Mayor Names Alexandra Marshall as Scarsdale Village Manager
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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The following letter was written by Scarsdale Mayor Justin Arest and emailed to the residents of Scarsdale on September 11, 2024.
Dear Residents,
I am excited to announce the appointment of Ms. Alexandra Marshall as the new Village Manager of Scarsdale, effective immediately. This decision was ratified in a unanimous vote by the Village Board at our September 10, 2024, board meeting.
Over the course of the past year, beginning last fall, the Village Board conducted a nationwide search for a new Village Manager. We engaged the search firm SGR who brought 20 resumes to the board. Four candidates were interviewed and completed in-depth questionnaires and personal statements. Two final candidates met with stakeholders in both the community and staff as well as the full board in the spring. After much discussion and feedback from all involved, the board decided we had yet to find the right person for the position.
In June, as we continued our discussions as to how best to proceed, Ms. Marshall notified the Board that she would be interested in participating in the next iteration of the search for a Village Manager. Having already served in the position for eight months at the time, she knew she was ready to take on the role of Village Manager.
Over the course of the summer, the Board met with Ms. Marshall and conducted a formal interview. After successfully filling the role of Manager over the last year and serving our community effectively, the Board is confident that Ms. Marshall is the best person for the job.
Alexandra, or Alex as she is known to many, has been a vital part of our community for the past three years. She has served as Acting Village Manager for the last year, a role in which she has demonstrated exceptional leadership and commitment to our village. Before stepping into this position, Alex was our Deputy Village Manager for two years, where she played a crucial role in many of our initiatives and budget processes.
Before joining us in Scarsdale, Alex spent nearly six years in the Administrator’s office in the Village of Rye Brook, where she honed her skills in public administration and municipal management. Her experience, combined with her natural ability to listen and address concerns efficiently and effectively, has earned her deep respect among our department heads and village staff. Alex previously served as President of the Municipal Administrators Association of Metropolitan New York and is currently an Executive Board Member of the New York State City/County Management Association. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Fordham University and earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration at the College of New Rochelle.
Ms. Marshall is highly regarded by the Village Board, which recognizes her dedication to our village and the positive impact she has had on our community. Her problem-solving skills, professionalism, and approachable nature have made her an invaluable asset to Scarsdale.
We are confident that under Ms. Marshall’s leadership, our village will continue to thrive and that she will guide us with the same dedication and vision that she has demonstrated throughout her career.
Please join us in congratulating Ms. Marshall on her well-deserved appointment.
Now that we have filled the role of Village Manager, the search to find our next Deputy Village Manager will begin next week.
Fall Happenings at the Scarsdale Womans Club
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The Scarsdale Woman's Club is gearing up for a new year full of entertaining and educational programs and community outreach. All opening programs and most Wednesday programs throughout the year are open to the public free of charge at the Scarsdale Woman’s Club at 37 Drake Road in Scarsdale.
Everyone is invited to an open house and membership drive Tuesday, Sept. 24, from 1-4 pm. Members of club sections on art, literature and film, music, world culture and travel, home and garden, personal investing, pottery and food and dining will showcase their activities and answer questions. Attendees can learn about trips to theaters, museums and other places of interest; special events, and the club’s support of local philanthropies.
You don’t have to wait for the membership drive to sample the club’s diverse offerings. Here’s what’s on tap for fall:
Around the World Trivia will be presented by the club’s World Cultures and Travel Section Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 2 pm. Joanne and Steve Auerbach will lead a Jeopardy-style around-the-world trivia game in which everyone can participate. Bring your travel memories, your thinking caps and your sense of fun!
The club’s Art Section will host Page Knox, a popular speaker from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and adjunct professor of art history at Columbia University on Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 2 pm. She will give an illustrated talk on the Harlem Renaissance exhibit that recently closed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Whether or not you got to see this show at the museum, you will feel like you did through this engaging program.
The club’s pottery group will welcome everyone to the studio in the lower floor of the clubhouse for a tour and demonstration Thursday, Sept. 12, 10:30-12:30. Newcomers can try their hands at a simple project. No experience necessary!
“Olive Oil: Myths, Facts, Health Benefits” will be the topic of the Food & Dining Section on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at 2 pm. John Arlotta of Arlotta Food Studio will offer tasting samples, recipes, and a selection of items to buy.
Leslie Chang, a trustee of the Scarsdale Historical Society, will present a film entitled “Scarsdale in the 18th & 19th Centuries: From Hardscrabble Farms to Gracious Estates” at the Home & Garden Section opener Thursday, Sept. 19, at 2 pm. Houses to be discussed include Underhill House (c.1687), Wayside Cottage (c.1717), Burgess House (c.1750), Cramer Crane House (c.1851) and the club’s own Rowsley Cottage (c.1858).
The Literature & Film Section will present a poetry reading Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 2 pm. Kathleen Williamson will read from her poetry book "Feather & Bone." accompanied by images and bird notes from Saw Mill River Audubon executive director and photographer Anne Swaim.
Finally, the Alegria Ensemble will perform in the Music Section opener Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 2 pm. Previously known as the Balsam Trio, Alegría includes violinist Chloe Dickens, cellist Sara Strozzo and pianist Ricky Asher Moreira.
Looking ahead, the club is getting ready for the huge tag and book sale Oct. 19 and 20 that supports local charities, and our popular wine tasting and silent auction on Nov. 14 at 7 pm. Free admission to both events!
For more information, go to https://www.scarsdalewomansclub.org/. Our website is updated monthly. Or call 723-0024.
Despite Frequent Flooding, Developer Is Undeterred From Plans for an 8 Home Subdivision on Garden Road
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Even as the Village contemplates millions of dollars in stormwater remediation projects, the Scarsdale Planning Board continues to entertain highly controversial development projects in a flood-prone areas. On the agenda for a special meeting on September 19 is a proposed 8 home development at 80 Garden Road that has been the subject of meetings and substantial objections from property owners since 2018.
The fact that homeowners adjacent to the site already experience significant flooding seems to do nothing to dissuade the Board Chairman and the Village Engineer from continuing to invite the applicants to additional hearings and even specially-scheduled additional meetings to entertain their proposal. Why a special hearing for this application? Acting Village Manager Alexandra Marshall explained, "Special meetings are typically held for complex applications, especially if extensive public comments are anticipated. If such applications were added to regular meetings, it would be inconvenient to other applicants and members of the public waiting to be heard regarding other applications."
As recently as July 18, 2024, the Village Board held a work session to review plans for a major public works project to alleviate flooding in the Sheldrake Watershed, just downstream from the proposed development. Furthermore the Village Engineer and Superintendent of Public Works announced that on Cushman, Garden, Sheldrake and Willow Roads, streets that lie directly behind and downstream from the Garden Road site the Village is doing an analysis of the stream, creating a hydraulic model and is close to making some recommendations for work to be done.
So why is the Planning Board continuing to hear claims that an 8-house subdivision in a soggy area with a high water table will not exacerbate the issues?
As described in our previous article in March 2024, “The eight-home development would be on a private road in a cul de sac. Each home would have its own water well as the Village does not have adequate water to supply the homes with water when there is also demand for water during a fire emergency. Each home would also have a swimming pool.
Since the area has a high water table, the developer, Steve Kessner, is proposing to truck in tons of landfill to raise the ground level by four feet, and contain the fill with four foot high retaining walls on the north and south sides of the property. This will allow the builder to place the underground pipes in the fill, rather than deeper underground where they could be infiltrated by groundwater.
Due to the high water table, the builder can’t use drywells for water retention so he is proposing to build an underground retention system with a slow release system to allow water to be time released.”
The latest reports from the applicants seek to answer questions about the quality of the tons of landfill, about the stormwater runoff and about the removal of hundreds of trees. They also address how downstream neighbors would be affected by runoff during the potential construction. You can see the reports from their experts here.
Over the course of six years of meetings, neighbors have written detailed letters about why the plans would put their homes at additional risk. As we have seen with other applications that will negatively impact neighborhoods, local residents are called on over and over again to attend lengthy meetings to voice their concerns. Sometimes public comment is not even permitted.
Here are comments from Helen Maccarino of Cushman Road who has studied the proposal. She says, “Any multi-home development should be discouraged in a flood prone area and this includes 80 Garden. The Village stormwater management infrastructure in the Garden/Cushman/Willow area has been designated as a high priority for remediation because the system struggles to handle the current runoff volume. But it is years away from being improved. Given this situation, I am stunned that the Village seems willing to consider an 8-house subdivision here before the infrastructure is fixed.
In addition to being in a flood-prone area, the site is simply unsuitable for development. Not only does a portion of the site include wetlands, the ground water table is so high that it is impossible to build 8 new houses on the site as is. The developer’s solution: clear cut the entire 5+ acres of all 424 trees, have 25 truckloads of fill brought in each day for 3-4 months to raise the terrain by 4 feet, and erect a 4-6 ft high retaining wall (placed inside the required minimum setback) to hold all the fill in place. The NYS Dept of Conservation cautions that these same exact actions can change drainage patterns and exacerbate flooding. The new homes won’t flood because they will sit 4 feet higher than all the neighboring homes in the area. This engineering decision dumps the flooding risk on rest of us. Once all the trees are gone and the terrain is raised, there is no going back. The damage is irreversible.
We talk about climate change and what we can do to better protect our environment but we lack the will to make the hard decisions. Large subdivisions in flood prone areas will not bring us closer to that goal. This project is so big and our infrastructure is so inadequate that there's not even enough water to meet the demand of the proposed new houses so wells have to be dug for each house. This is an ill-conceived project that must be more thoughtfully designed, have a smaller footprint, be less destructive and more respectful of the environment. We deserve better.
Not to mention the quality of life issues that we will have to endure during the years it will take from start to finish. Just clearing and prepping the site will take a year. Constant noise, dirt, fumes, traffic, etc. every day except Sundays. It is unfair for the neighbors to have to live under these conditions for so long. Maybe we can get a property tax rebate during the life of the project?”
Having attended many of these meetings we are waiting for the Chairman of the Planning Board to call for a vote. There is ample evidence that this proposal will put neighbors at additional risk and do nothing to improve a very dicey situation downstream. And if the Village fears a lawsuit from the developers, the Village should weigh that concern against the prospect of a lawsuit from neighbors who will be left with few options to preserve the value of their homes. The Planning Board would then have time to consider infrastructure improvements to safeguard the Village rather than spending years evaluating the negative impacts of potential development.
The Planning Board has the authority to permit or deny subdivision applications. In this case, the Village’s infrastructure cannot support the homes, so no water service can be provided. There are well documented incidents of flooding on and around the site which demonstrate that it is unsuitable for development. Furthermore, in six years of meetings the applicants have failed to prove that the subdivision will not cause further harm. What does it take for the Planning Board and Village Engineer to simply say “No?”
2024 Procedure Committee Invites Residents to Run for CNC
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To the Editor:
The Procedure Committee (PC) invites Scarsdale residents to run for a position on the nonpartisan Citizens Nominating Committee (CNC). Thirty voting members on the CNC, six representing each of the five elementary school districts, will interview, evaluate, and select candidates running on the nonpartisan slate for open Village offices in the March 18, 2025 Village Election.
A candidate for membership on the CNC must be a qualified voter (18 years of age or older) and a resident of Scarsdale for at least two years. The CNC application is simple, consisting of a biographical form and a 10-signature petition signed by the applicant’s neighbors. Instructions for filing can be downloaded on the PC’s website at www.scarsdaleprocedurecommittee.org. The deadline for submitting the CNC application is Monday, September 30, 2024. The CNC election will be held on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 from 7 am to 9 pm or by mail-in ballot.
The CNC meets 5 or 6 times on weekday evenings at 8 PM at the Scarsdale Library.CNC meeting dates for 2024-2025 are Wednesday, December 4th, 2024 (Organization Meeting); Wednesday, December 11, 2024; Wednesday, December 18, 2024; Wednesday, January 8, 2025; Wednesday, January 15, 2025; and if necessary, Wednesday, January 25, 2025. All meetings begin at 8 PM.. By its last meeting date the CNC will nominate a nonpartisan slate of candidates for the open positions on this year on the Scarsdale Board of Trustees.
For more information contact PC Chair Heath Sroka, hbsroka@gmail.com or PC Vive Chair Ralph Geer, RalphGeer@AOL.com . The other members of the 2024-2025 Procedure Committee are: Elaine Weir, Manisha Maria, Rohini Shani, Rebecca Chase, David Peretz, Jeremy Perelman, Nikki Dragisty, Christopher Burrows, Matt Chesler, Andrew Gorrin & Andrew Sereysky.
Heath Sroka, Chair Ralph Geer, Vice Chair Procedure Committee
The Sidewalk Sale Is On, Thursday-Saturday in Scarsdale Village
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The long-anticipated Scarsdale Sidewalk Sale is on from Thursday to Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm and the Village is alive with shoppers and deals.
Buyers lined up in front of Pamela Robbins before the 10 am opening on Thursday to get first dibs on designer clothing bags and shoes. Next door at Rothmans, racks were filled with sports jackets and shirts, and there were great prices to be had on designer swim trunks, shorts and more.
Another hub of activity was I Am More Scarsdale, where racks and tables spread down Spencer Place and onto Harwood Court. There were bags, hats, jeans, tops, cover-ups, shoes and more, also at bargain prices.
Along Boniface Circle, vendors who don’t have bricks and mortar stores in town set up tables. We sampled macaroons from Woops at the Westchester, chatted with “educationist” Kristen Zakierski who was featuring her new line of learning materials for young children, admired the colorful artwork of Amanda Arbeter, and spoke to representatives from Audio Help who just opened a new store on Popham Road with hearing aids and other audiology devices.
At 44 East Parkway we met the team from Contour Med Spa Services who are opening at new location in September, offering a full range of facials, fillers, threading, microneedling and more. We saw lots on sale at Bronx River Books and Learning Express too.
Be sure to bring children to the Village on Saturday July 27 between 11-2 when there will be facepainting, a balloon artist, music, games and more for kids on Spencer Place. The games will be run by the Scarsdale Youth Business Alliance.
Parking is tight so plan to walk, cycle or catch a ride to the Village.
