Planning Board OKs Fair Housing Recommendations

The Planning Board of the Village of Scarsdale met Wednesday night and discussed a routine array of applications for construction and landscaping, but the hot button issue of the night was Fair and Affordable Housing.  

The Planning Board recommended  implementation of a plan to comply with an agreement between Westchester County and the federal department of Housing and Urban Development.  The agreement is the result of a court case brought against Westchester County by the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York  and settled in 2009.   Terms of the agreement dictate that Westchester County will build 750 units of  housing and advertise it to low income minorities.  

The Planning Board's recommendations will be passed to the Board of Trustees, which will then act—or not—to make the recommendations law in Scarsdale.

County Executive Robert Astorino has pointedly stated that he believes the county is in compliance with the agreement and ahead of schedule, while HUD rejected the county's action plan for 2011. Astorino met with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan Wednesday to discuss the matter. A letter from HUD explaining their decision points to eight deficiencies in the county's plan. When asked whether or not, in view of Astorino's very public stance in the case, the Planning Board would continue to recommend in favor of the changes, Planning Board Chair Jane Veron said the board is pursuing the plan independently and that they were devising a model for legislation in the county, as they were asked to do.  

Members of the Planning Board have previously stated their belief that Scarsdale's model may, in fact, provide a blueprint for communities across the country.

At any rate, the Planning Board serves only as an advisory agency to the Board of Trustees in this instance. Copies of the recommendations are available from Village Planner Elizabeth Marrinan's office, while results of the meetings are usually available online from the Village website.

The Planning Board also discussed applications for housing construction at 21 Morris Lane, for an addition at 182 Brewster Road, and for new house construction at 7 Oneida.  The applications were made at the public hearing, but discussed behind closed doors.   Discussions of the applications concerned tree placement and replacement, drainage, water course and fire code compliance.

In addition, the Planning Board heard requests from Scarsdale Shopping Center Associates, LLC for a parking waiver so that they might permit two restaurants in the Golden Horseshoe at 1128 Wilmot road.  Richard J. Pearson, of John Meyer Consulting, a traffic engineering firm, testified that the parking lot at the site is current underutilized by stores in the center at all times, though the parking lot is often used by people at the neighboring park, Supply Field.

The Planning Board voted to assess a 5 percent recreation fee for subdividing a lot at 39 Oxford Road. The fee is based on the 2006 property value assessment of $1,850,000.

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, the Board adopted a new wetlands map drafted for the Village by Beth Evans Associates, an Environmental Consulting group that operates out of  Bethany, CT.  It updates the previous map, which was made in 1999, and expands certain protections to within a 25' buffer zone.

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