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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1936_05_26 Town Board Minutes PUBLIC HEARING BY AND BEFORE THE TOWN BOARD OF THE TOWN OF MAMARONECK, NEW YORK HELD MAY 262 1936 At the Weaver Street Firehouse, Larchmont, New York. The hearing was called to order by Supervisor McCulloch at 8:30 P. M. Present: Supervisor McCulloch Councilmen Bates, Brennan, Griffin, Meginniss The following members of the Board of Appeals: Chairman A. Stirling Smith, Frederick G. Smith, Clifford Cross, Orson A. Raynor. The presence was also noted of Town Clerk Marvin and Town Attorney Delius. The Supervisor announced that the meeting was being held in accordance with notice duly given as required by law to consider the application of Mr. Morris H. Petigor to re-zone certain property owned by him and known as Section 4, Block 24, so as to permit the erection of multi-family dwellings. The Clerk read the notice of the meeting as published in The Daily Times on May 11, 1936, in accordance with the action taker_ by the Town. Board on May 6, 1936. The notice was unanimously approved. The Supervisor stated that the procedure to be followed would be as follows: a representative of the petitioner would first present the arguments in favor of the application; then any persons present who desired to ask questions concerning the proposed re-zoning would have an opportunity to do so; then those persons in favor of the petition would be given an opportunity to be heard and then those persons opposed to the petition would be given an opportunity to be heard. Mr. Arthur Dunn, Jr. , Mamaroneck real estate agent representing I47r. Petigor, described the change in zoning desired by Mr. Petigor and the type of structure which he proposed to build on the property. He said that Mr. Petigor had owned the land for nearly twenty years; that he had refused a number of offers for all or part of the property; that he desired that the property be developed with buildings which will harmonize with the architecture of the senior and junior high schools nearby; that the proposed buildings will not tax any of the utility services provided by the Town such as fire and sewage, and that the buildings would contain their own incinerators for the disposal of garbage and refuse. He presented a sketch to illustrate the zoning situation around the property in question. He explained that the portion of Mr. Petigor' s property which lies in the Village of Mamaroneck is zoned for apartment houses or business on the Boston Post Road and for multi- family dwellings on Palmer Avenue. In the Town of Mamaroneck there is a 200-foot strip on the Boston Post Road zoned "Unclassified' and a 100-foot strip on the other side of Palmer Avenue which is zoned residential down to Weaver Street; greenhouse property which lies in the Town is commercial in use and almost all the property to Weaver Street has similar zoning. Consequently, he stated, Mr. Petigor' s property lying in the Town, com- prising 13 acres and zoned for one-family houses, is surrounded by pro- perty zoned for business or multi-family dwellings and "is not what you would call desirable one-family residential property". He stated further that if the change in zoning is granted, Mr. Petigor plans to erect apartments of high class three-story and penthouse walk-up type, the rents to average $17.00 per room. The apartments would cover 23 per cent of the land and the nearest building would be situated 200 feet from the road. As a possible alternative, he said, Mr. Petigor planned to develop the property with the Bronxville type of attached dwellings. The Supervisor then stated that it would be in order for questions to be asked of Mr. Dunn before any arguments for or against the proposition were advanced. Various questions asked elicited the following information from Mr. Dunn: That 400 families would be housed if an apartment house were constructed and between 340 and 360 if attached houses were built; that he had been informed by the Superintendent of Schools that the existing apartment houses in the Town furnished about one child of school age for — every ten apartments. Mr. Frank E. O' Callaghan, Jr. , a member of the Board of Educa- tion, presented information showing 1200 vacancies in the four schools which might be attended by residents of the proposed development, namely, Senior High School, Junior High School, Central School and Chatsworth Avenue School. He added that the Board of Education would like any proposed buildings on the property to be of a type to correspond with the present Junior and Senior High School buildings. This comment, he added, was made without passing on the merits of the proposed re-zoning. Others who asked questions eliciting information substantially as set forth above were: Joseph F. Curren, V. J. Kraft, A. R. Barry, Robert L. Loeb, Mrs. Bernard LeVino, John T. Austin, C. C. Ib7erritt, Mrs. John J. Goldsmith and Eugem Riviere. There being no further questions asked, the Supervisor stated that it would be in order for those persons in favor of the project to speak. Mr. Herbert Houghton, Secretary of the Mamaroneck Chapter of the Westchester County Realty Board, presented a resolution adopted by the Chapter on May 18, 1936, favoring the change in zoning. Mr. Gerald Campbell of Larchmont, owner of property adjoining Mr. Petigor, spoke in favor of the re-zoning. There being no further persons present who desired to speak in favor of the re-zoning, the Supervisor stated that it would be in order for those opposed to the change to speak. Mr. Wm.. E. Schramek spoke as President of the Larchmont Gardens Association in opposition to the re-zoning, saying that the members of the Association were always in favor of zoning for single family resi- dences instead of multi-family dwellings; that the inhabitants of the Town came here to live in their own homes and not in apartment houses; that the matter of the rent to be charged for the proposed apartments is 'quite immaterial" and that any increase in the tax revenues to the Town would be absorbed by the increased cost of government resulting from the development. Mr. Edward A. Keeler, speaking as President of the Howell Park Association, said that he recognized that there are two sides to the question. He presented what he termed the "peculiar and perhaps some- what selfish position in the matter" taken by the residents of Howell Park, namely, their fear that this re-zoning may foreshadow an extension of the apartment house area with the consequent encroachment on the resi- dential area and an adverse change in the character of the neighborhood. He referred to the possible danger that apartment house dwellers who pay no direct taxes to the Town might vote for larger school budgets toward which they would contribute nothing, thus placing a heavier burden on the owners of single family homes who pay the school taxes. The Howell Park Assocation, he concluded, is opposed to the proposed re-zoning. Mr. E. Theodore I. Thygeson, speaking as Secretary of the Maple Hill Association, said that that organization was opposed to the pro- posed re-zoning because it feels that the erection of more apartment houses will prove harmful to the interests of owners of single family residences. Mr. V. J. Kraft, owner of property adjoining the proposed de- velopment stated he was opposed to it because it would result in higher assessed valuations for adjoining property. Mr. Joseph Curren declared that a mere re-zoning of the property would not give the Town control over the type of apartments to be erected and that he favored placing such control in the hands of the Town Board, provided it can be done, if the Town Board grants the re-zoning. Mr. C. C. Merritt, a resident of Howell Park, stated that the Board should give very careful consideration to the type of buildings to be erected and should not give carte blanche to the owner to erect any type he desired. N1r. Franklin Brooks declared that he was speaking for himself at the solicitation of Mr. Durs and not as Receiver of the Larchmont _ National Bank and Trust Company. He referred to the "march of progress" and quoted Mr. E. C. Bingham, owner of a large piece of adjoining pro- perty, as saying that he believed the project would add to realty values. Mr. Brooks concluded by declaring that he was in favor of the project if conditions could be set as to the type of buildings to be erected. Others who spoke in opposition and covered substantially the same ground as set forth above were: Mrs. LeVino, Mr. Barry, Mr. Loeb, Mr. W. G. Massey, Mrs. Goldsmith, Mr. Austin, Mr. John C. Forrar and Mr. Westcott. There being no other persons present who desired to speak in opposition to the petition, Mr. Dunn replied to some of the objections raised. 1 Mr. Dunn said: that it is impossible to keep all the land now zoned as Class A Residential in that zoning because of the normal increase in the population of the community; that if Mr. Petigor' s property were to be developed with single family homes, they would be "junky little houses" and that the development would be a "hurdy-gurdy development" which would prove to be a greater drain upon the local governments because of the additional cost for municipal services. Mr. Thygeson expressed a doubt as to the type of persons likely to live in the proposed apartments. Mr. Wm. morrow, manager of the Chatsworth Gardens Apartments, answered Mr. Thygeson, saying that he took exception to the reflections cast on apartment house tenants. Of the 159 apartments in his build- ings, he stated, 157 are occupied and, yet, there are less than 25 children of school age living there. He is constantly turning away applications for apartments made by young sons and daughters of local residents who are forced to go out of town to obtain space in an apart- ment house, he added. Furthermore, apartment house tenants eventually become owners of their own homes in the community, he concluded. The Supervisor inquired if there were any more persons present who desired to speak concerning the proposed re-zoning. There being none, he declared the meeting adjourned at 10:25 P. M. Town Clerk