Saxon Woods Construction Issue Continues, But With More Cooperation

The between Scarsdale residents and the building department is calming down.

“I don’t think Village Hall is meaning to do anything bad, but somewhere the system fails,” Toril Hanna, , said in a recent interview with Patch.

Last week, the Board of Trustees Municipal Services Committee met to continue discussions on the complaints against the building department.

Since the summer of 2011, Toril and Richard Hanna have been speaking out about construction taking place at 140 Saxon Woods Road. , stirred up controversy. The subsequent building permits issued by the village for building what the Hanna’s describe as a “McMansion” led to petitions and protests.

Most recently, the Hanna’s have complained about ponding in their yard as a result of drainage issues on the Saxon property due to the construction.

The core concern is that “we have less and less space, there’s nowhere to put the water,” Hanna said of the construction on 140 Saxon.

“It’s clear that Board of Trustees and Village Hall do want to try to resolve any issues, with regard to residents feeling they are not being heard and complaints about the building department,” Toril Hanna said.

According to John Goodwin of the Village Manager’s Office, last week’s meeting included “general discussion on the land use process in Scarsdale including the role of the Building Department and Engineering Division. The Committee decided to schedule another meeting with the Chairs of the Village’s Land Use Boards to further discus their roles, responsibilities and concerns.”

Hanna now feels that Village Hall is being receptive but “their hands are tied” due to the laws and codes regulating the building process in the village, she said.

In the past, Hanna admits to complaining about  Nunzio Pietrosanti, the  Village Engineer/Building Inspector, not being receptive to questions and “beating around the bush,” she said. “I realize now that the reason was that he just had to stick to the codes and what was written.”

“The bottom line here is the Village Board does not have the legal backup to require developers to do surveys to determine if there are pre-existing conditions,” she said.

Now, Hanna’s focus is on possible changes for village codes.

There needs to be better fact finding prior to construction, in regards to storm water management, which would alleviate any problems, she noted.