Grass height gets its moment in the sun at R.B. Board meeting

Five holes of the now-defunct Arrowwood Golf Course run through Rye Brook’s Doral Greens, and its residents and homeowners association (DGHOA) haven’t forgotten the last two years of erratically cut grass by the property’s then owners, the Kaskell/Schragis/Heller family.

There was a rise in spring hay fever, rodents, and other miseries as the course returned to its natural state with the grass in some areas reaching the knees of those inclined to walk the former fairways.

As the public discovered at a Rye Brook Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 14, a change in the New York State Building Code in 2021 allowed municipalities to enact local laws to enforce more stringent grass height for vacant properties than the 10 inches in the state code.

So, in advance of the Spring 2023 growing season, the DGHOA requested that the Village of Rye Brook enact a new grass height code requiring the now owner of the property, billionaire Charles Cohen and his Cohen Purchase Building Company, to cut the grass whenever it reaches more than six inches.

Paul Noto, chair of the DGHOA Real Estate Committee, said it was important that the Village put on the record that it takes the health of its residents seriously and requiring the grass not be allowed to grow more than six inches tall would be a good message for the Board to send to the public and the entire community.

Representing Cohen, attorney Brad K. Schwartz, a partner with Zarin and Steinmetz, LLC in White Plains, said Cohen’s approach to managing the property even at this early stage was far different from that of the previous owners.

Village Administrator Chris Bradbury suggested that rather than enact a new local law, “it would be more effective and efficient” if both the DGHOA and Cohen could reach a signed agreement with the Village on grass height.

“We’re good with that,” said Noto, and Schwartz said his client was, too.