so that the ECC could remain neutral on the question.
The ECC further agreed that if those favoring incorporation were successful in bringing the matter to a vote, the ECC would then, and only then, consistent with its policy of neutrality, hold public forums to allow for a full and complete airing of the issues.
The ECC’s position, and the reasons for it, were reflected in a formal resolution adopted January 9 2012. That resolution, which has been posted ever since on the ECC’s website, remains ECC policy today.
An effort is now underway to gather signatures to put the issue of Edgemont’s incorporation to a vote. Some present and former members of the ECC are among those supporting the effort, but the ECC itself has not and will not take a position.
The current effort to gather signatures may or may not succeed. If it does succeed, in accordance with the policy we adopted in 2012, the ECC will schedule one or more public forums on the matter.
In the meantime, those who favor incorporation are free to exercise their rights to persuade residents to sign their petition to give Edgemont residents a choice in the matter; and those opposed to the idea are free to exercise their own rights to try to persuade residents that the matter should not be put to a vote.