Scarsdale Black Oak Tree Captures the Attention of CEO of the New York Botanical Garden

CEO and President of the New York Botanical Garden Jennifer Bernstein is making a trip to Scarsdale next week to see an historic, healthy black oak tree at 21 Autenrieth Road. While neighbors have brought this tree to the attention of Scarsdale's Board of Architectural Review (“BAR”) because a renovation project threatens the tree’s future, the massive tree has also caught the attention of the New York Botanical Garden.

An investment group from Rye bought the house to renovate and resell. Their plan includes sandwiching a new two-car garage and a new driveway into the front yard next to the enormous oak tree, threatening the tree’s survival. There have been no objections to a proposed two-story addition, but neighbors are urging that the applicant use one of the two existing 2-car garages and not build near the tree.

Mature trees provide critical environmental services like oxygen, shade, stormwater mitigation, and wildlife habitat. In Scarsdale, they also serve an essential role in improving the water quality of the Bronx River. Scarsdale is part of the Bronx River watershed, and like all communities within the watershed, Scarsdale’s treatment of its mature trees matters. The Bronx River flows directly through the New York Botanical Garden, and the Botanical Garden is reaching out to communities along the Bronx River to emphasize the crucial role trees play in maintaining a healthy environment.

As evidenced by Ms. Bernstein’s planned visit, mature trees serve an essential ecological function. By protecting the stately oak at #21, Scarsdale can set an example of thoughtful municipal stewardship that allows mature trees to thrive in a suburban community.

The fate of the tree is now in the hands of the Scarsdale Board of Architectural Review and is on its agenda for Monday, August 12th, 7 P.M. at Village Hall. Please attend to share your concerns.

Letter from Friends of the Scarsdale Parks

August 7, 2024

By Email
Frank Diodati, Village Building Inspector
Scarsdale Village Hall
1001 Post Road, Scarsdale NY 10583
[email protected]

RE: Scarsdale Board of Architectural Review (“BAR”) Meeting- August 12, 2024
Black Oak Tree at 21 Autenrieth Road

Dear Mr. Diodati and Members of the Scarsdale Board of Architectural Review,
Friends of the Scarsdale Parks, Inc. (FOSP), a 501(c) (3) is a not-for-profit organization operating in the Village of Scarsdale since 1957. FOSP’s community efforts have been focused since its inception on the preservation, restoration, and conservation of Scarsdale’s parks and open spaces, often working in collaboration with Scarsdale Village on a range of environmental matters.

Scarsdale loses over 1,000 mature trees every year. To help repopulate our dwindling tree canopy, FOSP has served as a resource for the Village by providing advice on tree species selection for its street tree program and for its parks. When these new trees are planted, however, they are very small and will take decades to contribute the ecoservices a mature tree provides. As a result, FOSP is making every effort to educate our community about the environmental and aesthetic importance of our mature trees.

Organizations in Scarsdale are sounding the alarm about Scarsdale’s mature tree loss. In a December 2023 memorandum the village’s Conservation Advisory Council documented Scarsdale’s mounting tree loss, citing tree removal data supplied by the village. In early 2024 the Scarsdale Forum Inc. issued a report entitled, Environmental Protection and Preservation of Trees in the Village of Scarsdale. https://www.scarsdaleforum.com/Reports/download/1277 While Scarsdale is losing over 1,000 mature trees annually, business as usual cannot continue. The dire situation in which the community now finds itself is reflected in increased stormwater flooding as well as in neighborhoods whose aesthetic character is diminishing from exceptional to average as the trees disappear.

So what can be done? In a developed community like Scarsdale, neighborhood aesthetics change one house at a time. We understand that the BAR is responsible for ensuring that building projects preserve and promote the aesthetic character of a neighborhood, which in Scarsdale includes our mature trees.
FOSP is hereby requesting that the BAR exercise its authority to protect the visually stunning, historic, and massive Black Oak tree (Quercus velutina) located in the front yard of 21 Autenrieth Road from any risk of short or long-term harm as a result of the proposed renovation (see Location Map and images annexed hereto). The proposed construction of a duplicative new garage and new driveway in close proximity to this black oak would ruin an idyllic front yard as well as pose unnecessary risk to this centerpiece tree of the park-like neighborhood of Old Scarsdale.

According to the Village website describing the BAR, “Not only does their review include architectural design elements, but also the structure’s relationship to the site, …, including its identity as a Village in a Park” (emphasis added).

Neighbors hired arborist William (Bill) Bryant Logan for advice about protecting the Black Oak tree. Mr. Logan is President of Urban Arborists, Inc., a longstanding faculty member of the New York Botanical Garden, a visiting Professor of Landscape Architecture at Pratt Institute, and author of Oak, The Frame of Civilization (2005).

Mr. Logan personally examined the Black Oak in 2024 and stated in his letter that: “This oak is an extraordinary specimen, among the largest oaks in Westchester County. It is almost 5 feet in diameter at breast height (DBH). Such a tree represents an incalculable benefit, not only to the people who can see and interact with it daily, but also to the thousands of mammals, birds, insects, spiders, and other macroinvertebrates that live and/or feed on and in it, as well as the billions of bacteria and fungi that inhabit it. It is part of the intact ecosystem that characterizes Scarsdale yards and gardens. Its loss would be very serious, not only aesthetically but also ecologically.” The Black Oak is estimated by Mr. Logan to be between 275-325 years old, which means it has survived since colonial times. (Bill Logan 2/23/2024 letter attached)

Mr. Logan’s letter explains that: “Ideally, the construction should be kept back a radius equivalent to the Critical Root Zone (CRZ) of the tree … a radius of roughly 58 feet . . . an area within which the tree’s important roots are located, both roots that keep it standing and roots that absorb the water and nutrients that the tree needs for its life. No disturbance should occur around the entire circumference of the tree within a radius of 58 feet.” (emphasis added)

Neighbors who have appeared at Board of Architectural Review (BAR) meetings to request the protection of the tree and front yard have pointed out that the house already has two existing two-car garages, one handsome Georgian revival brick detached garage in the backyard, and one attached garage in the basement. It is significant to note that, while neighbors strenuously opposed the addition of a new garage and new driveway both of which would be built in the front yard near the Black Oak, they have not opposed the proposed two-story living area addition. See article in local online publication: https://scarsdale10583.com/arts-a-entertainment-601/10725-land-use-preserving-a-200-year-old-oak-and-rerouting-a-waterway

FOSP hereby requests that the BAR exercise its authority to protect this iconic tree whose survival is threatened by the developer’s proposed project.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of Friends of the Scarsdale Parks, Inc.

Madelaine Eppenstein, President
Cynthia Roberts, Vice President
Emily Kronenberg, Secretary
Jim Blum, Board Member
Betsy Bush, Board Member
Kay Eisenman, Board Member
Dorothy Kroenlein, Board Member
Jeannie Mackler, Board Member
Richard Reuter, Board Member