New Rochelle Residents Express Concern about Development at the Golden Horseshoe at Scarsdale BOT Meeting

Mayor Miriam Flisser opened the January 10th Scarsdale Village Board of Trustees meeting with updates on the Village revaluation and stormwater management and then invited public comment from two New Rochelle residents who are concerned about development plans for the Golden Horseshoe,

Flisser reported that the Village is reviewing proposals from two companies to conduct the Village-wide revaluation. Both proposals are now under consideration and one or both firms may meet with Village staff to discuss their proposals. In addition, proposals from two software companies are now being considered to create a software bridge to allow the Village to accept property valuation data from an offsite system and integrate this data into Scarsdale’s system.

Flisser also reported that Village Manager Al Gatta has been appointed to the Westchester County Stormwater Advisory Board which was created by the Westchester County Board of Legislators and approved by the County Executive in February, 2011. The Stormwater Advisory Board advises the County Commissioners of Planning, Public Works, Transportation, County Executive and the County Board of Legislators on the establishment of a stormwater management plan for the lower Westchester Long Island Sound Watershed Basin. This plan will lead to County funding for watershed projects in the 11 member municipalities.

In the public comments portion of the meeting, Neil Tucker of 8 Seneca Road asked for an update on plans for Sheldrake River flooding remediation. Deputy Village Manager Steve Pappalardo reported that a meeting was planned with the consultant this week. He has been walking the area in search of suitable sites to create water detention basins and will confer with the Village this week. Tucker also asked how residents could receive regular updates on the planning and Miriam Flisser requested that the neighborhood association designate a contact to liaise with the Village.

Also at the meeting, the Board approved a service agreement with Dolph Rotfeld Engineering to evaluate the Village’s sanitary sewer lines and investigate the causes of sewage surcharges during heavy rainfalls. The company will perform dye or smoke testing on home sewer lines to identify illicit storm water connections and locate and eliminate sources of stormwater sanitary inflow and infiltration into the County’s Trunk Sewer Line. The cost for the work is $15,000

Development at the Golden Horseshoe:

Two New Rochelle residents, Alan Inman and Gary Frebeyer came before the Board to discuss plans to build a new 10,000 square foot retail building in the parking lot of the Golden Horseshoe Shopping Center along Wilmot Road. The shopping center straddles the line between New Rochelle and Scarsdale and therefore components of the plan need to comply with Scarsdale and New Rochelle code and gain approval from both jurisdictions.

Inman expressed concern about unfiltered contaminants that flow from the shopping center into storm drains and spill into the Sheldrake River. He claims that contaminants have been flowing into the system for years and that the shopping center was cited for sanitary code violations several times in the fall of 2011. The storm sewer line was scanned with cameras on December 14, 2011 but the results of the testing have not been provided to the New Rochelle Building Department. Inman believes that the oil/water separator that is planned for the new construction is inadequate. Instead he advocated for a Bio-Retention Filterra system that can handles torrential rains and overflows and would be monitored by the company that does the installation, rather than by the management of the shopping center. Inman appealed to Scarsdale neighbors to get involved to create a positive impact and asked the management of the Golden Horseshoe to be a more responsible neighbor.

Gary Frebeyer of Plymouth Drive in Wilmot Wood also objected to plans for the development on the grounds that many of the parking spots in the complex would be in the back, rather than in the front due to the construction of the new building. According to his calculations 45% of the spots will be in the back of the shopping center which will be inconvenient for shoppers and cause many to circle the lot seeking a spot in the front. He asked that Scarsdale require the management to require more parking spots in the front before approving the project.