Michael P. McKinney

The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The White House north it’s not.

Since becoming president, Donald Trump has spent plenty of time hosting foreign leaders and relaxing at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. The same has not been true for the 213-acre Seven Springs property owned by the Trump Organization in northern Westchester County.

Locals have not only been spared the traffic hassles, Secret Service intrusions and press hordes that follow Trump’s every move, they also no longer have to worry about potential development of much of the pristine wooded property owned by their most prominent neighbor.

Under an agreement between Seven Springs LLC and the non-profit North American Land Trust that was signed in December 2015 and filed with the Westchester County Clerk, Trump has promised not to build anything on 159 acres — almost 75% of the property — by creating a conservation easement.

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The easement “is binding on all future owners of the land,” said Stephen Thor Johnson, the land trust president. As is common with such agreements, he said, Trump retains ownership and the ability to pass the land onto another owner, who would have to adhere to the conservation agreement. The easement does not allow public access to the property.

The agreement means that after floating several development ideas when he first bought the property — including construction of a golf course and different housing plans — Trump has apparently given up on building anything there.

According to the Land Trust Alliance, an umbrella organization for more than 1,000 land trust groups across the country, conservation easements are held by the trust, which makes sure the property is preserved in its natural state. Federal law entitles those who sign conservation easement agreements with the government or agencies such as the North American Land Trust, to claim a charitable tax deduction on their federal income tax return.

Since Trump has not made his tax returns public, it was unclear if the Trump Organization or Seven Springs LLC has received the deduction.

Bedford, North Castle and New Castle all have a property tax stake in the property, which consists of parcels spread across the three towns. Local assessors’ records show that a total of more than $400,000 in town, school and county taxes was paid on the land in 2016.

And while the records show the property is assessed at a total of about $19.6 million estimated market value among the three towns, Trump listed the value at more than $50 million, according to a federal financial disclosure report available at OpenSecrets.org, a site that tracks political spending.

The Trump Organization did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The conservation easement does not include 54 acres occupied by various buildings.

A portion in Bedford includes a stone manor house with marble baths once owned by ketchup maven H.J. Heinz. It includes a separate chapel that, according to a listing by Trump International Realty, can be used as a guest cottage or event venue. The complex can be rented for $10,000 a month, the listing says.

Also not part of the easement is a larger mansion in North Castle where Trump and sons Eric and Donald Jr. spent summers and weekends for a time. That mansion used to be owned by Eugene Meyer, former publisher of The Washington Post. It’s not clear what the house is being used for now.

The conservation easement effectively puts an end to the development talk that began when Trump bought the property for $7.5 million in 1995.

First came plans for an 18-hole luxury golf course next to Byram Lake, which was dropped in 2004 after residents and officials in Mount Kisco complained it could harm the drinking water supply.

A 2004 proposal would have seen construction of 15 luxury homes in North Castle and Bedford, coupled with the sale of the Meyer and Heinz mansions. That also never gained any traction.

In 2008, Trump proposed building seven 15,000- to 20,000-square-foot homes on a Bedford portion of the land, along with a 20-horse stable for residents’ use in what was billed by the Trump Organization as "the most luxurious development in the history of Westchester."

That idea ended with squabbles over the use of a secondary access road and a $300 million lawsuit filed by Trump accusing North Castle officials of delaying his plans. The town eventually struck a settlement deal with Trump to extricate itself from the suit. In 2011, the state Supreme Court ruled that Trump did have a right to use the access road, but Trump never followed through with the housing development.

Along the way, there was a bizarre three-day episode when associates of Moammar Gadhafi rented part of the Bedford property in 2009 and began putting up a Bedouin-style tent, complete with camel-print drapes, for the Libyan strongman to stay in while he was to address the United Nations General Assembly. The tent came down and Gadhafi found other lodgings after the town issued a stop work order, finding that electrical connections and small satellite dishes made it a temporary residence.

These days, things are less chaotic.

During a recent drive by the property, the only traffic to be found was a couple of fishermen enjoying the day on Byram Lake with the Meyer house chimneys towering over the opposite shore.

“It’s been pretty quiet,” said North Castle Supervisor Michael Schiliro. “I don’t know that there’s any plan to develop (Seven Springs) going forward.”

Contributing: Rich Liebson. Follow Michael P. McKinney on Twitter: @mikemckwrite