By Jann Mirchandani Democratic candidate for Yorktown Supervisor
The most basic responsibility of town government is to keep our roads, parks, and intersections safe for the people who live here. That means walking through Yorktown with an eye for what could go wrong: a park without a safe water source, a road too narrow for emergency vehicles to pass, an intersection a firetruck can’t turn through. It means being proactive and fixing potential dangers before someone gets hurt, not after.
Granite Knolls: left without the basics
Granite Knolls is one of the most heavily-used parks in Yorktown. It is 15 acres of ball fields, pickleball courts, an inclusive playground, and a walking path. What you won’t find, however, is a single water fountain anywhere on the property.
During increasingly frequent heat waves with temperatures regularly reaching triple digits for prolonged periods, residents lack easy access to water and return to unshaded cars. According to the National Weather Service, a car’s interior surfaces, dashboards, seats, and steering wheels can reach 180 degrees or more on a hot day, and interior air temperatures can climb well past 140 degrees within an hour.
There was an effort at one point to add a solar canopy over the parking lot, which would have provided both shade and power. When the project ran into a contractor issue, the Supervisor was asked whether it would move forward with another vendor. His response was that the board was left with a bad taste in their mouths and had no interest in continuing. He went on to adopt the position of a former supervisor, saying he didn’t like the way it looked Given that most of the board has already been vocal in its opposition to ground-mounted solar, this did not come as a surprise. That’s not leadership. That’s letting personal gripes supersede their duty to the town.
A lack of either a drinking fountain or refill station at an outdoor sports complex, with an unshaded and soon-to-be blacktopped parking lot, is a significant hazard.
We are investing money into a new sand volleyball court, which will be a wonderful addition to the facilities. Responsible risk management should dictate that we also invest in water stations and solar canopies or trees to reduce the risk of heat sickness to patrons.
Underhill Farms: developers first, residents second
The intersection at Underhill Ave. and Rt. 118 has its own problems. The lanes are too narrow for firetrucks, buses, and commercial delivery trucks to make a right-hand turn onto Underhill Ave from Rt 118, and vehicles waiting there have nowhere to go to give oversized vehicles the room they need. For emergency vehicles, every minute lost is a minute that matters.
The building height at Underhill Farms raises its own concern. Beyond the challenge of safely evacuating any building during a fire, the town doesn’t have a bucket truck that can reach the top floors. If there’s ever a fire or emergency on the top floor, residents may have to evacuate down a ladder raised to roughly 40 feet.
The developer got the overlay zoning they needed to build at a higher density, and part of the justification for that change was improved walkability for the surrounding neighborhood. Crosswalks at the intersection were included in the approved plan for exactly that reason. The project is now built and occupied, but two of those crosswalks have left out of the “improved” intersection.
Par 3: an entrance that doesn’t work
The Par 3 golf course opened to much fanfare, and it shows: drive by most evenings and you’ll find a full parking lot with cars spilling onto the narrow service road, leaving inadequate access for emergency vehicles. It’s great to have such a popular destination in town, but popularity without planning has a cost. When you focus on economic development without proactively upgrading infrastructure, you leave residents in a dangerous spot.
The pattern here starts at the top
Taken together, these oversights point to something bigger: a lack of leadership willing to make protecting residents the standard, not an afterthought. Missing crosswalks at Underhill Farms that were part of the approved plan. A scrapped canopy at Granite Knolls. An intersection that can’t handle emergency vehicles and buses. These aren’t accidents. They’re what happens when the person in charge won’t make accountability and infrastructure the baseline for every decision, and everyone below follows suit.
Yorktown residents deserve a town government that treats roads, water, and emergency access as the baseline, not an afterthought. That starts with a Supervisor who puts community first.