Bronxville Insider: Mayor Mary Marvin: Weekly Column.

Mayor’s Column: January 23, 2023.

A proposal to add a new crosswalk on the Route 22 corridor has generated much discussion of late.

In a quest to keep the conversation going, the Trustees and I want to clarify a few points.

The proposed Route 22 crosswalk is just one of many in a continuum of “walkability” initiatives that the Village has undertaken over the past 3+ years to accentuate our small size, ease of access and desire to have less vehicular traffic.

Other initiatives have included the redesign of the West Side Traffic Circle, the improvements at the Masterton Road/Midland Avenue intersection, the soon to be installed pedestrian buttons at the reconfiguration of the Pondfield Road/Midland Avenue intersection and the new sidewalk connecting Avon Road to the Tuckahoe Village line.

All sections of the Village continue to be explored comprehensively to facilitate increased “walkability” – consistent with our planning goals identified in the Village’s Comprehensive Plan which was updated in 2020.

The Route 22 corridor was a logical additional focus as this northeast quadrant, lying north of Pondfield Road and east of Midland Avenue, has the least walkability infrastructure in the Village. The Village also retains a right of way easement at the intersection of Paddington Circle and Ridgecroft Road to facilitate pedestrian passage through these neighborhoods.

As guidance, the New York State Department of Transportation recommends crosswalks every quarter-mile through similarly situated residential areas and there are no crosswalks within the half-mile stretch on Route 22 between Pondfield Road and Tanglewylde Avenue under consideration.

Similar to other projects in process throughout the Village, some completed, others in mid or early stages, the crosswalk concept at Route 22 has been long under discussion. As far back as 2015, residents have asked for a crosswalk in this corridor and in December 2020, citizens requested a meeting to further advance the request.

Bolstered by a petition, signed by 60 families, from this time forward, the issue has been discussed in various outlets including: Board of Trustee public meetings, the minutes that follow and are published on the Village website, the Village newsletter - “One Square Mile”, Mayor’s Columns, as well as at an open public Town Hall meeting on October 2021 with no dissention voiced.

Simultaneously, under the walkability umbrella initiative, Village government did, and continues to, advocate for safer pedestrian crossings at both the intersection of Route 22 at Pondfield Road and at Tanglewylde Avenue.

In addition to an earlier County funded study, the Village employed Toole and BFJ Traffic Engineers to not only review the crosswalk concept, but to brainstorm concepts for creating safer routes to the Bronxville School, in particular in this corridor, with safety the primary focus. These professional teams devised conceptual ideas, including striping walking lanes in the direction of the school and creating no parking zones throughout. The entire Board of Trustees resoundingly and unanimously rejected those proposals/concepts for the corridor in question. We recognized that they were very safe concepts, but that they did not fit the neighborhood. Toole Associates offered additional safe passage proposals, concentrating on the Elm Rock Road corridor. They included raised bumps or “jellybeans” and striped pedestrian lanes. Like the previous suggestions, they were resoundingly rejected.    

Net net, what is the only issue under discussion at this juncture is a delineated crosswalk from Dusenberry Road to Elm Rock Road (or some other location) and possibly an extension of sidewalk. Nothing else is on the table.

Recognizing that this is the most collegial of Villages and a place where people expect to be heard, and rightly so, the Trustees and I have acknowledged that we should have given formal, individual notice to residents in the Elm Rock Road environs so that any local dissenting views could have been recognized earlier in the process. As a group, we apologized and acknowledged our error.

As a result, in respecting the uniqueness of the unity and neighborliness of our small Village, the Board of Trustees have put on hold/pause any work regarding a crosswalk on Route 22 until after the following:

• Retaining a traffic engineer to evaluate all prior studies and conduct an independent review including New York State’s findings regarding our request to reduce the maximum speed limit to 25 m.p.h.
• Prior to said study, we as a Board of Trustees, plan on issuing a Village wide survey soliciting further community input on the topic with a distribution date of next week.
• When the surveys are tabulated and the independent traffic review is submitted, we will hold a second Town Hall meeting to present the analysis.
• In essence, we are asking the seminal questions:

* Is there a type of crosswalk that will improve safety for     pedestrians crossing Route 22 in the half mile stretch between    Pondfield Road and Tanglewylde Avenue?

* If so, is there sufficient demand for such crosswalk?

* If answered in the affirmative, where is the ideal placement of    such crosswalk?

The bottom line is the Village will never install any crosswalk that is not supported from a safety perspective by an independent traffic engineer and the New York State Department of Transportation which ultimately controls Route 22 as it is a state road.

In the interim, we welcome feedback/conversation and we are all available to meet in person, by zoom or by phone.

Mayor Mary Marvin

Deputy Mayor Robert Underhill

Trustee Helen Knapp

Trustee William Fredericks

Trustees Mary Taylor Behrens

Bronxville Insider: Mayor Mary Marvin: Mayor's Column Week of January 17th.

Mayor’s Column: January 17, 2023.

As is custom, I begin every year as the new legislature convenes in Albany sharing the initiatives/wish list of Mayors throughout the state as compiled by the New York State Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) of which I am an active member.

The following are the top priorities culled from an extensive list.

• The reimbursement of state tax revenues back to municipal governments. Return of tax dollars to local governments is essential to the strength of our communities, the retention and hopeful growth of New York’s dwindling population base and most importantly the lowering of the property tax burden on our residents.

Though hard to believe, for the past 14 years, New York State has failed to  increase this essential reinvestment. As you are all aware, this neglect has led  to ever increasing municipal tax burdens and in many communities, a harmful  disinvestment in essential services. Over the same period, school aid has  increased by more than $6 billion, well exceeding the rate of inflation. State  mayors are looking for something not even close to parity. As example, just a  cost of living adjustment to the current $75 million in this program would  require a $270 million infusion or a 38% increase.

• Since 2017-18, the state has provided millions of dollars in grant money to a variety of programs under the aegis of the Clean Water Infrastructure Project. Unfortunately, the program was constructed skewed toward emergency aid. Funding is not readily available for upgrades or preventative maintenance. Rather applicants need to demonstrate an emergency situation and not simply the need to prevent an emergency. Essentially, the program requirements defy logic.  The Mayors’ Association supports establishing an annual funding stream that could be used by all cities and villages to supplement both water and sewer infrastructure preventive maintenance costs. To make it fair and formula driven, every municipality could receive an allocation based on the amount of water and sewer pipelines owned and maintained by the community with special emphasis on storm water and sanitary sewer systems. As is evident, Bronxville could so benefit from a restructuring of this program.
• The Mayors have asked, for a decade now, to remove the tax cap disincentives for economic growth by amending the text of the current statute to exclude from the cap municipal expenditures on public infrastructure just as public schools and the State itself have done from their respective caps.
• NYCOM supports amending the bail law to allow public safety considerations in bail determinations and increasing the number of offenses that are bail eligible. The Mayors request that judges be allowed to consider an expanded list of criteria so that they may undertake a comprehensive and balanced assessment of “dangerousness” which is a determining factor in every other state when making a bail determination.

In addition to the above mentioned items, Governor Hochul announced in her recent State Inaugural Address certain state wide initiatives which often result in bills as they are a guideposts for the direction that she would like the Assembly and Senate to take. Since both houses are of her party, there is a high probability her priorities will be entertained/enacted.

One of her signature efforts is establishing what is called the New York Housing Compact. The goal of this initiative is to build 800,000 new homes over the next decade with local government participation required.

For those of us living in the area so designated “downstate” and qualify as a municipality served by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, we will have a 3% new home requirement over the next three years. By comparison, in upstate counties, the new home target will be one percent over three years.

In addition, the Governor proposes a new fast track approval mechanism directed by the State that will allow for mixed income multifamily projects in localities that do not meet their target numbers in the three-year window regardless of local zoning and regulations to the contrary. The plan is to create a new appeals process at the state administrative level through the court system to provide these approvals where localities do not.

Bronxville would also fall under the Governors additional housing initiative called the Transit Oriented Housing Development, where communities must rezone the area multifamily development within a half mile of a Metro North station. Given the small size of our Village, this would encompass a significant portion of our housing stock.

To encourage the inclusion of affordable housing as part of this new growth/density program, affordable units will be assigned extra weight in the calculation of a community’s progress towards their mandated goals.

To expedite rezoning and development of these new homes, specific relief from the environmental review process will be included for the homes subject to the Transit Oriented Development proposals.

Needless to say, a program of this enormity would have a major impact on all Village institutions.

I currently sit on a housing committee of the New York State Conference of Mayors and will be heading to Albany in early February to learn more about these programs as it is expected that the specifics will be revealed in the Governor’s budget to be released on January 31st.

 

 

Bronxville Insider: Mayor Mary Marvin: Mayor's Column Week of January 9, 2023.

Mayor’s Column: January 9, 2023.

As the great fears of Covid seem to be mercifully ebbing, a fair number of you have reached out to me and the Trustees to express your opinions, both in favor of and/or against the continuation of outdoor dining in the Village as we are 2+ years into the experiment.

Knowing that some of our incredibly loyal merchants count on the outdoor dining as a continuing economic lifeline and the fact that between the five of us in Village government, we have no expertise in this field, we have reached out to professionals to assist us in assessing the program.

We believe it is also the opportune time to look at the entire downtown; food, non-food businesses, traffic patterns, etc. as everyone is a part of this ever-shifting landscape. As you remember, similar to our neighboring communities, we invoked our emergency powers to allow our food establishments to create outdoor dining opportunities, both to frankly keep them in business, and to also accommodate Villagers who felt extremely uncomfortable heading into any of our indoor establishments. We are now at a crossroads, as merchants do not want to spend money on outdoor upgrades if the program is going to change dramatically and rightly so. We need to envision what the Village will look like in the new paradigm going forward. To that end, we are in the process of engaging a consulting firm so named Street Plans to assist us in reimagining the Village streetscape. Street Plans is an international planning, urban design and transportation planning practice with emphasis on public engagement to reach comprehensive planning and development goals.

Current projects include work throughout Connecticut in New York City with the newly configured streetscape at One Vanderbilt across from Grand Central Station, a recent project.

Issues that will be addressed include a complete review of establishments that are contributing to the aesthetic and ambiance of the Village and those that are honestly currently a blight.  We are in total concurrence that using our limited stock of parking places for furniture storage and/or the repository of dead plantings is completely unacceptable and severely impacts the ambiance and aesthetics of our Village streetscape. At the same, time we cannot but appreciate the establishments who meticulously keep their property at ideal hygienic and attractiveness standards.

Issues to be reviewed include the amount of garbage generated, trash pick-up, noise, adherence to fire codes, traffic safety, and the loss of parking spaces for customers of non-restaurant establishments. (As a note, outdoor restaurant owners pay the full cost of the parking spaces that their establishments occupy – such was not the case early in the COVID epidemic.)

The professionals will also be looking at vehicular circulation and emergency access especially in the area of Park Place taking into account that the Uber Eats and Door Dashes are part of the new norm.

To put in context, the gradient of preference for outdoor dining is wide with Larchmont fully embracing it to Rye’s closure of most outdoor venues.

Our neighbors in Greenwich recently attempted to strike a balance with the enactment of new and stringent regulations to take effect April 1. Regulations include requiring restaurants with more than 12 outdoor seats to get site approval from their Planning and Zoning Commission.

Permits are seasonal (April 1st to November 20th) and must be renewed annually. Failure to adhere to the stringent new regulations, including mandatory cleaning procedures, can result in revocation of a permit and egregious violations can result in permanent removal.

Our consultants will be reaching out to all stakeholders as part of the process. You are certainly free to weigh in at this juncture, but it would be even more helpful as the process unfolds and perhaps alternatives are proffered.

Like Greenwich, we recognize it is a delicate balancing act as we all try to adjust to a new normal.

 

 

Bronxville Insider: Bronxville Mayor Mary Marvin: Mayor's Column Week of Jan 3, 2023.

 

Mayor’s Column: January 3, 2023.

I thought I would start the New Year off on a fun and uplifting note by sharing some interesting facts about our very special community.

The actual first Village government was formed at “Dogwoods”, the home of Frances Bacon, newly installed Village President, at 61 Sagamore Road.  Still familiar names: Bacon, Kraft and Chambers were our first governing body.

Our Village functioned for its first year of incorporation in 1898 with no ordinances. The very first ordinance, which followed the next year, protected us from public nudity, brothels, saloons, gambling, riots, and profane language.

Other first generation ordinances prohibited ball playing on Sunday, “hallooing or yelling after dark” and gunfire between the setting and rising sun. (Apparently, daytime gunfire was acceptable!)

In a bit of aspirational thinking, fire escapes would be required on all opera houses, but churches were exempt.

In 1899, homes could be built with no notice to the Village and without regard to size or placement on a lot, as it was not until 1922 that our first zoning ordinance was enacted.

Our early post office was staffed by two post mistresses, maiden sisters who carefully read everyone’s postcards and magazines, and if they thought the information of some urgency, they dispatched  local boys to share the messages of often upcoming appointments in New York City that they didn’t want residents  to miss. Needless to say, they were deemed, according to the history books, as “authorities on all Village news.”

Our first school, built in 1870 on Pondfield Road looked no different from rural wood structures of the period - a little red wooden building with a cloakroom and a potbelly stove. Parental involvement in a PTA has always been a signature trait in the Village and it was no exception at these early meetings as many of the minutes concentrated on the contents of motion pictures, fearing not only a negative impact on our community but more importantly, a deleterious effect on our diction.

At the turn of the 20th century, we were also home to an insane asylum, the Vernon House Retreat near the intersection of Pondfield and White Plains Roads. Limited to just ten patients, one could be treated for, “mental and nervous diseases and cases of habit.”

Our hospital and nearby Sarah Lawrence College were thanks to the generosity of our Village founder, William Van Duzer Lawrence.

In 1908, Mr. Lawrence‘s son, Dudley, was stricken with an appendicitis attack that would be fatal without an operation. He was transported on a baggage car attached to the first train heading south from White Plains. Furnished with a box spring and mattress from the family owned Gramatan Hotel, he lived after a 12 hour ordeal. Wishing this on no one else’s child, Dudley‘s father contributed $250,000 to inaugurate a hospital capital campaign.

Monies were supplemented by the performance of a “pageant” at Sagamore Park to which thousands attended, including the then sitting governor, Charles Evans Hughes. Lawrence also envisioned a junior college for women and enlisted the help of the Vassar College President, Dr. Henry McCracken. Named after his beloved and recently deceased wife Sarah, the first Board of Trustees of Sarah Lawrence College was actually the same folks as Vassar College.

We had essentially the exact same population - approximately 6500 residents - in the 1930’s as we do today.

Stores were closed on Wednesday afternoons and a home valet truck patrolled the Village sporting a sign, “Would you spare your appearance for $.50?” If not, a gentleman would come to your door and iron your rumpled suit.

In 1928, in honor of its 25th jubilee, Saint Joseph’s beloved pastor, Father McCann, was treated to an around the world trip thanks to donations from the entire Village.

Held at the Gramatan Hotel, Miss Caroline Covington, proprietress of the Miss Covington’s School of Dance, started each class off with the sound of castanets and stopped immediately if “wallflowers” were minus a partner.

The Bronx River was actually rerouted and the Village border changed to accommodate the original construction of the Bronx River Parkway.

There are 1356 parking meters in our Village and they all work . (most days!!)

The Village has no County roads and only one state road, Route 22.  It is only Route 22 that cannot be repaved or upgraded by the Village’s capital plan.

60% of our residents live in single-family homes or townhouses while 40% live in co-ops, condominiums or rentals.

Approximately 26% of the Village is tax exempt.

The original soil at the Alfredo Fields, near Siwanoy Country Club, was sold and trucked to Queens for the Worlds Fair in 1939.

With the exception of the Hasidic Village of Kiryas Joel in Orange County, Bronxville is the only community in New York State that is co-terminous with its school district with the municipality issuing both school and Village tax bills.

The overwhelming majority of Village housing units, (72%), were built before 1939.

Clearly, we have always been a unique community and Trustee William Kraft early envisioned even greater things for us, writing on Village stationary that, “In the course of time, we will have one of the finest Villages along the line.”