Scout Cabin and Bronxville Scouts, corruption plea deal in Cortlandt dumping scheme

The fate of the historic Scout Cabin in Westchester County’s Scout Field Park just became slightly clearer.

My latest Tax Watch column looked at the handshake deal between Westchester and the Scouts over decades, dating back to the 1920s when a fresh-faced teen named John F. Kennedy was a member of Troop 2 and came to meetings in the low-slung building by the Bronx River.

A state appeals court this summer agreed with a lower court ruling that determined that the cabin, built more than 100 years ago by families involved in the Boy Scouts of America, actually belongs to Westchester County.

The Scouts since 2021 have fought to assert their claim that the cabin belonged to them, citing purchase of the land in the 1910s. But Westchester County proved to the court that the county took possession in the 1920s when the land was deeded to Westchester as parkland.

The Scouts have yet to decide whether to seek permission to appeal to the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. Through 2022, the group had spent $166,000 on legal fees, according to federal 990 reports, putting a serious drag on the organization’s endowment.

The appeals panel sent the case back to state Supreme Court to determine exactly what rights the Scouts still retain at the Cabin. After all, they built the place more than a century ago, have maintained it ever since, including a rebuild after a 1988 fire. They’ve done so without a cent of public funding.

Now Westchester County Executive George Latimer wants to open up the facility to both boys and girls involved in scouting, both the Girl Scouts and the newly named Scouting America – the successor to the scandal-plagued Boys Scouts of America.

Cortlandt corruption plea deal

A sordid tale of corruption in the town of Cortlandt turn a dispiriting turn last week, as a former Cortlandt assistant foreman and landscape owner Glenn Griffin pleaded guilty to federal charges involving an illegal dumping scheme on town property.

My colleague Jon Bandler detailed the plea deals in a recent story from U.S. District Court in White Plains.

Griffin, owner of Griffin Landscaping, and Robert Dyckman were involved in an arrangement whereby Dyckman opened up the town’s Arlo Lane Environmental Services site so Griffin could dump there.

The town later paid Griffin to remove the material he’d dropped off.

Griffin also pleaded guilty to a bid-rigging scheme that brought Griffin $130,000 from the Croton Harmon school district and the Verplanck Fire District.

The plea deal reminded me of the times I spent with Griffin from 2016 to 2018 when he sought zoning permission from the village of Buchanan to build housing for seniors on a 7-acre plot of land just north of the northern-most entry to the Indian Point nuclear complex.

He had the backing of affordable housing advocates as well as housing monitor James Johnson, who supported Griffin’s proposed housing development as part of Westchester County’s response to the settlement agreement in its affordable housing case.

While Buchannan finally agreed to zoning for 42 units, the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo declined to award state housing aid to the project, citing its proximity to AAA Carting’s yard for garbage trucks and other industrial sites miles away in Peekskill.

Reach out

I love to hear from readers with feedback or tips on stories to check out. You never know who might reach out. Earlier this month, was happy to hear from someone I'd met 30 years ago when I was covering Westchester County government. That former acquaintance had a good tip that should bear fruit in coming weeks.

You can email me at dwilson3@lohud.com

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Scout Cabin and Bronxville Scouts, corruption plea deal in Cortlandt dumping scheme