Planning Board Denies Application for a Flag Lot and Holds Over Decision on Subdivision

The Planning Board addressed two thorny issues at their February 25 meeting.

The first involved an application for a subdivision at 20 Claremont Road in Greenacres. Developer Paul Diamond purchased the property and proposed to build two houses on the property. There is adequate lot coverage and road frontage for the two lots. However, the backyard slopes steeply down from Greenacres Avenue behind the lot and the property is very rocky. In order to build the two homes and construct two flat backyards and retaining walls behind them, engineer Elliot Senor estimates that they will need to drill and remove 2,300 cubic yards of rock which they believe is about 160 truckloads. A total of 24 trees will be taken down to accommodate the project, destroying a portion of the canopy of trees that extends down the block. If the builder can't replace them on the property because it is too rocky, the village will allow him to pay to have replacement trees planted elsewhere in the village.

Neighbor Roger Maldonado expressed concern about the security of his property during the process of removing the rock as he fears that dirt and rocks could easily slide into his single lane driveway and his home. He said, "I have been asking for a week and a half to show the rock removal plan to an expert of our choosing. Keep the record open to give us the opportunity to see whether this is feasible."

During the rock removal, the builder proposed to use an existing retaining wall that divides the property with the neighbors as a buffer, but according to the Maldonado this wall is already weak.

About the trees, Maldonado said, ""There is a straight line of canopy trees on Claremont Road and this will create a glaring hole in that canopy. The village tree that will be knocked down is a large tree that forms an integral part of the canopy."

Planning Board member Tom Longman said, "I am concerned about tree removal and planting replacement trees on rocks. We don't want a moonscape."

The neighbor on the other side of the property, Ryan Cascade said, "They are creating a public nuisance for profit. Two months of chipping, 300 truckloads of rock for the purpose of profit... to create flat backyards ... this goes against the principles of our town. It disrupts the ground and will create a mudslide toward the Maldonados property."

Planning Board member Dan Steinberg said, "So you are removing all this rock to create flat backyards? This is elective, right?"

About the rock removal plan, Village Attorney Wayne Essanason said, "We will need to have this information verified to see how it will affect the health, safety and welfare of the community. We need to determine what the impact will be. The board deserves to have this information to see if it will be detrimental to the community."

The Planning Board then turned to the application to create a flag lot at 54 Park Road. Owners Lyn Peterson and Karl Friberg wished to create a flag lot to subdivide the property for estate purposes. The property now includes two homes and Village Planner Liz Marrinan said it is legal for related family members to live in these homes.

However, the property lacks adequate road frontage for two homes and flag lots were outlawed by the village in the late 1980's.

Their lawyer Lucia Chioccio from Cuddy and Feder said that the family had no plans to sell the property or to take down the two homes that are there now. Instead the family was requesting the subdivision for estate planning purposes. She asked the Planning Board to approve the application so that they could then proceed to the Zoning Board of Appeals to get the necessary variances.

Lyn Peterson then appealed to the Board saying, "We live in one of the nicest properties in Scarsdale. It is so unique and so charming. We purchased the property with my parents and when they died young Karl's father moved in. But our golden ticket was not without hiccups. There was rancor over the estate and we don't want our children to face this. When a developer knocked on our door asking us to come to him first if we wanted to sell, I thought, we should do this first."

We are proposing no construction and no trees to be taken down. We want to live here with our multigenerational family like on Downton Abbey where the English aristocracy creates a home for the dowager. Our goal is to create unique but mutually beneficial homes."

The Village Planner explained that flag lots had been outlawed because they affect so many neighbors and there are often safety concerns about long driveways. If the Planning Board approved the project, they would set a precedent for other applicants to create flag lots.

We spoke to the Village Planner the following morning to find out what the Planning Board had decided. They held over the application at Claremont Road to allow the Planning Board to hire their own expert to look at the rock removal plan. On Park Road, they denied the flag lot application.