Board of Trustees

Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 172 THREE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED SIXTH REGULAR MEETING Rutherford Hall Village Hall May 27, 2014 A regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Scarsdale was held in Rutherford Hall in Village Hall on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 at 8:00 P.M. Present were Mayor Steves, Trustees Brodsky, Lee, Mark, Martin, Pekarek, and Samwick. Also present were Village Manager Gatta, Deputy Village Manager Pappalardo, Village Attorney Esannason, Deputy Village Attorney D’Andrea, Village Treasurer McClure, Village Clerk Conkling, and Assistants to the Village Manager Goodwin and Schnabel. ******** The minutes of the Board of Trustees Regular Meeting of May 13, 2014 were approved on a motion entered by Trustee Martin, seconded by Trustee Brodsky, and carried unanimously. ******** Bills & Payroll Trustee Pekarek reported that she had audited the Abstract of Claims dated May 27, 2014 in the amount of $1,082,643.18 which includes $58,956.84 in Library Claims previously audited by a Trustee of the Library Board which were found to be in order and she moved that such payment be ratified. Upon motion duly made by Trustee Martin and seconded by Trustee Lee, the following resolution was adopted unanimously: RESOLVED, that the Abstract of Claims dated May 27, 2014 in the amount of $1,082,643.18 is hereby approved. ******** Mayors Comments Mayor Steves stated that with great sadness that the Village has, once again, too soon lost an amazing individual who has contributed mightily to the work of this Village. Sharon Lindsay passed away last week. Sharon was a member of this Board, served as the Deputy Mayor, served on the Planning Board and a wide variety of other civic duties she Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 173 undertook selflessly with dignity, patience and intelligence. She was a remarkable woman gone much too soon and very much a loss for this Village. Mayor Steves requested a moment of silence in respect and gratitude for her service. Mayor Steves stated that on Thursday, 29th at 7:30 P.M. there will be a meeting here in Rutherford Hall to meet with a representative of Tyler Technologies. Tyler Technologies undertook the revaluation for the Village. They will be here to discuss their methodology and to answer questions from the audience. Anyone who will not be able to attend the meeting listening to this broadcast who wishes to ask a question, please submit the question to the Mayor’s email at mayor@scarsdale.com. He will make sure that all questions are provided for the meeting. The form of the meeting will be that the Board will ask participants to write out questions beforehand. The Board has previously used this format on issues that the Board considers to be time consuming and it has been very helpful. The meeting will be televised live and will be shown on Cable Channel 75 from time to time. The schedule of the airings of the meeting will be available on public station and the Village’s website (www.scarsdale.com) as well. Mayor Steves gave a public thanks to the men and women of American Legion Post 52, who sponsored the Memorial Day Service. On Monday they continued to do a tremendous job in the Village of Scarsdale to keep our memories fresh about the losses and sacrifices made by our men and women for our freedom in this Country and they are to be applauded. In his comments on Monday, he reminded the community that we need to find a way to make sure this process and program is continued. The men and women of the Post will not be around forever; they need follow-up and support. This is a community responsibility. On a procedural note for those wanting to get their passports, the Westchester County Mobile Passport Office is coming to Scarsdale. Anyone either wishing to apply for a new passport or renew their current one can visit the mobile office to pick up the required paperwork, have questions answered and even apply that day. The mobile passport office will be a Boniface Circle on Wednesday, June 4th between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Those who would like additional information should call the Westchester County Clerk’s office at 995-3082 or visit their website at www.westchesterclerk.com. ******** Managers Comments None. ******** Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 174 Public Comment Jane Veron, 20 Tompkins Road, stated that she is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of The Acceleration Project (TAP), a non-profit organization which deploys professional women to accelerate small business growth. Their mission is to tap the potential of professional women in local businesses, maximizing human capital and boosting economical development. On behalf of her TAP Co-founder, Lisa Tretler, the entire TAP Team, all Scarsdale residents, as well as Carolyn Stevens, Executive Director of the Scarsdale Chamber of Commerce, she stated that she is here this evening to invite the Board and the entire community to the final presentation of TAP’s bi-local study scheduled for Monday, June 16th at 6:30 p.m. at the Scarsdale Public Library. Ms. Veron continued, stating that last November, in collaboration with the Scarsdale Chamber of Commerce, TAP initiated a bi-local study to promote the vibrancy of Scarsdale retail hubs and the community overall. Scarsdale’s businesses have never before faced so many challenges to their vitality. Competition from the internet and national and regional chains have put significant pressure on local businesses. In response, TAP assembled a team of 19 consultants, industry experts, and interns to develop recommendations to achieve two goals. First, to drive more customers to Scarsdale businesses and secondly, to educate stakeholders in their role to enhance the vibrancy of Scarsdale’s retail hubs. With the expert help of Scarsdale resident Carol Fitzgerald, President and CEO of Buzzback Market Research firm, a quantitative survey was done to assess consumer buying behavior and preferences and received overwhelming support with 517 consumers responding. They also interviewed over 60 businesses and garnered 50 business survey responses to gage business perceptions. In addition, they researched best practices, identifying 20 effective initiatives in other communities across the Country and numerous examples locally. To date, TAP has donated over 2,000 professional hours to this project. Ms. Veron stated that on June 16th they will share their survey results as well as practical recommendations to promote the vibrancy of the retail hubs. They will also unveil an exciting local marketing campaign. This presentation is relative to all Scarsdale stakeholders - residents, business owners, community leaders, and government officials. Michael Levine, 54 Walworth Avenue, submitted copies of his statement/study regarding property tax revaluation. This statement addresses the preliminary assessment values. He stated that he had submitted numerous FOIL requests and has developed approximately 50 pages of documents, charts and analysis. He has summarized his study in the statement he submitted this evening. He has included questions for Tyler Technologies in the document. Although he now has a good sense of the fairness and consistency issues. His summary is that this process has not been transparent from the perspective of someone trying to understand what Tyler Technologies is doing. He stated that he only received the model information on Friday from a FOIL request. He has analyzed it and he can produce the numbers and feels he can understand it now. This information could have been available two months ago and people would have been prepared to address issues they have. The Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 175 land values that Tyler Technologies arrived at were never explained in a thorough way. In his opinion, the substance of the model formula is ‘goofy’, noting that he is a certified actuary with statistics background. It puts a very high value on a relatively obscure element known as the rate adjustment percentage. If you look at the Assessors manual, this is something the Assessors aren’t even supposed to use without their supervisor’s approval. However, this is a huge element to the real formula. There is nothing in the formula that explicitly recognizes bathroom quality, the number of bathrooms or the existence or non- existence of central air or a garage. Does Tyler Technologies think that these things don’t affect market value? Mr. Levine continued, stating that another large substantive problem is that the comps process causes more distortions than it corrects. He explained by giving an example that it is fairly easy to find two properties that are similar; but it is the luck of the draw that one property gets assigned to one set of five comps and it raises their value by $100,000 or more, and another is assigned to a different set of five comps and it lowers their value by $100,000 or more. He believes that most of this is random happenstance, arbitrary, and not anything theoretical, refined, or intrinsic about the way those comps are compared to other comps. Mr. Levine stated that there are other communities were this could have worked; but the 400 or so comps in Scarsdale have such a wide variance in the degree to which Tyler Technologies model matches the sales price or doesn’t match it, and this wide variance causes this variance in how the comps are applied. He noted that fairness has improved. However, there are still hundreds of properties that are on either side of this mismatch. He felt that if he could find this on his own with a few FOILS in a few weeks, it is a disappointment that Tyler Technologies couldn’t find these. He is hoping that when the Tentative Roll comes out it improves the picture, he will be the first to say if it does. He has given Tyler Technologies his information which touches on these issues. When taxpayers say that a revaluation has flaws, a common response he sees in the press is not to worry because the grievance process will address it. In his opinion, the grievance process forces people through a lot of aggravation; they have to hire someone or worry about doing it themselves; they are forced to pay for an appraisal and they are forced into arguing the nuances of market value. This doesn’t seem right when Tyler Technologies and the Village are in possession of all the facts necessary to prove that someone’s assigned value is not a uniform percentage of value as compared to someone else. This response using grievance implies that the valuation mistakes are property specific irregularities. From what he has heard, the flaws are comprehensive and systemic. To him, this is a flawed model and it hits the whole Village. Although he stated he knew it is difficult to defer this type of decision, he asked the Board that if they do approve the new revaluation, to set up some mechanism, perhaps a Committee, to review fairness and the kind of things he has stated, to come up with a model for Scarsdale that the real estate professionals can support Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 176 and that ordinary, regular taxpayers can understand. Or perhaps even a group of good faith ordinary citizens could propose something to the Board. Mr. Levine stated that he is going to continue his analysis with the Tentative Assessment Roll and stated that he would be happy to provide any further information to the Board. Trustee Stern stated that Tyler Technologies is one of the predominant firms that does revaluation around the Country. He asked Mr. Levine if he knew whether they use the same model in all areas, and if they do, wouldn’t all their revaluations be flawed? Mr. Levine replied that he did not know the answer to that question, but that isn’t to say that they didn’t make a mistake here. Mayor Steves stated that this will be an issue addressed to Tyler Technologies at Thursday night’s meeting. He stated that he appreciated Mr. Levine’s comments. Josh Frankel, 45 Black Birch Lane, stated that “at its May 13th meeting, the Board was implored by several speakers to postpone the implementation of the Village-wide revaluation for one year so alleged discrepancies can be resolved. The May 23rd Scarsdale Inquirer contained a couple of letters to the same effect and also included a quarter-page ad exhorting readers to sign a petition to that end. The Board must not succumb to this pressure. In 2012, when RFPs were out for the reassessment, then Mayor Flisser commented about Tyler Technologies, ultimately the winning bidder. “In the last five years, Tyler has performed revaluations and assessment related services to approximately 2,500 clients throughout the country, Canada and the U.K. This is the firm that completed the recent revaluation in neighboring Bronxville.” Mr. Frankel noted that he spoke to the Bronxville Assessor today, and he had nothing but praise for the work that Tyler had done there. Tyler’s website claims that they have been appraising properties for government since 1938. Yet now, presumably only in the Village of Scarsdale, we are led to believe that Tyler’s methodologies are so flawed as to require a one year delay. The Scarsdale website states that we have 5,955 parcels comprising varying property types in the Town/Village of Scarsdale, each reflected on the Official Tax Map of the Town/Village and each having a land and total assessment. It has been reported that 927 property owners – or 16% - have met informally with Tyler Technologies regarding their reassessment. Absent any context whatsoever, some have taken that 16% number and abused it, claiming it somehow proves flaws in Tyler’s methodologies. However, according to Tyler: “When revaluations occur in 10 year or longer intervals, (ours has been 40+) we find the appeal ratio is typically 15% plus or minus of the total parcel count. In Massachusetts, where annual updates of value are the norm, appeal ratios are less than 5%. In Connecticut, where revaluations are now required every five years, we have seen appeal Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 177 ratios around 7%, plus or minus.” Clearly our outcome was not an outlier given it’s been over 40 years since our last Reval. A 2010 Scarsdale Forum report on revaluation hit the nail on the head: “Oftentimes, properties which are significantly under assessed include older houses on large properties, including some substantial estates in the Heathcote and Murray Hill neighborhoods and in the Fox Meadow neighborhood. The reason for their underassessment is obvious – these properties haven’t been reassessed in 41 years and their market values have increased exponentially, especially given the scarcity of large homes on large properties so close to Manhattan and the continued desirability of Scarsdale as a community in which to live. Many properties including, as noted, large, extremely pricey estate properties are substantially under assessed. These property owners are enjoying an undeserved financial windfall on the backs of the rest of Scarsdale’s property taxpayers. There is simply no better valuation mechanism than an actual sale, which is the ultimate mark-to market. 8 Heathcote Road, mentioned four years ago in the Scarsdale Forum report and at the May 13th Board meeting by Bob Harrison, seems to be the poster child for large, pricier properties that were grossly under assessed. That property was most recently on the Assessor’s roll at $4.3 million dollars. It changed hands last year for $7.5 million dollars and is now being assessed at that level and will pay taxes accordingly. That subsidy was worth tens of thousands of dollars annually to the homeowner at the expense of the rest of Scarsdale’s property taxpayers. I have found dozens of similar examples, the most egregious of which is a property most recently on the Village’s tax roll at $2.2 million that traded last year a $5 million, a massive underassessment. As Village Manager Gatta repeatedly pointed out, it is safe to assume mistakes have been made in the revaluation process. No one should pay any more than their fair share of taxes. And both Tyler and the Village should be transparent and forthcoming regarding the methodologies and algorithms – the secret sauce – that went into the process. That said, there are several mechanisms by which dissatisfied property owners can be heard, and many already have. There is no reason, and probably no precedent for postponing this process. The Board must move forward. For the record, my home was assessed at a modestly lower valuation than where it had been on the Assessor’s roll. I had known for several years that I was overpaying my property taxes, but voluntarily chose not to grieve in anticipation of the revaluation producing the same outcome, which it has.” Hamden Benaissa, 66 Mamaroneck Road, stated that he has been a resident of Scarsdale for the last 30 years. He noted that he was a little surprised by the assessment that took place for several reasons. He felt that it was not reflective of the value of the house. For the last five years he has tried to sell his property and he could not get the value that was given by Tyler Technologies. His taxes increased by 30% which he felt was excessive. He Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 178 stated that he has another property in Manhattan that went down by 30%. In his opinion, Tyler is not taking many elements into account. His house is on a very busy road, and as a result can be noisy, discouraging buyers. This was not taken into account. He also felt that Tyler was very impersonal during their inspections. The inspectors did not want to speak to him or his family during the visit; they knew better than the homeowners. He stated that the Village should look at the methodology and transparency issue and explain the methodology and the objectives of this revaluation. Mayor Steves repeated that the opportunity to hear from Tyler Technologies will be here at Rutherford Hall in Village Hall at 7:30 p.m. He thanked people for coming in and offering their comments. William Weinstein, 3 Claremont Road, stated that one of the earlier speakers spoke about an ‘out of whack’ revaluation process with respect to the larger homes. With respect to what Tyler Technologies has done, there has been an ‘out of whack’ revaluation of the smaller homes as well. There were a number of factors that were disclosed last week with respect to the model estimate. There is one element that because it specifically uses the formula that it uses, ends up adding to the assessed value of larger homes a square foot cost that is only 70% of the cost of what was added to the smaller homes. That element relies on the square feet of the living area and creates a disproportionate situation. Also, whatever the formula is that Tyler has used, they then reduce it based on the overall condition of the house. They reduce it by a fixed square footage amount times the square feet of the house. That means that two homes that are otherwise equal, the bigger house is worth less than the smaller house because the reduction is based on square feet. They do the same thing with the age of the house. If two homes are the same age, the bigger house is reduced in value more than the smaller house because they do it based on age and square foot. What Tyler does is go through a number of numbers and comes up with neighborhood adjustments and nobody quite knows where that comes from yet. And then Tyler decides that the number is $681,755 to big anyway and so that amount is subtracted from every single house in the Village. Maybe there is a good reason for this but it looks completely whacky to him that everyone’s house value would be reduced by the same amount. He doesn’t see how that can have anything to do with the uniform percentage of fair market value. Mayor Steves reiterated that if people have specific questions and cannot attend Thursday night’s meeting, he asked that they email him at mayor@scarsdale.com with those questions or concerns and the Board will see that they get addressed. David Bunzel, 2 Sherbrooke Road, President of the Heathcote Association, spoke on behalf of the 40 homes in the Association. He stressed that there are more than a few disgruntled homeowners regarding the revaluation. The Heathcote Association calls on the Mayor and Trustees to defer for one year the implementation of the revaluation assessment. Although they support the need for fairness and a new revaluation that is equally fair for all residents, the current process is too flawed and not transparent. The deferral will provide for a fair and equitable process for all Scarsdale residents and permit a more sufficient opportunity for residents to review and understand the meanings by which their assessments Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 179 were determined. The timeline the Village is using is wrong. The meeting scheduled with Tyler Technology is on Thursday evening, May 29th. The Assessor’s office is submitted the revised roll tomorrow, 24 hours before the scheduled meeting with Tyler. What is the purpose of the meeting if the roll is a fait accompli? Homeowners have been deprived of the opportunity to obtain and review full disclosure of the information prior to Thursday’s open meeting, prior to the meetings last month with Tyler Technologies, and prior to the roll being set. Mr. Bunzel continued, stating that the data and analysis used by Tyler has not been provided in a timely manner. In regard to the Association’s FOIL request, the Village finally fulfilled it last week. They have had very little time to analyze the data. There appears to be very serious flaws in the methodology used to determine values. For example, the Tyler model only relied on 366 sales that occurred during the two year collection period. This represents less than 7% of the residential properties in the Village. This leads to the issue as to whether the sales data is fairly and normally distributed. Tyler relied in large part on subjective variables rather than objective variables. Subjective variables require interpretation by the data collector. Tyler’s model makes extremely large value difference judgments for homes in our different neighborhoods and land has become the main driver of the assessments. These cost factors are extremely neighborhood specific and it could easily be biased. The revaluation as currently proposed will have severe consequences on empty nesters and change the character of the Village. He stated that they believe that as much as 40% of the assessments in the Village are substantively wrong. The Heathcote Association has started an online petition for a one year deferral on the revaluation. They have already received a large number of signatures over the holiday weekend from residents all over the Village. Don Dietz, 66 Brewster Road, noted that he had written a letter that was published in the Scarsdale Inquirer. He stated that if this revaluation is going through, there should be a mechanism that the Board should consider where people who have been harmed or unduly advantaged by the mistakes built into the revaluation that the Village can recover from people who have been undervalued or to reimburse or reward people who were overly assessed. He does believe that it is 40% of the Village. There is some flaw here – there ought to be a way to smooth things out. Robert Harrison, 65 Fox Meadow Road, stated that the 30th season of the Scarsdale Summer Youth Tennis League will be starting to take applications over the next week in the Recreation Department. They had a great spring season thanks to terrific work by Jason Marra Superintendent of Parks and Recreation, and Anthony DeDomenico, our new tennis supervisor who started last year; the hiring of Sport Time to run the short court tennis program of the United States Tennis Association. Over 200 children have signed up for that program, for ages 3 to 10 years. He noted that he would like to see that hut become a comfort station at the Scarsdale Middle School Tennis Courts; it’s an eyesore right now. Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 180 He stated that he is the Director of the Scarsdale Youth Tennis League and he can be reached at 725-0962. Concerning revaluation, Mr. Harrison stated that Josh Frankel did an outstanding job with his comments earlier. Mr. Wolham from the New York State Office of Real Property Services spoke at a Board meeting in February and presented charts, etc. The information indicated that 50% of the homes would have their assessments reduced, 23% would have them stay the same, and 25-26% would have them go up. He doesn’t know if that has changed but that Thursday night’s meeting should indicate what the data looks like now. Mr. Harrison stated that he didn’t understand where the previous speakers were getting the numbers of 40% of the homes not being properly assessed. He stated that he would like to see the facts; he thinks those speakers are totally wrong. He stated that he was one of the 927 people who came and had the opportunity to meet with Tyler Technologies. He stated that they were very cordial, they took his notes down, his comments on his house, and he will see what they come up with. And although his assessment went up, his implied tax rate went down. We know that the larger homes in areas such as Garden Road, where he used to have a home are under assessed and it’s just not fair. He suggested that should someone have a problem with their assessment there is always the grievance process. He strongly backed the Mayor’s statement that the Village should move forward. We should not stop all the work that has been done over the past few years. As there were no further comments, Mayor Steves closed the public comments portion of the meeting. ******** Finance Committee Trustee Martin reported on the statements of expense and revenue for the various funds of the Village for the first eleven months of fiscal year 2013-2014. General fund appropriations were 87.33% spent as of April, 2014, which is an increase of 2.39% from the 84.94% in 2012-2013. General Fund Revenues other than property taxes are $14,351,065 through April 2014 compared to $13,116,815 through April 2013, an increase of $1,234,250. Licenses and Permit revenue improved $108,300 over last year. State mortgage tax showed an improvement of $299,700. Property rental income was up $314,800 due to recent contract settlement with Con Edison which included the period beginning January 1, 2013. This will help offset contract cancellations with other lessees for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. Revenue from Parking Permits and Meter Revenue continues to be steady, showing an increase of $107,200. Sales Tax and Departmental Revenue improved a total of about $144,200 from last year. State aid related to Hurricane Sandy was $400,000, or $337,000 greater than last year. Additionally the Village was finally reimbursed $101,000 from FEMA for the 2011 Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 181 storm. The state aid related to Hurricane Sandy received to date was appropriated to the Capital Projects Fund in the 2013-2014 Budget. Revenue from the Sale of Equipment and other Miscellaneous Revenues dropped $133,300 primarily due to reduced reimbursable overtime related to Hurricane Sandy. Also, last year’s revenue included $75,000 from the permanent easement related to Boulder Brook. Special Assessments and Collections of Delinquent taxes dropped $127,800 as the Village wrote off taxes related to 3 foreclosed properties. The actual collection of Village taxes through April 30, 2014 is at 99.47% which is up 0.13% from the 2013 collection percentage of 99.34%. ******** Land Use Committee Upon motion entered by Trustee Lee, and seconded by Trustee Brodsky, the following resolution regarding DeMapping a Paper Street Known as Woodland Road and Removing from the Official Map of the Village was approved by the vote indicated below: WHEREAS: Woodland Road is a paper street that extends from Cushman Road toward Garden Road and was initially shown on a subdivision plat dated 1909 (attached); and WHEREAS: by resolution dated June 26, 2013 (attached), the Planning Board approved a six lot subdivision and the development of four new houses located within the A-2 zoning district at 119 Cushman Road, 80 Garden Road and 2 and 19 Woodland Road and further recommended de-mapping the paper street and removing it from the Official Map of the Village, after finding the proposed subdivision and de-mapping would not have a significant adverse environmental impact pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act and Chapter 152 of the Village Code; and WHEREAS: the subdivision involves the demolition of two of the existing houses at 119 Cushman Road and 1 Woodlands Road, the de-mapping of Woodland Road and the development of four new conforming lots along Cushman Road for a net of two new lots; and WHEREAS: the subdivision applicant and the property owner, KOS Building Group, LLC, by letter dated February 21, 2014 (attached), requested the de-mapping of Woodland Road; and WHEREAS: the Land Use Committee of the Village Board considered the request to de-map the paper street at an April 8, 2014 meeting and voted to Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 182 recommend to the Full Board that it act favorably on the matter; and WHEREAS: in accordance with New York State Village Law § 7-724 and Village Board resolution dated April 22, 2014 (attached), the Village Board held a public hearing on May 13, 2014 at which no public comments were received; now therefore be it RESOLVED: that the Village Board herein approves the de-mapping of the paper street known as Woodland Road and its removal from the Official Map of the Village; and be it further RESOLVED: that the applicant shall file with the Westchester County Division of Land Records the Subdivision Plat dated January 16, 2013 and attached hereto, as approved by the Planning Board depicting the de- mapping of Woodland Road and its removal from the Official Map of the Village. AYES NAYS ABSENT Trustee Brodsky None None Trustee Lee Trustee Martin Trustee Pekarek Trustee Samwick Trustee Stern Mayor Steves ******** Law Committee Upon motion entered by Trustee Brodsky, and seconded by Trustee Lee, the following resolution regarding a License Agreement – 16 Kensington Road – Right of Way Encroachment was adopted the vote indicated below: WHEREAS, Richard and Loretta Rosenbaum, (hereinafter “Licensee”) are owners of a certain property known as 16 Kensington Road, identified on the Village of Scarsdale Tax Map as Section 04, Block 02, Lot 267; and WHEREAS, on May 13, 2012, Building Permit #142262 was issued for 16 Kensington Road to widen the driveway, construct a new retaining wall and install a new bluestone walkway and steps in the front of the property; and Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 183 WHEREAS, upon review of the final as-built survey for the improvements, the Building Inspector determined that a portion of the walkway by the driveway apron was encroaching the Village right-of-way; and WHEREAS, the Village Engineer inspected the encroachment and noticed that the stone piers, entry gate and stone walls on the survey did not follow the approved site plan as additional walkways were installed and a proposed grass strip was eliminated; and WHEREAS, the changes to the site plan resulted in an increase to the impervious surface from the originally approved plan requiring updated stormwater plans and new calculations; and WHEREAS, the applicant submitted revisions with updated stormwater plans showing the existing stormwater system being capable of handling the increased stormwater runoff with the additional walkways and elimination of the grass strip; and WHEREAS, all Building Department issues related to the abovementioned changes were investigated and approved and the encroachment does not present any unsafe conditions; and WHEREAS, this encroachment involves the construction and maintenance of a private structure within the public right-of-way, requiring the private property owner to secure a license agreement with the Village of which the Licensee has requested via letter dated November 6, 2013 (attached); and WHEREAS, the Village is desirous of accommodating the Licensee by granting a revocable license agreement to permit the walkway encroachment in the Village right-of-way, in accordance with the plans and specifications, reviewed and approved by the Village Engineer, as prepared by Welsh Engineering and Land Surveying, P.C. dated March 12, 2014, and attached as Exhibit “A” of said License Agreement, attached hereto and made a part hereof; and WHEREAS, the Licensee is responsible for all maintenance and repairs of said encroachments in the Village right-of-way and the payment of all fees associated with any construction and inspection work; and WHEREAS, Licensee will indemnify and hold harmless the Village in all actions, claims, judgments, costs or expenses arising from said maintenance of the encroachments and provide the Village with a certificate of liability insurance naming the Village as an additional insured, at limits approved by the Village Attorney; and Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 184 WHEREAS, the granting of said revocable license agreement will not interfere with the Village’s present and future use and maintenance of said Village right-of-way; now therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Village Manger is herein authorized to execute a revocable license agreement, in substantially the same form as attached hereto, with Richard and Loretta Rosenbaum of 16 Kensington Road, Scarsdale N.Y. 10583, to maintain a newly constructed stone walkway located within the Village right-of-way in accordance with the March 12, 2014 plans and specifications reviewed and approved by the Village Engineer and attached to the license agreement as Exhibit “A”; said authorization conditioned on Licensee’s submission to the Village of a certificate of liability insurance naming the Village of Scarsdale as an additional insured, at limits approved by the Village Attorney; and be it further RESOLVED, that Licensee herein agrees to indemnify and hold the Village of Scarsdale harmless in all actions, claims, judgments, costs or expenses arising from said installation and maintenance of said encroachments; and be it further RESOLVED, that Licensee shall pay the Village the sum of $1,000.00 as an administrative fee associated with the preparation and execution of said license agreement, pursuant to the Fiscal Year 2013-14 Village- Wide Fees and Charges Schedule. AYES NAYS ABSENT Trustee Brodsky None None Trustee Lee Trustee Martin Trustee Pekarek Trustee Samwick Trustee Stern Mayor Steves ******** Municipal Services Upon motion entered by Trustee Stern, and seconded by Trustee Lee, the following resolution regarding the Award of VM Contract #1167 – Sheldrake Flood Mitigation and Improvement Project was adopted by the vote indicated below: Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 185 WHEREAS, flooding has been prevalent in certain sections of the Village as described in the 2009 Village Wide Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan which identified 31 sub drainage basin areas of which six were identified as “Critical”, located in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recognized flood zones, and 12 identified as “Problem” locations where periodic flooding occurs; and WHEREAS, for the past number of years, the Village has been collecting data, analyzing hydrology, developing project concepts and seeking grant funding for projects in the six Critical Sub Drainage Basin Areas, specifically, the South Fox Meadow Brook, Sheldrake River and Hutchinson River Drainage Basins and is currently completing a major grant funded project in the South Fox Meadow Brook Drainage Basin, while working with the City of New Rochelle and Westchester County, in accordance with a County grant, for a flood mitigation project in the Hutchinson River Drainage Basin; and WHEREAS, in regards to the Sheldrake River Drainage Basin, the Village Board’s Municipal Services Committee ( MSC) has convened many times over the past few years including September 14, 2011, November 15, 2012, November 26, 2012, May 14, 2013 and July 10, 2013, during which the Board authorized and received a 30% design report prepared by Dvirka and Bartilucci, Consulting Engineers (D&B) on a scope of work for a flood mitigation project which was modified and agreed upon by a working group of Village Board members, staff and involved residents at the July 10, 2013 MSC meeting; and WHEREAS, the modified scope of work includes cleaning and removing accumulated silt in the open water course from Cayuga Pond to Canterbury Road, installing an open grating culvert crossing system for additional flow capacity between 5 Cayuga and 14 Canterbury Roads, constructing a connector pipe to the open water course on the south side of Canterbury Road to balance flows and installing gates on both orifices at the Cayuga Pond outlet structure; and WHEREAS, a portion of this scope involves work on private property and, as such, temporary construction easements have been obtained from the effective private property owners; and WHEREAS, the Village Board, at their meeting on August 13, 2013, appropriated $600,000 from the General Fund Balance to the FY 2013-2014 Capital Budget for the “Sheldrake River Drainage Basin Modified Project”, with $125,000 for design, engineering, analysis, permitting Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 186 and construction administration and $475,000 for construction (resolution attached); and WHEREAS, the Village Board, at their meeting on August 13, 2013 also authorized a professional services contract with D&B for a total of $125,000 for design, engineering, analysis, permitting and construction administration services relative to the modified scope of work; and WHEREAS, D&B subsequently prepared construction specifications and bid documents and the Village Manager publicly advertised for the receipt of bids on April 17, 2014, held a pre-bid meeting on April 29, 2014 and issued an addendum on May 7, 2014 to address questions asked by potential bidders at the pre-bid meeting; and WHEREAS, on the bid opening date of May 13, 2014, five bids were opened with the apparent lowest bid received from Montesano Bros., Inc., 76 Plain Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801, with a bid as follows: Item 1-1 Base Bid (which includes the scope of work previously identified) $383,424, Item 1-2 Disposal of Stream Sediment $23,077.50, Item 1- 3 Installation of Curbing $7,221.00, Item 1-4 Pre and Post Construction Photography and Documentation $2,774.00 and Item 1-5 Rock Removal $3,000.00 (unit cost $150.00); and WHEREAS, Item 1-5 was included in the bid specifications to determine a unit cost for rock removal at an estimated quantity should the contractor encounter any rock during excavation; and WHEREAS, D&B and Village staff have thoroughly reviewed the bids and D&B met with a representative from Montesano Bros. Inc. on May 21, 2014, who expressed a clear understanding of the scope of work and comfort with his bid, the minutes of said meeting and D&B’s recommendation herein attached; and WHEREAS, in accordance with a memorandum dated March 12, 2014, attached hereto and made a part hereof, the Village Planner/Environmental Officer has reviewed the plans for SEQRA compliance and determined that the project is a Type II action pursuant to 6 NYCRR 617.5(c)(1) and that no further environmental review is required; now therefore be it RESOLVED, that Item 1-1 Base Bid $383,424, Item 1-2 Disposal of Stream Sediment $23,077.50, Item 1-3 Installation of Curbing $7,221.00, Item 1-4 Pre and Post Construction Photography and Documentation $2,774.00 of the VM Contract #1167 – Sheldrake Flood Mitigation Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 187 and Improvement Project for a lump sum price of $416,496.50, is herein awarded to Montesano Bros., Inc., 76 Plain Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801, and that in accordance with Item 1-5 Rock Removal, the unit cost for any rock removal encountered is herein established at the unit bid price of $150 per cubic yard; and be it further RESOLVED, that the amount of $42,000, representing 10% of the construction contract cost, is herein provided as a contingency against any project overruns; and be it further RESOLVED, that the costs of same be charged to Capital Budget Account #H- 8597-965 2014-029B – Sheldrake Drainage Improvement Construction; and be it further RESOLVED, that the Village Manager is herein authorized to execute VM Contract #1167 – Sheldrake Flood Mitigation and Improvement Project with Montesano Bros., Inc., 76 Plain Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801, at the lump sum price identified above and shall take any and all administrative acts necessary. AYES NAYS ABSENT Trustee Brodsky None None Trustee Lee Trustee Martin Trustee Pekarek Trustee Samwick Trustee Stern Mayor Steves ******** Mayor Steves stated that he has been advised by staff that pending the receipt of approvals from the Army Corps of Engineers, construction should begin within a four to five week range. ******** Other Committee Reports Trustee Stern reported on behalf of the Sustainability Committee, stating a meeting of the Sustainability Committee was held this evening. The subject was leaf mulching and how it would benefit the health and welfare of the Village and how it might be implemented. Discussions will continue on July 8th at 6:30 P.M. This is a public meeting and everyone is invited. Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 188 He added that it was also on the schedule to discuss LED lighting in the Village, but due to the fact that the discussion on leaf mulching was lengthy, that item was not discussed at this evenings meeting. It will be placed on a future agenda of the Sustainability Committee. ******** Liaison Reports None. ******** Written Communications Village Clerk Conkling reported that two (2) communications were received after preparation of the agenda:  A letter from Madelaine Eppenstein, 18 Autenreith Road, on behalf of the Friends of the Scarsdale Parks expressing their appreciation for the time and effort the Village Staff has devoted to parks restoration and beautification work throughout the Village.  An email from Richard and Deana Schiffer, 6 Dell Road, reiterating their concerns regarding deviations from approved plans for construction at 4 Dell Road. A response from Village Manager Gatta is attached. Concerning the correspondence from Richard and Deana Schiffer, Village Manager Gatta noted that the Building Permit that was issued for 4 Dell Road has expired and the Building Department has issued a Stop Work Order. In order to continue construction, as per the Village Code, the contractor will have to get an extension approved by the Board of Trustees. ******** Future Meeting Schedule Mr. Steves announced the following future meeting schedule:  Wednesday, May 28, 2014 – Land Use Committee – 6:00 P.M. – 3rd Floor Meeting Room  Thursday, May 29, 2014 – Committee of the Whole – 7:30 P.M. – 3rd Floor Meeting Room Village Board of Trustees 05 -27-2014 P a g e | 189  Monday, June 9, 2014 – Law & Land Use Committees – 6:30 P.M. – 3rd Floor Meeting Room  Tuesday, June 10, 2014 – Agenda Meeting – 7:30 P.M. – Trustees’ Room  Tuesday, June 10, 2014 – Board of Trustees – 8:00 P.M. – Rutherford Hall ******** There being no further business to come before the Board, Mayor Steves moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Trustee Pekarek and carried by a unanimous vote at 9:15 P.M. Donna M. Conkling Village Clerk