The Mamaroneck Town Council will convene a special meeting on Monday, Feb. 8 to continue discussing the future of large scale residential developments across the town.
According to Town Administrator Steve Altieri, a residential moratorium—which was passed in late December 2015 and will last three months—comes as a response to a growing concern from residents who feel that larger homes are threatening the character of their neighborhood.
In addition, the amount of these larger residential developments seem to have been growing, he said.
“There seems to be a demand for larger homes, for more up-to-date floor plans,” Altieri said. “We’re seeing people tearing down existing homes and building new homes.”
The town’s moratorium was instituted in an effort to put a pause on the town’s zoning code until the governing board has a chance to review its laws for future residences.
Prior to the moratorium, Altieri said the only site plan ordinance that existed in the town’s code related to commercial developments, not residential ones.
As a result, many tear downs of single family homes that resulted in site plans calling for the regrading of property and intrusive rock chipping—construction-related digging that breaks ground and causes loud noise disturbances—were being carried out without the town board’s say.
A similar moratorium passed in the village of Larchmont in January after concerned residents flocked to a village board meeting in droves to protest the demolition of an iconic home at 40 Ocean Ave.
According to Town Supervisor Nancy Seligson, a Democrat, however, tear downs in the town of Mamaroneck differ from the situation in Larchmont in at least one way: the reconfiguration of land.
“What we’ve experienced in the town of Mamaroneck is houses being torn down to build much larger houses,” she said at a Dec. 16 board meeting. “But in that process regrading the property or clear-cutting the property.”
What the board will do in the future to address the perceived problems with the town code and development trends remains to be seen, but will materialize in the months to coming, according to Altieri.
“Now we can take the time to look and change the law appropriately,” Altieri said.
