Planning Board Upholds Recommendation on Gravel Surfaces
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An appeal to the gravel surfaces moratorium from homeowner's on Cushman Road will not change the Scarsdale Planning Board's recommendation to pass new village code regarding the use of gravel surfaces to meet lot coverage requirements.
The Planning Board has issued their report to the Scarsdale Board of Trustees about an appeal to the newly imposed moratorium on gravel surfaces from the owners of a home under construction at 45 Cushman Road. The BOT asked the Planning Board to consider how the homeowner's case could affect a proposed new law to make the moratorium permanent, and its consistency with Scarsdale's Comprehensive Plan.
The owner's of 45 Cushman were in the process of building a new home on the 1.5 acre lot when the gravel moratorium was imposed in February, 2015. Though they had approval for the house, they had not yet filed plans to build a pool, sports court, terraces and a circular driveway. Once the moratorium was imposed, the size of the circular driveway put the project above the maximum lot coverage requirements, limiting them to the use of a single ribbon driveway rather than a circular gravel drive.
In their recommendation to the Board of Trustees dated August 25, the Planning Board said that due to the unique circumstances, timing and nature of the project, the homeowners should file for a variance for the driveway with the Board of Appeals. However, the Planning Board found that the project does exceed recommended lot coverage and therefore would not change their recommendation to change village zoning code to make the moratorium into permanent law.
The Board found that use of circular gravel driveways is "in keeping with the neighborhood's character," but that "the additional lot coverage and increased residential density is inconsistent with the goals regarding the preservation of open space."
Here is the complete text of their recommendation:
To: Mayor Mark and the Village Board of Trustees From: Dan Hochvert, Chair, and Planning Board Members Date: 8/25/2015
Re: Report regarding the appeal, filed by 45 Cushman LLC for relief from the moratorium involving gravel surfaces
________________________________________________________________
In accordance with Local Laws # 2 and # 7 of 2015, the Planning Board, at its August 12, 2015 meeting, considered the appeal from 45 Cushman LLC for relief from the moratorium on certain projects involving gravel surfaces in order to construct a circular gravel driveway and made the report, attached.
In sum, the Planning Board found the appeal was inconsistent with the Planning Board's recommended amendment to the zoning code. The Board also found there were unique circumstances with the timing and nature of the application; however the Board agreed a better avenue for the applicant would be to file for a variance from the Board of Appeals should the zoning code be amended.
The Planning Board also reviewed the appeal in the context of the Village Comprehensive Plan and found that the proposed circular gravel driveway would be in keeping with the character of the neighborhood, consistent with the Comprehensive Plan's goal to preserve the existing neighborhood character; however the excess residential development and coverage would be inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan's goal to preserve open space.
Village of Scarsdale
CASE #14 OF 2015
1. Report to the Village Board regarding the appeal, filed by 45 Cushman Road LLC, for relief from the moratorium on certain applications involving gravel surfaces in order to construct a gravel driveway at 45 Cushman Road; Sec. 16, Blk. 1, Lot 4
The Planning Board, at its regular meeting of August 12, 2015, discussed the appeal, filed by 45 Cushman Road LLC, for relief from the moratorium on certain applications involving gravel surfaces in order to construct a gravel driveway at 45 Cushman Road, and upon motion and duly made and seconded, adopted the following unanimously:
Background
Moratorium
The Village Board adopted a moratorium on certain applications to the land use boards and the buildings and engineering departments that involve gravel surfaces on February 10, 2015 and recently extended it until October 30, 2015. The moratorium was adopted to allow the Village time to study the issue of lot coverage and the treatment of gravel surfaces for zoning purposes. The Planning Board, with the assistance of Frederick P. Clark Associates, completed the study in June 2015 and made a recommendation to the Village Board to amend the Village zoning code to include gravel surfaces as lot coverage. A Public Hearing on the proposed amendment is scheduled for September 21, 2015.
Subject Property
45 Cushman Road, in the A-1 (1 acre) single family zoning district, is shown in the Assessor's records as 1.5 acres and was improved with a house built in 1906. The Committee for Historic Preservation found that the house had no historic significance in May 2013. The building permit for the new house was issued in June 2014 and is currently under construction. The property is located in a Sensitive Drainage Area pursuant to Chapter 254 of the Village Code.
The Board of Appeals approved special use permits for the construction of a swimming pool and sports court at the June 10, 2015 meeting. The approved plans conformed to the lot coverage requirements and show a "ribbon" driveway; namely two parallel strips running from the street to the garage.
The appeal, dated July 29, 2015, states the development plan for the property always included the house, terraces, a swimming pool, pool cabana, sports court and a circular gravel driveway. The applicant was planning to file for the special use permits for the swimming pool and sports court in February 2015 when the moratorium was adopted. The project included a gravel circular driveway which, if it were counted as lot coverage, would have exceeded the maximum permitted lot coverage.
Regulations
Local Law #2 of 2105, and Local Law # 7 of 2015, which extended the moratorium on certain applications with gravel surfaces, include an appeal provision and requires the Planning Board to report on "the effect that the prospective variance or modification would have on any proposed zoning amendment and/or the Village's Comprehensive Plan." The law gives the Planning Board 30 days to make its recommendation.
Findings
Potential effect on the proposed zoning amendment
The Planning Board discussed the application's effect on their recommendation to amend the zoning code to include gravel surfaces as lot coverage. The Board found that the appeal to construct a gravel driveway that would exceed the maximum permitted lot coverage is inconsistent with the Planning Board's recommended amendment to the Village Code. The Planning Board would not alter its recommendation as a result of this appeal.
The Planning Board also recognized that the application is unique given the temporal or timing issues described by the applicant, as well as the forethought and planning that had gone into the site's development. Based on those unique circumstances, the Board felt a more appropriate avenue for the applicant to pursue would be a variance request to the Board of Appeals, should the Village Board amend the zoning code. This is consistent with the Planning Board's recommendation that variance requests could be a likely consequence of any zoning code amendment.
Consistency with the 1994 Comprehensive Plan
The Planning Board also considered the appeal and its impact or consistency with the 1994 Comprehensive Plan. The Board found proposed circular driveway is in keeping with the neighborhood's character where some neighboring properties have gravel circular driveways, swimming pools and tennis and/or sports courts. This is consistent with one of the goals of the Comprehensive Plan, namely to preserve the villages' existing architectural character. However, the additional lot coverage and increased residential density is inconsistent with the goals regarding the preservation of open space on single family residential parcels.
It should be noted in reviewing the 1994 Comprehensive Plan, the issue of lot coverage was one of the concerns raised during the public participation process at that time. The village tightened the lot coverage regulations in 1991; however there was still a concern that "new construction and additions are creating homes too large in proportion to their lots and surrounding context". The Comprehensive Plan specifically recommended further analysis of lot coverage and pervious and impervious surfaces.
Free Independent Films - Now Available Through Library Website
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The Scarsdale Public Library now offers IndieFlix, a new streaming movie service that provides unlimited access to more than 7,000 independent films. Included are award-winning shorts, feature films, and documentaries from more than 50 countries that were shown at such film festivals as Sundance, Cannes and Tribeca.
The films are sorted by language, genre, or film length with easy-to-use filters. They can be watched on any Internet-enabled computer, smartphone, or tablet with a web browser. Also available on Roku, xBox, and Apple TV via Apple devices.
IndieFlix can be accessed through the library website, www.scarsdalelibrary.org, by clicking on "e-library" on the left and then clicking on "Listen & Read."
Mayor Reviews Sewage Treatment, Lead Abatement and the Tax Cap
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Scarsdale Mayor Jon Mark discussed three issues that the Village will address in the coming months at a summer meeting of the Village Board on August 11.
The first involves a Westchester County Consent decree from the Department of Environmental Conservation regarding the release of untreated sewage into Long Island Sound. The DEC has found that at times the amount of untreated sewage released into Long Island Sound from Westchester County exceeds legal limits and has ordered the County to perform a study to determine what work needs to be done to remediate the situation. The sewer evaluation study (SSES) will determine problems and identify repairs to solve these problems. In addition, they have ordered that retention facilities for untreated sewage in New Rochelle be closed.
According to Mayor Jon Mark, the County undertook negotiations with the DEC and failed to appraise or involve the 10 municipalities affected. In June 2015, the County demanded that the 10 municipalities accept the terms of their negotiations with the DEC, authorizing penalties of $25,000 to $200,000 per day for the release of excess sewage --with costs to be born by the municipalities, rather than the County. In response, the municipalities set up a meeting to review the terms of the agreement on August 13th. Mark contends that since the County is party to the DEC order, these fees should be paid from sanitary sewer district fees collected by the County.
A precedent was set fifteen years ago when similar work was done and paid for by sewer district taxes Mark called this a "regional issue," and said that either way residents will end up bearing the cost of the remediation through higher fees to the County or to the Village.
He also said that several NYS grants might be available to pay for the work, but cautioned that for a variety of reasons Scarsdale may not be eligible.
Lead and Asbestos Abatement
Mark then addressed concerns about lead and asbestos abatement raised at Village Board meetings by resident Phyllis Finkelstein and addressed in the Scarsdale Inquirer on August 7th. Finkelstein was concerned that the Village failed to monitor lead and asbestos levels when an older home at 5 Dobbs Terrace was being renovated, endangering neighbors and their property.
Responding to calls for stricter enforcement and new village code regarding lead and asbestos Mark said that the Village is engaged in a balancing act between providing services and allocating resources to meet these services. He noted that the removal of lead and asbestos is regulated by state and federal agencies. Mark said that the Village could adopt additional regulations to regulate removal, but said that the Village does not have the resources to enforce the code. He said, "Staffing and budgetary priorities are identified during the budget process. While the Village may do more on this topic, there are other issues that have greater impact on Village residents as a whole."
Commenting on the issue, Trustee Bill Stern said, "If you think you have been affected by lead from a teardown, go have your blood tested for lead – that's the way to see if you have been harmed."
Last, Mark alerted residents that the 2% tax cap will actually be even lower this year. The cap is adjusted based on inflation rates, and the Village recently learned from the NYS Comptrollers office, that the adjusted rate is expected to be around .73% - less than 1% -- for the 2015-16 budget year. He warned that the trustees may need to vote to override the tax cap to continue to maintain services in Scarsdale.
Other Village business included the following:
The Board of Trustees accepted a gift of $85,000 from the Friends of the Scarsdale Library for implementation of the library master plan improvement project. The Library Board recently retained Plan A Advisors to undertake a capital campaign to raise funds for the estimated $12 million improvement plan for the Scarsdale Library.
Trustees accepted a gift of $500 from the family of Arthur Manor resident Anthony J. Boggi for a bench to commemorate Boggi who was an auto mechanic for the Department of Public Works, a volunteer firefighter and a resident of Scarsdale Village for 68 years. He passed away on May 23, 2014.
A public hearing was scheduled for September 21, 2015 to consider the repeal of the Lot Area Coverage portion of the Village Code.
More Thoughts on Gravel Surfaces
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The Scarsdale Board of Trustees is now considering changing village code to count gravel surfaces in the calculation of lot coverage. Currently gravel driveways are considered "pervious" ... and with this change, gravel would be treated as "impervious," similarly to asphalt. We spoke to Scarsdale architect Bart Hamlin about the proposed change and here is what he shared.
Do you think this moratorium has had an effect on building projects? Renovations? Demolitions?
In answer to your immediate question - Yes, I am sure this change of requiring gravel to be counted as lot coverage will have an impact on some projects. If there is a great deal of lot coverage from walks, patios and driveway - this may actually limit your building coverage to less than allowable building coverage. In this case, not counting some of the driveway coverage because it is converted to gravel will allow you to increase your building coverage. This fact may be enough to make a renovation/addition project worthwhile. To cite a typically situation, older houses do no have family rooms. These houses often do have driveways that go to the back of the property (resulting in more lot coverage). Converting some of that driveway to gravel (and therefore not count towards lot coverage) had allowed the building footprint to be increased thus allowing the addition of a family room to an older home.
The lot coverage regulations put limits on two different conditions:
1) total allowable lot coverage for principal building (your house) and
2) total allowable for all lot coverage including house and all other impervious coverage.
Although there is a lot of talk about how the building will get bigger if the gravel is not counted - what people have failed to describe is that there is an primary component of the regulation that limits the building coverage. So the building cannot be as big as the total allowable total lot coverage. The building footprint can only be as big as the maximum allowable building coverage.
I do not know if there is a direct correlation between lot coverage and demolition. I think the primary reason for full house demolition and removals is that renovating and updating old houses is difficult, costly and, most importantly, hard to estimate the full cost until after you do internal demolition to see the state of the structure and mechanicals. On the other hand, new buildings - including the cost of full house demolition and removal, is much more predictable which is important for a developer and home owners who wants to reduce their risk of cost overages.
If the driveway is considered impervious, approximately how many square feet does that take away from the proposed home? How much smaller does it have to be?
Back to the relationship of building coverage and total coverage. If walkway, patio and driveway coverage is very large, than the building coverage may be less than the maximum allowable. Conversely, reducing total lot coverage by making the house closer to the street and/or making the garages face the street could help reduce lot coverage of walkways and driveways. This will keep "other" coverage lower make it more likely you can obtain the max allowable building coverage, and - it will also have an effect on the entire street landscape. In other words, be careful of unintended consequences. (Note - credit to Dan Hochvert for bringing up unintended consequences in a recent discussion.)
Another factor in this related discussion of building size is the allowable floor area of the house - meaning not just the footprint but all the applicable areas of every story of the house - sometimes including basements and third floors - depending on the design. The total allowable floor area is calculated based on the lot size and a floor area ratio that varies according to what zoning district the house is located in.
One other thought - it is not the gravel that is impervious. Water will pass through the space between gravel stones. It is the substrate that can become impervious. It really depends on how the driveway is constructed. A more scientific process would include an understanding of different construction types and testing of the actual substrate before gravel is applied in order to know if the surface is impervious, partially impervious or pervious.
All said, there are many factors - and counting gravel as pervious or impervious is only one factor.
Deborah Goldreyer and Bart Hamlin of Hamlin Goldreyer Architects have received, for the third year in a row, the prestigious "Best of Westchester" award from the readership of Westchester Magazine. Hamlin Goldreyer are a husband and wife team that work in their Scarsdale residence in the Greenacres neighborhood. They have been providing high-end, custom residential design services for 24 years in Westchester County, Fairfield County and Long Island - with most of their projects being built in Scarsdale. This local design team was selected as one of the 12 best architectural firms in Westchester County by a panel of judges in 2012, also for Westchester Magazine. In addition to building designs, Hamlin Goldreyer provide a full range of interior design services including kitchens, bathrooms, family rooms and libraries. You can view their work at their website - ScarsdaleArchitects.com - and on Houzz.com.
Swim Across America 2015
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Twenty three years ago, identical twin brothers Josh and Jeremy Glantz were swim coaches at the Larchmont Yacht Club when the mother of three participating children succumbed to brain cancer at the age of forty two. In her honor, they swam across the Long Island Sound to raise funds for cancer research. Their crossing evolved into what has become the largest regional swim event organized by Swim Across America (SAA) with more than 600 swimmers annually and more than $15 million raised since the event started! SAA is dedicated to raising money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment through swimming-related events.
In 2005, Josh formed a team made up of Scarsdale friends and other swim enthusiasts and it has grown steadily over the years. The team annually honors a friend who has been stricken with cancer, or is undergoing treatment and the team rotates captains to encourage greater participation.
This year the team was named in honor of Josh's friend Susan Moody Prieto, a Princeton University collegiate swimmer, endurance swimmer, and founder of Swim4Good, a charity that promotes children's literacy. The mother of two young daughters, Susan was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer in August 2014. After being treated with chemotherapy, during which she had many complications, she was declared cancer free in March 2015. She is currently receiving radiation therapy.
Team "Swimming for Susan" has raised more than $70,000 so far for the 2015 event; it has surpassed its fundraising goals each consecutive year. In total, the 2015 Long Island event raised over $1,050,000.
The Long Island Sound event starts off at the Larchmont Yacht Club, and swimmers participate in 2k, 5k and 10k courses. After the swims are completed, SAA welcomes the swimmers ashore and celebrates their athletic and fundraising accomplishments at a ceremonial brunch along the waterfront.
According to Josh, this year's team captain, "Every year our team grows, and we stay motivated. We all know people who have been touched by cancer, and this is a way we honor them – to raise money doing what we love, to help find a cure." Josh was joined by Joe Kaufman and Chip Rich in the 10k distance, which departed from Glen Cove, Long Island and crossed the Sound back to Larchmont. Joel Talish was also supposed to swim the 10k but was unable to swim due to an injury. Participating in the 5K were Peter Doyle, John Needham, Eldad Blaustein, Debra Hyman, Carol Wolfe, Razy Hirschberg swam the 2k. Jennifer Feeley and Lou Dearstyne were also on the team though they don't live in Scarsdale. The 10k swimmers were accompanied by kayakers and Scarsdale residents Caroline and Christopher Shannon and Enoch Palmer.
The team welcomes all who are interested in endurance swimming for a cause. Teammates swim and train at various pools in the Scarsdale area, including the Scarsdale Pool, JCC and Hummocks. For more information, join the team for next year, or to make a donation visit their website.
