Comments for Village Board meeting August 9th, 2011
First and foremost I do want to thank the VB as well as the Staff for all their hard work.
Here I am just on my third night of meetings in five days, and I realize what is involved.
The energy, the patience, the time involved is phenomenal. I congratulate and admire you
all. I am sorry I can only attend these as I have the time and energy to do so and that is
why my attendance has been and is sporadic. I simply do not have the personal resources
you all seem to have. The interest and concern is certainly there, though.
1. The August issue:
It is correct, many important meetings are falling in August. The reason is simple: The
new VB Board is being sworn in April, applicants are presenting their letters to the new
Board, by the time letters go back and forth it is July or August. I suggest a way out of
this dilemma: The BAR as well as the Planning Board do not meet in August. In a similar
vein, I suggest the VB take the month of August off to avoid this kind of situation. I am
sure the VB, Staff and the residents would enjoy knowing nothing will be discussed in
August. We all perform better and need a vacation and I am sure it is time to formally
institute such time. I hope you will consider this a motion to vote on.
2. Issues on 2-4 Weaver Street:
a. How and why is this a better deal than the transaction of 2009 ?
b. How and why the $ 200,000 sale price of village property and why the reduction in
price to $ 150,000 ? How much debt does Scarsdale currently have ? Shouldn't we be
reducing our debt rather than giving money away, especially after the sobering blow of
this past weekend to our AAA nation ?
On this subject, who assessed the true value of the property ? Isn't it true that the
developer will be doubling his buildable square footage with village property ? How
much will he be selling his units for ? What is the potential worth of Village property ? I
think $ 150,000 is a very small percentage of the correct value. The ultimate sales price
of the Village Property should be tied in to the ultimate sale price of the whole developed
property and should be a portion thereof.
Furthermore, didn't we have a problem with GDC with Chrisite Place ? What if they
cannot finish, they cannot fully realize their commitments ? There should be an extra
amount put in escrow in case all obligations are not met satisfactorily.
c. The earlier proposal was for age-restricted residential units so as not to burden
our school system, with this one there is no age restriction. Who wants to intentionally
burden our school system ? With Heatchote elementary within walking distance every
family with three school age children will want to move here.
3. Issues on Heathcote Five Corners in general:
a. As we saw last night, there are serious traffic concerns with a roundabout in the
area. The geometry and the physical constraints in the area is simply not permitting it.
Furthermore, a simple phone call to NYS DOT and a review of the current situation
might very well solve the problem. A simple reduction of wait time per traffic signal
might solve the problem and achieve better traffic flow. This we shall see after the DOT
looks at the intersection. I am sure the Village Manager's Office will keep us abreast of
the developments there.
b. But the issue is not just the roundabout, or the traffic the issue is planning for the
whole area. Our Village Planner Elizabeth Marrinnan said the zoning in this area dates
back to 1925 when there was a train station in here. There is no more a station here and
yet, the zoning is still the same.
We no longer want congestion nor need extensive commercial facilites here with Golden
Horsehoe right down the road, and the existing establishments. The idea is not quantity,
but quality.
So, I think a careful study of the area is needed and a careful zoning of the area should be
achieved. The reason we are having so many problems year after year is that the " Asof
-right " is not " right at all “. If the applicant were proposing park space and green
space and coming up with ways to lower our overall tax liability he would not be meeting
opposition. Instead these are prescriptions to crowd our space, to crowd our schools
and increase our overall tax liability. No wonder it is meeting and will continue to meet
opposition.
A zoning of 1925 is no longer valid. Like the email you received from my friend Lena
Crandall, I agree that a careful study like the one done in our Village Center is necessary
and after that a re-zoning will have to be established that correctly reflects today's values
and not some archaic criteria more than 80 years old now.
Finally our government both at the VB and Staff level should be practicing pro-active
government and not reactive government. We would like to see a government that
prepares, anticipates, pre-empts, plans, beautifies, organizes and makes and preserves
green space. We want to leave a better Scarsdale for future generations. We inherited a
Scarsdale that was the first to pass zoning laws of 1925 and yet what have we done to
make this a better place ? How much more green space have we added ? How much more
cubic feet of air have we added to the sky line of Scardsale or how much bulk have we
cluttered it with ?
Every week there are applications after applications with the BAR with the Planning
Board to tweak this law, to change this or that, to ask for a variance here and there so
that one gets his pool, his tennis court, his addition, his wider drive-way ? Pretty soon
Scarsdale will be a mess of concrete and asphalt. Mechanisms have to be out in place that
preserves and protects and enhances our Village and not detracts from it.
Other issues;
1. With respect to Heathocte Manor down the road on Weaver Street: What mechanism is
now put in so that this kind of a debacle does not recur ? i.e. the applicant should not be
able to build with a 20 year old permit. As I undersdtand it that was the problem.
2. Yes, Mr. Harrison at the previous meeting you said: " There are no secrets on
this board "and you read the letter from the applicant. Thank you for that, but true
transparency would involve putting the letter on line, all the BAR and Planning agendas
as well as applications should be online. These days it is all a simple scanning and
uploading that is involved. This is what we would like to see, this is the definition of
transparency now.
3. The question of character is very true. Character is not gained overnight and history
and culture is a sore point in America, because we simply do not have the 1000 year
old church or the 1500 old Hagia Sophia that is in Istanbul. We have the Heathcote
Tavern which is about 90 years old, that in a town that is about 300 years old means that
it has stood for a third of the time here. It is like our Hagia Sophia or like the Round
Church in Cambridge, England. We have to uphold, preserve and protect our landmark
buildings. The cupola picks up on the Harwood cupola and acts as connecting, binding
force. The building inside and out should be preserved. We are not going to get character
by destroying, demolishing. Character involves strength, staying power in face of a
opposition and that is exactly what has to be done here. By the way, I was inside the
Tavern building just last Friday and I think it looks fabulous and I think it should be
preserved as is in its entirety.
So final points;
1. A comprehensive study of the Heathcote Five Corners should be undertaken, the
current zoning should be updated to reflect and truly address current needs and not
archaic and misplaced needs of almost a century ago.
2. Please consider giving yourselves and us the month of August off.
Thank you very much.
Lika Levi
21 Lockwood Road |