New Police Officer Liliana Mendoza; Mayor Tom Murphy
Flooding and Affordable Housing Addressed by the Board of Trustees
By Stephen E. Lipken
Village of Mamaroneck (VOM) Mayor Tom Murphy opened the August 14th Board of Trustees meeting, administering the Oath of Office to new Police Officer Liliana Mendoza, witnessed by her family and Police Chief Sandra DiRuzza.
The Village Manager, Jerry Barberio, reported that significant obstructions were cleared from the Barry Avenue Extension Culvert in February-March, plus 70 days of river maintenance dredging in April-August, utilizing 5-15 DPW employees expending 600 man-hours, amounting to $800,000 worth of work. “There is a constant flow of debris that goes into our rivers, an estimated 60 yards of green waste including 20 cubic yards of gravel,” Barberio noted. “SLR Consulting will present NYS resiliency study of the Mamaroneck River, probably at our second September meeting.”
“A lot of people are here for RFP for Hunter Tier Parking Structure,” Mayor Murphy said.
“The Board re-zoned it to C2 (commercial) to replace it with affordable housing for those in our community needing decent homes to raise their families, especially those spending 50-70% of their income on housing.”
Developer Gary Hirsch stated that he has built three projects in VOM and has affordable apartments. “About five years ago, Mayor, when you stepped into office, you were a proponent of changing zoning to encourage affordable housing and limit market rate housing. The goal was to cause developers to want to build affordable housing by giving them bonuses. At that time I spoke against the proposal because I thought it was disproportionate; incentives should be balanced…”
Many citizens advocated affordable housing and talked about flooding in their homes, particularly backups from Beaver Swamp Brook.
Later, public hearings included the Housing Discrimination Law, Nuisance Abatement Law encompassing selling marijuana and massages without licenses, and the Administration of Affordable Housing Placement Program. All passed by Roll Call Vote.
Resolutions included setting the St. Patrick’s Day Parade to Sunday, March 24, and requesting the DOT to conduct a feasibility study for the All-Way Pedestrian Phase at Route 1/Fenimore and Delancey/Orienta/Route 1 intersections.