Village to Reduce Speed Limit, Curb Stormwater and Permit Videoconferencing

The Scarsdale Board of Trustees moved forward on a series of resolutions to address environmental and safety issues at their meeting on October 25, 2022. They also held a public hearing on a resolution to allow participation in Village meetings via video conferencing.

Pesticide Ban

For the environment, the village will ban the use of pesticides on all village property and use organics instead. In fact, the Department of Public Works has not used pesticides for the last five years. But this resolution will codify that policy. A public hearing on the code changes was set for November 7, 2022.

Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act

The Board of Trustees voted to support the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act that will appear on voters ballots for the November 8 election. Note, to vote on this resolution, you will need to turn over your ballot as it appears on the reverse side. Voicing her support for the measure, Mayor Veron said, “We are also introducing legislation to support the Clean Water, Clean Air, Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022. It has been over two decades since the last environmental bond act was passed in New York, yet our state, county and local governments must make significantly more investments to address climate change imperatives.” Calling in during public comments, Michelle Sterling also advocated for the Bond Act, saying, “vote for the environmental bond act that will fund needed changes to preserve our air and water quality.”

Public Hearings were called for two measures for stormwater management.

The first addresses grading around the property perimeter. According to the new law, altering or modifying any grades within “any portion of land that falls within the side yard and a 25 foot rear yard zoning setback from the boundary line perimeter of a parcel as determined by a licensed land surveyor,” is restricted.

This new code should prevent grading changes during construction which change drainage patters and cause water to flood adjacent properties.

The second resolution pertains to lot area coverage and impervious surfaces. According to the Village Planner, "This is code cleanup language to clarify the existing practice where impervious surfaces (e.g. driveways) and structures (e.g. tennis courts and swimming pools) can be swapped for other impervious surfaces (e.g. well-draining gravel) provided there is no increase in the size of the non-conformity. The language is currently located in an incorrect subsection of the code and the wording is not very clear. This would create a new subsection of code and clarify what is allowed to be swapped.

Note that the proposed changes to the definition of impervious surface will also mean that when swapping occurs the applicants must demonstrate a higher level of absorption than they do now. Also note many of the types of surfaces that would be considered pervious in the zoning code may still be considered impervious surfaces in stormwater code and therefore will usually still need to be captured by stormwater systems and considered in the stormwater modeling, resulting in improved conditions (this is the purpose of the last sentence in the new subsection)."

These matters will be referred to the Planning Board and public hearings on both measures will be held on December 13, 2022.

25 MPG Speed Limit

In terms of Public Safety, trustees scheduled a public hearing for Monday November 7 on a law to reduce the speed limit in the Village of Scarsdale to 25 MPH. Explaining the rationale behind this change, Mayor Jane Veron said, “We have been advocating for this change at the state level for several years, and we were thrilled that our own Assemblymember Paulin and our Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins affected the change in Albany this year. A five mph speed limit reduction significantly reduces fatalities and severe injury. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s analysis of pedestrian-involved accidents, the risk of fatality was approximately 3.26 times higher with a 30 mph posted speed limit than a 25 mph speed limit. Similarly, the risk of debilitating injury was approximately 1.28 times higher with a 30 mph posted speed limit than a 25 mph speed limit. After extensive analysis that included an examination of crash and speed survey data, characteristics of the land environment, roadway functions, frequency and nature of side roads and driveways, and roadway geometry, our Department of Public Works recommends that the Village-wide speed limit be reduced to 25 mph. The two exceptions are Mamaroneck Road and Griffen Avenue. According to DPW, the Mamaroneck Road function and available sight distance at driveways and intersections warrant the existing speed limit be maintained. Griffen Avenue is partially under the jurisdiction of the Town of Mamaroneck and for consistency purposes, both directions should carry the same speed limit.

The 25 mph speed limit pertains to Village streets, but not the following state and county roads that run through Scarsdale.

-The Hutchinson River Parkway
-The Bronx River Parkway
-Post Road (Route 22)
-Weaver Street
-Palmer Avenue
-Heathcote Bypass

Videoconferencing

A Public Hearing was held on a code revision that will permit videoconferencing for the Board of Trustees and other village committees that are subject to the NYS Open Meetings law. Under the new law, “Members of public bodies may participate in meeting via videoconference from locations not accessible to the public so long as a quorum of the public body participates from location where the public may be physically present.”

For example, “A 5-person board may conduct a public meeting where 2 members attend the meeting from Rutherford Hall and 1 member attends by videoconference from a physical location that is open to the public, and such location has been identified in the meeting notice. In that event, the 2 remaining board members could attend by videoconference from locations that are not open to the public.”

Public Safety

During trustee liaison reports, Trustee Jonathan Lewis reported on his meeting with the school district safety committee. He said, “On October 13, I attended the Scarsdale School District - District Safety Team Meeting. Chaired by Eric Rauschenbach, Assistant Superintendent for Special Education and Student Services, this meeting was very thorough, informative, and highlighted the good work Eric Rauschenbach and Mike Spedaliere, the district’s safety consultant from Altaris, are accomplishing in their respective roles. The agenda was thoughtful and Eric's management of the meeting demonstrated it is possible to discuss sensitive matters of public safety in a community forum and achieve important community goals without compromising security objectives.

One of the important objectives of the public safety pillar is breaking down silos and creating jointness between Police, Fire, and Ambulance services, as well as creating greater jointness and collaboration between the village and the school district on matters of public safety. While much has been accomplished by the village and school district in collaboration on safety this past year, including the joint work on a memorandum of understanding that facilitates greater collaboration, work remains. Ensuring we complete the work of putting in place a 21st century governance structure for school safety that achieves jointness between the village and the school district - two independent governments, with their own budgets, operating under different legal frameworks (municipal vs. education law), is an important next step as we seek to evolve local government beyond traditional 20th century structures and practices, to governance structures designed to meet the specific challenges and threats of the 21st century.

To that end, I will be attending a Regional School Safety Symposium in early November organized by PACS (Police Allied with Communities and Schools). There will be presentations by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Westchester DA’s office related to improving school safety, and well as presentations on how to leverage technology to improve safety. I will report back the community on this subject at a subsequent meeting in November.”

Gas Leaf Blowers

Village Manager Rob Cole reminded residents that use of gas powered leaf blowers is banned from Saturday through Monday, though electric powered leaf blowers are permitted.

Mayor's Comments

Here are Mayor Jane Veron's opening comments:

"Good evening, Scarsdale. I hope you are enjoying the beautiful fall colors. Huge thanks to our recreation department for hosting our traditional autumn and Halloween festivities. These are Village highlights that create lasting memories.

We have items of note tonight in two Pillars of government: Infrastructure, Municipal Services and Sustainability as well as Public Safety.

In the Infrastructure, Municipal Services, and Sustainability pillar

Scarsdale residents have embraced a plethora of sustainability measures, and we are proud that we regularly adopt new practices to protect our environment. As an example, we have been innovators in waste management with our signature food scrap recycling program as well as the recycling of textiles, plastic, cork, books, cooking oil and now a brand new paint recycling program. We are grateful to our Conservation Advisory Council and Department of Public Works; it is their partnership that drives so many of these positive changes. Thanks, too, to the Scarsdale Forum Sustainability Committee for their advocacy.

Tonight, we are calling for a public hearing to make permanent a five year old effort to eliminate pesticide use from Village properties. Since 2017, the Village has used organic maintenance methods rather than pesticides on all Village-owned land. We are seeking to codify that change. We are also introducing legislation to support the Clean Water, Clean Air, Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022. It has been over two decades since the last environmental bond act was passed in New York, yet our state, county and local governments must make significantly more investments to address climate change imperatives. In Scarsdale, we have already begun the process, but so much more needs to be done.

In the Public Safety pillar, we have been working diligently on two items, one that we are advancing this evening and another to be introduced later this year. Tonight’s item is the beginning of the process to reduce the Village-wide speed limit from 30 to 25 mph. We have been advocating for this change at the state level for several years, and we were thrilled that our own Assemblymember Paulin and our Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins affected the change in Albany this year. A five mph speed limit reduction significantly reduces fatalities and severe injury. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s analysis of pedestrian-involved accidents, the risk of fatality was approximately 3.26 times higher with a 30 mph posted speed limit than a 25 mph speed limit. Similarly, the risk of debilitating injury was approximately 1.28 times higher with a 30 mph posted speed limit than a 25 mph speed limit. After extensive analysis that included an examination of crash and speed survey data, characteristics of the land environment, roadway functions, frequency and nature of side roads and driveways, and roadway geometry, our Department of Public Works recommends that the Village-wide speed limit be reduced to 25 mph. The two exceptions are Mamaroneck Road and Griffen Avenue. According to DPW, the Mamaroneck Road function and available sight distance at driveways and intersections warrant the existing speed limit be maintained. Griffen Avenue is partially under the jurisdiction of the Town of Mamaroneck and for consistency purposes, both directions should carry the same speed limit. In addition, Scarsdale does not have the authority to set the speed limit on state and County roads so the Post Road, Weaver Street, Palmer Avenue and the Heathcote Bypass will remain at their current speed limits. We will be holding a public hearing on this matter on November 7. Please note our Village Board meeting was moved to Monday as Village Hall is closed on November 8 for Election Day.

As I mentioned earlier, we are also working diligently to advance a second public safety matter, closing our telecom gaps. We know that many residents struggle to get cell service in many areas throughout Scarsdale, and we are addressing this public safety concern. Representatives from our Technology Advisory Council along with Trustee liaison Ahuja and Assistant to the Village Manager Thomas Morzello as well as Infrastructure, Municipal Services, and Sustainability Pillar Chair Deputy Mayor Whitestone have been doing a tremendous amount of legwork to pull together materials for a work session. This matter is of priority importance, and we expect to schedule a work session before year end.

And my last update - earlier this evening, FHI consultants provided a path forward for moving from our first phase of our Mobility and Placemaking study to our second phase. Our priorities remain the same: safety first, and then we will begin to tackle other recommendations. We plan to employ tactical urbanism, a fancy way of saying piloting changes without making them permanent, to see how our residents react to the suggested changes. The conceptual plans that FHI provided are merely just that - ideas for an end point for us. Whatever is done in Scarsdale will embody the Scarsdale aesthetic. We look forward to your active participation as we roll out tests throughout the upcoming year."

See the resolutions here: