BY STEPHEN E. LIPKEN

Mamaroneck Town Supervisor Jaine Elkind Eney convened the October 8 Town Board meeting by noting that she attended a meeting of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association on September 18 chaired by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Amanda Lefton who said that she was impressed how competitive the municipalities are in obtaining points for the Climate Smart Communities.

“I am very proud to have led the charge at Westchester Joint Water Works (WJWW) culminating in a 20-year Federal and State enforcement action with a new water filtration plant,” Eney stated.  “The residents were facing $200 million in potential fines. We settled for $1.2 million.  With the new plant we are going to have continued water safety for years to come.” 

Ground was broken for a new Weaver Street sidewalk extension on Monday, September 29 which will connect the Sheldrake Environmental Center Reservoir and some neighborhoods, enabling people to walk to the Murray Avenue School, funded in part by grant money.  

There were two Public Hearings: “Elimination of Renewals of Special Permits for Multifamily Dwellings” law includes 2025-10-08 PH Special Permit Renewal Elimination; 2025-7-18-Local Law eliminate renewal for apartment buildings and 2025-10-08 PH Cable Franchise Agreement with Cablevision of Southern Westchester. 

“This Local Law is to end an anomaly that exists in the current zoning ordinance,” Town Attorney William Maker remarked.  “In the Business Residential District, multifamily housing is approved by way of the Site Plan Application.  A Site Plan Application, once granted does not have to be renewed.  It is perpetual as long as the building stands. 

“In the Service Business Residential  District, however, multifamily housing is done with an official permit process. As a practical matter, the analysis, whether it be a Site Plan Application or Special Permit Application is pretty much the same by the Planning Board. The difference is, under the Town’s law special permits need to be renewed every two years. This law, if passed by the Board will exempt multifamily units from having special permits renewed.” 

Summarizing the 2025-2026 Budget, Comptroller Tracy Yogman noted that revenue consists of 62 percent Property Tax, 4 percent Fund Balance and 34 percent Grants.