Section: The Minority Report

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I Say 'Restrict Carrying Capacity not the Public' from Mayo's Landing

May 29, 2007

Recently, Crotonblog caught up with Trustee Charlie Kane for an email interview to appear in our “The Minority Report” column. The timely topic of the conversation was Kane’s passion—the Croton River.

Cb: “Charlie, how long have you spent time around the Croton River?”

Charlie Kane: “Let’s see… I was born in the Ossining Hospital in 1950, then our family moved to Grand Street in Croton in 1959 from the Major Bowes estate, (the radio guy that preceded Ted Mack’s amateur hour on TV). As a matter of fact, our class opened the new wing at Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School the next year after double sessions at Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School. So, at about ten years old I started exploring the Croton River with my buddies from school. All in all, about forty years of canoe trips, boats, rafts, swimming, and exploring every inch of river and shore from the dam to the trestle and beyond.

Then, in 1976 my family moved back to Croton on Fourth of July weekend. My son Charlie started first grade that year. So, my five children grew up on the river with me serving as their guide—and I’m about to introduce my grandchildren to the natural wonderland in my back yard also.”

Cb: “On May 21, 2007, by resolution, the village board designated Mayo’s Landing, also known as “Dickies,” as a conservation area. Further, the board moved to restrict access to the village-owned property, located on Nordica Drive (satellite map), to village and school district residents only. Despite 4-0 passage of the resolution, before voting, you raised several objections to the proposal. Would you please explain to residents why you are not satisfied with the resolved outcome?”

Charlie Kane: “Well, my attempts at preserving public access at Mayo’s Landing failed last Monday evening. The regressive Village Recreation Department ID policy voted on by the Republican board majority is in serious conflict with a generation of state and federal mandates on public access. With only a quick glance at the federal Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA), the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) and New York State Hudson River Estuary Program initiatives, one can easily see the foolishness of the recent action to deny access to non-residents at Mayo’s Landing.

Add to this the Public Trust Doctrine that mandates the public right to access the tidal shoreline that has existed since Roman Law—passed through the Magna Carta—that prevented English kings from giving away choice shoreline of the empire to his cronies, and you may see my point. Therefore, I gave the board all this information previously to help with an informed decision on a difficult issue.

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Croton's Gateway Law Designed to Enhance Business Development

May 3, 2007

Every community has gateways where arrivals first encounter its streets and residents and shops. Croton has three commercial gateways that have been studied: southerly at Croton Point Avenue, Route 9 and S. Riverside; centrally at Route 9, Municipal Place and Maple Avenue; and northerly at Route 9A/Albany Post Road border with Cortlandt.

An attractive, active gateway boosts a community’s sense of pride and, of course, a visitor’s desire to linger. So the question becomes what would best fit in a community like ours?

Think of a gateway overlay as a mild dress code for the sites that are the most visible in Croton. To create a better looking, more consistent, higher functioning gateway, sites within it are being asked—upon redevelopment—to dress up more than is the case for less visible sites further removed from the main entrances to the village.

Over time this dress code raises property values in the gateway and adjacent to the gateways. Investors and villagers both will like that long term economic benefit. In the long run, good design costs less and earns back more than lack of design.

What kind of dress code fits our village entrances? Through surveys, workshops and many public meetings, Crotonites have made specific preferences clear. We want a greater variety of shopping experiences. We want shops that are scaled to the small-town feel of the Upper Village or Harmon districts. We want high quality in what is offered, whether in services or goods. We want safe pedestrian and bicycle access and better sidewalks. We want to see plenty of greenery wherever we go in town. We do want places to park, but don’t want more strip-mall style parking lots. We don’t want large big-box stores. We don’t want a concrete and asphalt-only environment.

In 2004 Croton adopted a Gateway Zoning Overlay Law that provides specific guidelines for developing sites in the three commercially zoned entrances to our village. The Gateway law added specific design criteria to the already existing zoning in each of the three areas.

In response to citizen input and, in accord with well-established patterns in attractive gateways in other cities and towns, new development in the 3 Croton Gateways set out the following specifics:

1. Building Size: any single building is limited to 20,000 square feet and any single use to 8,000 square feet.
2. Parking: Off-street parking is to be located on the side or rear of buildings, unless this makes the site unworkable.
3. Green space: at least 15% of the site should be open space, not including parking, buildings, or sidewalks.

Does a Gateway overlay benefit developers? Yes. Why? In simple terms, the improvements in the Gateway are those that (1) embody positive changes the community is seeking, (2) raise the overall aesthetic and functional value of the sites; (3) help ensure that each site will eventually be improved to a higher standard.

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Energy, Economics and You

March 24, 2006

Come tomorrow morning March 25, 2006, 10 am – noon, to the Municipal Building, 1 Van Wyck Street, Croton-on-Hudson, New York (map), for Sandy Galef’s annual Energy Fair. Learn about New York’s Energy Programs, Solar Energy, Geothermal Energy, Biodiesel Fuel, Vegetable Oil Fuel, Hybrid Vehicles, Energy Evaluation, Energy Cost Reduction, Ride-Sharing Programs, Clean Energy Advocacy (details here).

Fifteen exhibitors—a record number—will present information for you on how to save money in the next year. And how to get more value out of the dollars you do spend on gas, electricity, heating oil and more.

This year exhibitors include:

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Haste Makes Waste: Why We Need Public Input on Condemnation

March 1, 2006

You may wonder why we voted against $52,000 of spending on February 21, 2006 (see video clip in comment #2) to hire a consultant to prepare the environmental impact statement on the condemnation of property at 1A Croton Point Avenue for a new DPW facility (see: “Touring the Croton Municipal Garage”).

First, the proposal lacked a public input stage (a.k.a. a “scoping session”) that we have used so often on big projects in the past.

Second, we—Charlie and Leo—have worked through many environmental impact statements over the past decade. We have learned a few things along the way. If past is prologue, this analysis will end up in court. So, why wouldn’t we want to get it right up front?

Third, the trustees are not rubber stamps for whatever the mayor wants. This significant item was cloaked in secrecy until it was sprung on us—Charlie and Leo—that evening.

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Predicting High Tides in Croton-on-Hudson

February 2, 2006

Recent flooding at the Croton Harmon parking lot has all of us wondering about tides. Any high tide height that approaches 3 feet or higher above ‘mean lower low water’ means river water will come up on shore at Senasqua Park, the commuter parking lot, and Croton Landing.

Photo caption: “Senasqua Park, January 4, 2006, on 4th consecutive day of 3+ foot high tides”

The high tide height for January 31, 2006 was predicted at 3.9 feet at 12:27 PM LST (local standard time or 1:27 PM EDT). Hence the village closed the flood prone portion of the commuter lot. In other words, midday flooding was very likely. Fortunately we had only moderate winds that day.

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Flooding Solution for Croton Harmon Train Station Parking Lot Mothballed by Schmidt, Brennan and Steinberg

January 21, 2006

Why have solutions to solve flooding at the Croton Harmon train station parking lot been ignored?

“This plan also addresses a key concern of the Village: addressing the chronic flooding that impacts a portion of the eastern area of the parking lot. This option therefore includes new fill and regrading for an approximate 2.5 acre portion of the parking lot.”

This quote is from the Village’s “Croton Harmon Station Area Study” that was undertaken in 2004 and ignored in 2005 (pages 14-15). (To read more, click here and get the PDF called “Croton-Harmon Station Area Study”)

Leo (Trustee Leo Wiegman) and I (Trustee Charlie Kane) voted against the 2005-2006 Village Budget for several reasons. One was the final budget gutted all funding for 2005 parking lot improvements, which the village had been planning for three years. We felt very strongly this work at the commuter parking lot needed to start immediately as the first steps toward a long-term series of upgrades. Another was the 2005-2006 budget jacked up parking fees dramatically in advance of any improvements.

The good news is Croton already has in hand long-term solutions to cars being flooded. The bad news is the plans got mothballed last year with the change in administration.

In plain terms, the Schmidt, Brennan, Steinberg majority abandoned immediate plans to improve daily traffic congestion (phase 1 improvements), and then mothballed any action on phase 2 that would have addressed chronic flooding.

• Phase 1 would have untangled the daily bus-taxi-automobile-pedestrian-bike-pick-up-drop-off snarl in front of the station.
• Phase 2 would have raised the grade of the daily commuter lot.
• Phase 3 would have built the parking garage on higher ground, driving piles into bedrock deep below the flood prone area, and building structures on these piles to remain above the high tide surge levels.

We can all pay more attention to the signals that Mother Nature sends about her weather intentions. But we do have solutions in hand. A proper confluence of political will, time, and money can both solve this flooding problem and untangle the daily traffic snarl at the Croton Harmon Train Station.

We are sorry it has taken such calamitous floods to draw the full village board’s attention to the lot of stranded commuters (see: “Flood Waters Swamp Cars Again in Croton Harmon Commuter Parking Lot” from January 19, 2006).

— Village of Croton-on-Hudson Trustees Charlie Kane & Leo Wiegman

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Controlling our Future with Three Land Use Tools

January 14, 2006

The Village’s Comprehensive Plan lays out new directions for the Village. Changing land use over time to accommodate the Village’s future needs careful preparation. Fortunately municipalities have a number of tools available to effect change —3 hammers if you will—with which to build. These tools include (1) using eminent domain, (2) establishing local development corporations, and (3) amortizing out unwanted uses.

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Quickening the Demise of Harmful Land Uses

December 8, 2005

At the Village Board meeting on December 5, 2005, Trustee Charlie Kane proposed that the Board reexamine its amortization provisions with respect to nonconforming uses. This report explains what amortization is, how it works, and how it may be used to bring certain arguably valid nonconforming uses – such as waste transfer stations – to an end.

What is Zoning Amortization?

Zoning provisions are complex tools used by communities to balance public good versus private property rights. Zoning amortization allows a village, city or town to phase out over a number of years specific non-conforming land uses. Such non-conforming land uses may be created by the adoption of new zoning—as Croton has done in recent years—that is more restrictive than prior codes. Amortization may allow termination of an undesirable or potentially harmful use without compensation to the property owner. Without amortization, such non-conforming uses may be “grandfathered” and remain for decades. How might amortization be applied in Croton?

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