Planning Board Considers Sub Division, Wireless Antennas, Solar Energy Program
The 6-acre site at 221-227 West Street, White Plains, was left to the Windward School by the property’s previous owners. The Windward School is an independent co-ed day school, located at 13 Windward Avenue in White Plains, focused on helping children in grades 1 to 9 with language based learning disabilities.
A three-lot subdivision with housing for school staff including a ball field, which was later withdrawn, had been proposed by the property-owner who had appeared before the Planning Board on several occasions.
The proposed ball field was an issue of concern for neighbors who did not want traffic back and forth from the school to the field. The School later withdrew the ball field from the plan and at the December 19 meeting asked for a public hearing to be scheduled to move the project forward.
The proposed development would affect about one half the area of the site because of prominent rock outcroppings and steep slopes.
Because of the environmentally sensitive nature of the project, Planning Commissioner Elizabeth Cheteny advised the Board to find out if the site was required to follow the NY SEQRA process. ‘This is the careful way to do things,” Cheteny said.
Planning Board Chairman Michael Quinn agreed, noting that the current state of the site, including all the sensitive areas, habitats, plants, native species, including a tree survey etc. needed to be marked on one plan. It was also questioned whether there were historic resources that needed to be addressed.
Commissioner Nicoletti said DPW was reviewing how the development would handle wetlands and water resource issues.
Before the project can move forward to a public hearing, Quinn determined that the plan had to highlight measures being taken by the owners to address the wetland issues.
At the same meeting the Board also considered a number of wireless antenna upgrades around the city. For the most part, the upgrades included technology replacements for 3G to 4G service and did not provide higher antennas or increased numbers of antennas.
A new Singular Wireless facility at 333 West Post Road requires a special use permit. That antenna facility design was approved by the Design Review Board and provides major coverage for Scarsdale.
White Plains had asked Singular to approach Scarsdale for permission to place the antenna atop the Public Safety building further south on the Post Road. Scarsdale provided a negative response. White Plains is moving forward with the application.
To accommodate a New York State program to streamline the application process for solar energy installation in one and two family structures to expedite energy efficiency, the Planning Board discussed the difference between White Plains neighborhoods and other areas of the state such as Duchess County where lot sizes are bigger and the neighborhoods not so compact.
The program, which would award White Plains with a $10,000 grant if the city comes into conformance with the guidelines, would bypass the Design Review Board to save time.
Board members expressed concern about future impacts and that “someone has to look after the character of the neighborhoods.” Because the Design Board meets twice each month, the Planning Board felt time was not a concern in White Plains.
A suggestion that the Design Review Board provide the Building Department with a check list so it could take over that review was met with a lukewarm reaction.
It was discussed that by federal law new building structures cannot block the sun from existing solar installations. This would mean a neighbor could not build an addition that would block their neighbor’s sun. Additionally, public notice to neighbors is not required for solar installations.
Commissioner Cheteny noted that applications are increasing and that White Plains is trying to become solar smart.
Acknowledging that sustainability is important and that a decision has to be made about where the two twains meet – energy efficiency vs. aesthetics – the Board decided to advise the Common Council they were in favor of quick reviews, but they were not clear how removing the Design Review Board from the process would speed things up because it meets every two weeks.
