Scarsdale to Study Affordable Housing

To date, Westchester County has submitted three implementation plans to a Federal Monitor in response to the settlement of a 2009 lawsuit filed by the Anti-Discrimination Center of New York. The settlement requires Westchester County to spend $51.6 million to build 750 units of affordable housing by 2016.

Where does this stand? The first two implementation plans were rejected by the Federal Monitor, and there is no word yet about the third plan that was submitted in August, 2010. However, even though the County has no implementation plan in place, the clock is still ticking on the timeline to build the housing.

By the end of 2011, financing needs to be in place for the first 100 units of housing so several municipalities are already submitting proposals to the County to help meet this deadline. If the Monitor finds that the County has failed to act, the Monitor can hold the County in contempt and assess penalties.

At a joint meeting of the Scarsdale Trustees Law and Land Use Committees on October 5th, the Trustees discussed Scarsdale’s role in the settlement and how we could be pro-active and demonstrate a willingness to cooperate.

Scarsdale Mayor Carolyn Stevens recently attended a four-day course on Affordable Housing offered for municipal leaders at Pace Law School and shared the following information:

• The County does not intend to challenge local zoning codes but is asking municipalities to adopt a model zoning code drafted by the County
• There are no quotas for the number of units in each community but the County is asking local municipalities to look for creative solutions to help reach the required 750 units.
• Currently there are plans to build 115 units of assisted living housing on Saxon Woods Road. Depending on the rules from four to twenty-three of those units could count as affordable housing.
• Briarcliff, Rye and Lewisboro are already moving forward with affordable housing proposals. Given that 1,200 units of affordable housing were built in Westchester County in the last ten years, she suggested that 750 units in the next six years was not an unreasonable demand.

Trustee Richard Toder acknowledged that without an implementation plan there is a great deal of uncertainty about how to proceed and much is not clear. However, he warned that the Federal Monitor could lose patience with the County’s delays and that it is within the Monitor’s authority to enforce consequences and seek penalties. If the Monitor is unable to collect from the County, it is conceivable that he could move to the municipalities. Saying that “we should be ahead of the truck, rather than under it,” he proposed that the Village staff study the issue and the adoption of the model ordinance and investigate available sites in Scarsdale consistent with transportation needs for the residents.

Stevens added that there may be opportunities on Garth Road above commercial space for affordable housing and agreed that Village staff should study the issue.

Trustees Eisenman and Steves both agreed that Scarsdale should be ahead of the curve though Trustee Flisser asked that the study not identify potential sites.

Ultimately the committee voted to have the staff review the model zoning code suggested by the County to determine how it fits with Scarsdale code and the potential impact of amending our zoning code.

The issue was also discussed at a meeting of the Scarsdale Forum the following night, Thursday October 6, and below are Mayor Steven’s remarks:

The Village Board is also taking a look and making some determinations on what we need to do and should do under the County’s settlement agreement on Affordable Housing. Unfortunately at present there is not an implementation plan that has been accepted by the Monitor appointed by the Court to oversee the agreement. The County submitted its third version of the implementation plan on August 9th…this has not been accepted or rejected by the monitor. Over the last year I have attended a four day course for community leaders at Pace Law School specifically dealing with the settlement and the implementation plan as well as four shorter sessions of elected officials to get a handle on what the plan requires of the various communities and to gain some insight into this issue as well as looking at some creative approaches to the issue. The Village Board, through a combined committee of the Law and Land Use Committees met to begin our discussions of what we as a Village can reasonably do to help the County meet its obligations under the agreement. The fallout from the County failing to meet its obligations under the agreement could well be financially onerous and result in other consequences that would not benefit any community in the County. It is incumbent upon this community along with all the other communities in the County to determine what we can reasonably do to assist the County in meeting its obligations. The lack of an implementation plan makes some of this difficult…as was stated last night we don’t want to get too far ahead of the bus but we don’t want to wind up under the bus. The Village Board last night determined that we look at the model code provision that the County is putting forth to determine what, if any impact, it would have on this community and our own zoning code. We asked staff to review the proposed code and report back to us in two months. We will be continuing the discussion to determine what should be the next step in stepping up to help the County meet its obligations. Whether one thinks that settlement was a good idea or not is no longer the issue – the issue is what are we as citizens of the County as well as Scarsdale going to do to resolve the issues raised in the agreement.