An area attorney is pushing back against concerns that construction for a children's home would negatively impact those who live nearby.

Mark Weingarten, a White Plains attorney, is discussing the expansion of the Sunshine Children's Home and Rehab Center in Ossining, which cares for critically ill children.

Those who live nearby say they are worried because before work can begin, crews need to blast a mountain of rock, and that vibrations could disturb nearby abandoned silver mines. They say the disturbance could release harmful chemicals into thousands of people's water supplies.

"The Planning Board that had certain permitting requirements required our client to spend tens of thousands of dollars on an electrical resistivity study, where we would map the locations of the mines and find out exactly where they were," says Weingarten.

According to the study, experts used instruments in three different places to determine the distance between the blast zone and nearby mines. They found that the vibrations from the blast will likely not exceed 100 feet, meaning the mines are out of reach.

"Blasting is a very safe thing. This is utilized in most of Westchester County because of the amount of rock that occurs in the ground," says Weingarten.

Weingarten says their 2.5-year environmental review was approved by the Department of Health and New York Supreme Court. He supplied News 12 with documents that show three separate environmental consulting agencies that agreed the project is safe.