VOL Supports Water District Law, Despite Concerns

by Judy Silberstein

(January 31, 2008) On Monday, January 29, the Larchmont Village Board voted on one water issue - legislation to create a regional storm water district - and announced an important meeting on February 11 to discuss possible solutions to another water issue - flooding at Pine Brook Drive.

Also at the Board: LPD Detective Lt. John Poleway and his family celebrated his promotion.

Voting for Water District Legislation

Despite many misgivings and questions about a proposed regional storm water management district, the Larchmont Village Board voted unanimously in support of a resolution requesting the New York State Legislature to draft legislation to create the district. In so doing, they join 4 of the 12 communities that comprise the Long Island Sound Watershed Intermunicipal Council (LISWIC) who have voted, so far, for the resolution.

However, the vote in no way obligates Larchmont Village to join the district – that would take a separate vote and a lot more convincing. Other than paying its LISWIC dues and helping support the study, Larchmont is not incurring new costs.

As described by Trustee Anne McAndrews, the board’s liaison to LISWIC, the regional district was originally viewed as a mechanism for helping meet increasingly rigorous federal standards for managing storm water. But in the wake of last spring’s nor’easter, the LISWIC members are looking for a regional approach to flood control.

Larchmont's board members voiced support for the general concept – cooperation among those whose properties contribute storm run-off that runs through Larchmont and Mamaroneck on the way to its ultimate destination – the Long Island Sound. And they liked the idea of raising funds through an entity with a tax-base much larger than Larchmont’s. A major sticking point, however, was the fear of creating another layer of government – with its own, possibly large bureaucracy – and a set of priorities different from Larchmont’s.

“This is fraught with problems,” said Ms. McAndrews, though she pointed out that a municipality could always opt out after five years, if “it isn’t working.”

As laid out in “Evaluation of a Regional Storm Water Management District,” a LISWIC report commissioned from Malcolm Pirnie, each of the twelve communities would have one vote: little Larchmont would have the same voting power as its much larger neighbor, New Rochelle. Trustee Jim Millstein praised this feature, which he likened to the US Senate. But he would like to see the LISWIC members agree on a list of priority projects before going any further with creation of the district. “It would be a heck of a lot easier for us – as one of the smallest communities – to get a sense if there would be a list,” he said. The plan calls for priority setting once the district is operating, “but that’s too late,” said Mr. Millstein.

As proposed, the district would have the ability to override a municipality’s decisions – that creates a ‘home rule’ problem,” said Mayor Feld. “Notionally, this is exactly the direction we need to go in – the devil is in the details.”

Pine Brook Flooding: $14M in Potential Fixes To Be Discussed Feb 11

Larchmont would probably assign a very high priority to fixing flooding at Pine Brook Drive, another item on the board’s agenda. Larchmont’s consulting engineer, Ken Pritchard from Dvirka and Bartilucci, will be presenting details and recommendations from his latest study at the February 11 Village Board meeting.

Though not detailed on Monday, Mayor Liz Feld employed an early draft of the report to base a request through Congresswoman Nita Lowey’s office for $8 million in federal flood mitigation funds. That’s the estimate to implement four separate projects which include: modifications at New Rochelle’s Beechmont Lake ($918K); constructing a storm sewer bypass at Mayhew Avenue ($2.33M); enlarging the culvert at Pine Brook Drive ($5M); and widening the Premium River to accommodate the resulting increase in water flow ($668K). These estimates do not include the cost of acquiring Tony’s Nursery, which would be necessary to widen the river and could require an additional $6M.

Trustee Richard Ward characterized the proposals as “partially” addressing flooding under “certain conditions.” If implemented, they would “mitigate flooding in less severe situations,” he said.

With a bottom line this big - $14M – no one is expecting all the projects to be implemented. Mr. Pritchard will be providing details on February 11 to help the board and the community decide which – if any – proposals are worth pursuing further.

Trustee Jim Millstein provided some perspective: Larchmont’s annual budget is on the order of $13M and its longterm debt is around $4M. Larchmont’s debt would rise substantially if it were to fund even a portion of the project, he said. He further noted that Pine Brook is only one in a series of major infrastructure project “our 100-year-old Village is facing."

Community members were urged to attend the session: “These will be some of the most important issues we will be facing in the next 5 years,” said Mr. Millstein, “The sums involved will not be small.”

Front Page

Print This Page
Email this page