The plan to build a New York Sports Club fitness center at Rosman Center on Route 202 was supposed to be completed last fall, but no building has been built at the site yet.

Haverstraw town Supervisor Howard Phillips said the town recently issued a stop-work order for the project because the town’s inspector found that the developer was not taking a proper step in digging a drainage trench. The condition was corrected, and the drainage work was completed. But building construction hasn’t started at the site.

The 26,000 square-foot structure would be an energy-efficient building, using environmentally friendly materials, designs and technologies. For instance, the four-lane, 75-foot swimming pool would be heated and cooled by a geothermal system, which uses heat from within the Earth as a source of energy, according to the plan.

County Legislator Ed Day, R-New City, has opted not to challenge County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef for the right to run on the Republican line in the Nov. 3 election.

Vanderhoef still wasn’t saying if he’ll seek reelection to a fifth four-year term when I spoke to him today.

Orangetown town Supervisor Thom Kleiner announced last month that he’ll run on the Democratic line for the county executive’s post.

Day said today that it just wasn’t the right time for a run.

Read his statement, verbatim, below.

Also, we’ll have a full story on Day’s decision in The Journal News and here on LoHud tomorrow, so please check back if you’re interested.

Sophia Salis Kelter, the long time co-host of WRCR Radio’s “The Steve and Sophia Morning Show,” will soon head off to Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc., where she has been hired as a public affairs manager.

Kelter, who goes by Sophia Salis on the show, announced her departure on-air this morning, which brought a number of calls from listeners who wished her well, but were clearly saddened by her exit.

Kelter has served as the station’s program director for the past eight years, according to a news release issued today by O&R’s spokesman, Mike Donovan. She starts April 1, he said.

In her new job, Kelter, who turned 30 Sunday, will help promote “awareness and understanding of Company policies, programs and procedures, both within the Company and its subsidiaries, and among the general public. She also will help to manage the liaison activities between the Company and the community’s public officials,” the news release states.

Kelter attended St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, graduating magna cum laude in 2001 with a B.A. degree in communication arts. She has often participated in charity events and sits on the board of directors of the Mental Health Association of Rockland County.

She and her husband, Jason Kelter, live in Suffern and are expecting their first child.

Her show partner, Steve Possell, said on-air this morning that a new co-host will be announced tomorrow. WRCR, which is based at the Nanuet Mall, is at 1300 on the AM dial.

Salis arrived on the scene shortly after WRKL Radio was sold and began broadcasting in Polish, a situation that left a void for local radio fans who had grown to depend on RKL for everything from news interviews with the county’s wheelers and dealers to top advice from gardening experts.

Over the years, WRCR began to fill that local radio void, with Salis’ morning show serving as a place to catch elected officials offering updates on their efforts and to hear taxpayer and voter concerns, among other topics.

Above, Salis participated in the Stony Point Seals’ annual Polar Plunge on Super Bowl Sunday in 2006, jumping into the freezing Hudson River to help raise funds for charity. Here, she is seen with Mike Lydon of Stony Point. The photo was taken by staffer Kathy Gardner.

Tonight’s zoning board meeting at Town Hall includes requests for variances from municipal codes for two schools, as well as the construction of multifamily housing.

Beginning at 8 p.m., the board will review a proposal by Congregation Mesifta Shraga to build a school, dormitory and staff buildings at the intersection of Camp Hill Road and Old Route 202. The variances requested include building four-story structures, which is not currently permitted, as well as developing 31.6 percent of the land, while only 20 percent development is permitted. It’s also proposed that up to four beds be allowed in each dormitory room, while only two beds are allowed.

• Another school, proposed off Carlton Road about 300 feet from the West Maple Avenue intersection, will also be reviewed. Applicant Isaac Weinberger seeks permission for a school and dormitory for Yeshiva Ziev Hatorah of Monsey. Variances sought would allow parking in the front yard, and permit a smaller than required lot size.

• The board will also be reviewing a proposal for two, three-family semi-attached dwellings, each with an accessory apartment, or a total of 12 residential units, on property off Nesher Court, about 150 feet from the West Central Avenue intersection. The builder, Leah Wagschal, is seeking variances from codes to permit smaller front, side and back yards.

• Variances from town codes will also be sought for two proposed three-family houses on Blauvelt Road, a three-family house with three apartments for a total of six units on Herrick Avenue, for converting a single-family house on Manor Drive to a five-unit building.

Jeannine Rippa with the Rockland County Multi-Faith Coalition, which has been organizing a 40-day round-the-clock anti-abortion vigil in front of Planned Parenthood in Spring Valley, said that the coalition’s signs disappeared from the site this morning.

The group reported the incident to police.

Signs were later found in a dumpster in a nearby parking lot, she said.

Photo above submitted by Jeannine Rippa of New City.

New York state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is scheduled to visit Rockland in an effort to help raise funds for State Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern.

The fundraiser is set for 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. March 29 at Pretty Penny, the historic home of Helen Hayes, who was, and I think still is, considered the First Lady of American Theater. “Younger” folks would best remember Hayes from all the old Love Bug movies. She also played a great stowaway in the original Airport movie.

Anyway, since her death at age 92 exactly 16 years ago today, several new owners are said to have spent considerable money updating the Nyack home. The only drag is that the public can’t enjoy it without a special invite, since a brick wall and trees were put up by one of those owners, Rosie O’Donnell, who needed to beef up her security. While Hayes lived there, it was open for all to see, and each spring, she was fond of inviting the public in to see her roses.

If you want more info about Jaffee’s fundraiser, call Sande Lefkowitz at 845-641-3835.

The Rockland County Legislature will recognize five local artists whose works have been put on permanent display in the Allison-Parris County Office Building during a ceremony tomorrow.

The event will also recognize Avi Nagin, 17, of Pomona, a violinist who has been named concertmaster of the New York State Youth Symphony.

The gathering will mark the new displays of art by photographer Ned Harris, sculptor Eric David Laxman, and painters James Kimak, Eleanor Grace Miller and Michael Iskowitz. Each has art work on exhibit at the Legislature’s offices, including the public waiting room and workers’ offices.

The displays are the result of the county’s “Percent for Art Law,” Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell, D-West Nyack, said. The law was passed by the Legislature in 1986 and incorporates the selection and placement of artwork into construction projects on county government property.  Cornell said the Legislature’s lobby and offices were chosen following the renovation of those spaces, a project undertaken in 2006.

Nagin will perform during the ceremony Wednesday, and Cornell said there would be a short slide show highlighting the various art on view publicly at county-government buildings and property.
Legislators Connie Coker, D-South Nyack, and Ilan Schoenberger, D-Wesley Hills, will present Nagin with the legislature’s distinguished service award.

The public can attend the 6:15 p.m. ceremony.

We’ll have a story on the event with more details about the Percent for Art program in The Journal News and on LoHud.com tomorrow.

Above: Laxman works on a sculpture of welded steel and stone called “Plow” in this 2006 photo by Journal News staffer Mark Vergari.

Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef will deliver his 2009 State of the County report at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the Allison-Parris County Office Building, 11 New Hempstead Road in New City.

In a press release issued today, Vanderhoef’s office said the county executive would announce “several new initiatives concerning property taxes, housing and jobs” during his address.

Vanderhoef, a Republican, is currently in the final year of his fourth four-year term as county executive. He has not yet announced if he will seek a fifth term. Orangetown town Supervisor Thom Kleiner, a Democrat, has declared his candidacy for the office.

Vanderhoef, who earns $$137,765 annually, will deliver his remarks during the start of the County Legislature’s regular meeting.