A lengthy process updating the village of Mamaroneck’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program, LWRP, will slide into the summer after the village’s costal management board was granted an extension by the Board of Trustees.
According to Cindy Goldstein, the chairwoman of the village Harbor and Coastal Zone Management Commission, the extension, which will last until June 30, will help the local body iron out any kinks left in the update.
“[The process] is more fine-tuning,” Goldstein said. “It’s taking longer than we had hoped.”
The drafted LWRP, which is being redrafted by the coastal management board with the help of a technician from the Department of State—the organization responsible for approving the new document—is nearing completion, she said.
Goldstein said that the process’s completion still depends on the revisions requested by the state department, however.
Among the major changes, according to Clark Neuringer, another member of the coastal management board, will be to refine the language, and bring the document into the 21st century.
“[We’re] making the 1984 version with contemporary standards,” said Neuringer, adding that language on environmental concerns such as dredging will be clarified.
Keeping the document—which both Goldstein and Neuringer acknowledge is still remarkably practical in 2016—in line with its original intentions has been a major goal of the commission.
“This document has served this community well for over 30 years,” Neuringer said.
The process of updating the village’s LWRP has run into several roadblocks since it was started in 2014, including adamant concerns from residents worried that an original process that put outside consultants in control of the update butted against state and local policy.
A previous draft of the LWRP drawn partially by hired consultants, according to Neuringer, would have altered the role of the village’s coastal management board, potentially lessening their influence on coastal development.
“Members of the community and HCZMC fought after we saw some of the proposals coming forth,” he said.
Additionally, according to Goldstein, the coastal management board has grappled with new regulations from New York state that have broadened the scope of what an LWRP encompasses.
“New York state updated its policies dealing with the Long Island Sound region,” she said. “Now 44 policies are synthesized into 13 polices, but with well over 100 sub-policies.”
Even outside of these new policies, however, Goldstein said that the village’s situation is uniquely challenging, because although the LWRP is meant to guide development of waterfront property, the vast majority of the village falls under that definition.
“We have marine flooding, we have toxic waste sites,” Goldstein said. “The cookie cutter approach didn’t work for us. The LWRP applies to basically our whole land mass.”
Goldstein hopes that when the LWRP—which hasn’t been updated since its inception in 1984—is complete, it will help the village traverse an evolving world of development.
“It will help the village of Mamaroneck navigate its future, dealing with environment, and most importantly, flooding,” she said.
According to Slingerland, the LWRP will be resubmitted to the Board of Trustees who will then send it to the Department of State for its final review.
