Five Municipalities Must Make Right Choice, Approve Indian Brook Overlay Zoning

By Daria Gregg

Right now, before the local governments of the towns of Ossining, Cortlandt and New Castle and the villages of Ossining and Croton-on-Hudson, is a proposal to form what is called overlay zoning on the watersheds, the land that drains into the Indian Brook Reservoir and the Lower Croton River from the Croton Dam to the Hudson River.

What is an overlay zone? It is added zoning regulations on top of the current zoning for a specific purpose – in this case protecting the different sources of drinking water and recreation on all the land that drains into Indian Brook Reservoir (a local source of drinking water for both the Town and Village of Ossining) and the Lower Croton River, which is the indirect source of the drinking water for Croton-on-Hudson’s wells and the source of wonderful recreation on the Croton River for everyone.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Westchester County Planning Department put forth a draft plan of overlay zoning in mostly the same area. It was never adopted by the local governments. The closest to a change was New Castle increasing the buffer zone along streams and waterbodies in its area.

Over the last five years through the leadership of the Town of Cortlandt Planning Department, a New York State grant to hire a consultant and talks with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, a new plan has been created using the latest techniques in planning to protect ground and surface waters.

There are always people who will scream that these regulations take away their private property rights, but most of us realize zoning regulations are put into place for the good of everyone. Most people buy a home or live somewhere hoping a factory will not be built next door. Zoning regulations do this.

All of us deserve clean drinking water. All of us deserve a clean Croton River to recreate in and many of us enjoy the Teatown area for its beauty and outdoor recreation opportunities. Most of the people in the Teatown area, which encompasses both watersheds, are on private wells. This overlay zone will help protect those wells.

Currently, the Village of Ossining’s water treatment plant gets 75 percent of its drinking water from the Croton Reservoir and uses its adjacent Indian Brook Reservoir to dilute the more problematic water from the Croton Reservoir. This reduces the cost and burden on the Ossining Water Treatment Plant (funded by our tax dollars). It means Town and Village of Ossining residents get cleaner water from the tap at a lower cost. Protecting the Indian Brook Reservoir is for the good of all. In its watershed the landowners use wells, so they are also protecting their own source of water.

Currently, the Lower Croton River is considered the cleanest tributary to the Hudson River. It has been used locally for recreation and for residents to enjoy its beauty. Recently, there was a serious sewage leak into the Croton River from a pump station on the Ossining side across from the Van Cortlandt historical site. It took almost a week to repair. The only partially treated sewage was released into the Croton River and then entered the Hudson River and closed all of the beaches on the Hudson from Tarrytown to Peekskill.

This is another example of how we are all connected. Sometimes we just have to say to ourselves, my property is already worth a lot of money and I am going to forego any additional profit from subdividing for the good of my fellow residents.

I urge all residents of the five municipalities to call their town supervisor or their village mayor and ask that their municipality pass the overlay zoning for their municipality. They need to hear from you and not just those who want to profit more from their property.

Daria Gregg is a resident of the Crotonville section of Ossining.

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