From the Mayor of Larchmont

By Mayor Sarah Bauer

 After having served on the Village Board as a Trustee for over four years, I am very excited to step into this new role. I want to take a moment to thank former Mayor Lorraine Walsh for her twelve years of service to the Village. During that time, she worked to modernize the way we do things in the Village, improve the way residents interact with the Village Hall staff, and faced some incredible challenges head on. She was honored by the County for her service and even had her name posted on the Jumbo Tron at the County Center! 

Plug your Electric Vehicle into the new EV Charger at Addison Lot! This project was started by the Larchmont Environmental Committee, and we are thrilled to continue the commitment to make Larchmont more “green”. We also expect to add two additional EV chargers to the Village in the coming months. 

The initiative to bring in electric vehicle charging stations has been several years in the making, introduced by the Larchmont Environmental Committee and supported by the Larchmont Village Board. Electric vehicle chargers have become a popular way for local governments, shopping centers, and other entities to support sustainability efforts through promoting electric vehicles. As an environmental leader among local governments, the Village of Larchmont embraces and promotes this initiative. The Village received a grant through the Zero-Emission Vehicle grant program from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to purchase and install this EV charger. Having this charger in the middle of the Boston Post Road Business District will help further attract environmentally-conscience visitors to shop and dine in Larchmont.

For convenience, electric vehicle parkers using the charging stations pay for the charge and parking entirely through the EV machine, so there’s no need to walk over to the parking meter to pay! Only electric vehicles can park during the day, and vehicles must be actively plugged into the charger while parked. 

We passed the first new law of 2023 at our Board of Trustees meeting on January 9. During the pandemic, when we tried to reach out to our landlords and tenants in the business district, we realized that we did not have everyone’s contact information. As a result, we passed an amendment to the Village’s Property Maintenance Code which will require landlords to register with the Village and provide up-to-date contact information for both property owners and commercial occupants in case of an emergency situation. The new law will also require that landlords register any space that has been vacant for 6 months with the Building Department, so we can ensure the property is being properly and safely maintained.  

In addition, we anticipate voting on an update to our zoning code at our February 6 meeting which would require landlords to register any change in tenant or change in use for commercial property, so the Village again has up to date contact information and can make sure that any proposed use is allowed under Village code.

At our next Village Board meeting in February, we will also be holding a public hearing on two proposed laws that relate to our zoning code. These changes have been proposed in connection with the Village’s review of our land use application process. The goal is to improve and simplify that process for residents, and this is the first step in making changes to accomplish that goal. The two proposals include removing the pre-submission conference requirement, increasing the threshold for site plan review so fewer applications will need to go before the Planning Board, and clarifying that repairs in kind do not need to be submitted to the Architectural Review Board for review.  

These are just the initial proposals, and we anticipate making additional changes. Residents are encouraged to attend the public hearing, which will be held Monday, February 6, at 7:30 PM in the Village Hall courtroom. We are also asking anyone who has participated in our land use application process to please provide any feedback that they have on the process by email. The Board would like to receive feedback from anyone who has participated in the Village’s land use process and their suggestions for improvement.  Please send your feedback to newsletter@villageoflarchmont.org with the subject “Land Use Feedback.” Please include as much detail as possible, as well as the address of the property that was the subject of the land use application. 

While we’ve already hit the ground running this year, we will be just as busy in the upcoming months. We plan to continue our work to improve the land use application process, complete our new Village website, engage in our budget process for the next fiscal year, begin the Flint Park renovation in partnership with the Flint Park Conservancy, and explore new technology options to update antiquated in-person and paper-based services.

I am looking forward to the challenges ahead and hope to build on the legacy left by former Mayor Walsh. 

New Rule at CVS Lot: 30 Minute Time Limit — In an effort to open up more parking and maximize turnover, the Village has amended the time limit at the CVS Lot from 2 hours maximum to 30 minutes maximum. This will ensure that shoppers looking for a quick 5, 10, or 15 minute stop into the shops in the Boston Post Road Business District have a convenient place to park. The 30 minute time limit will be in effect 8 AM to 5 PM.