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Mamaroneck REVIEW THE

March 4, 2016 | Vol. 4, Number 10 | www.mamaroneckreview.com

Mayor: Flood project could run village $10M By JAMES PERO Staff Writer

SECTION, WON Tommy Spero makes a save against Suffern in Mamaroneck’s Feb. 28 section final win over the Mounties. Spero and the Tigers topped Suffern 5-1 to win their first section title since 2009. For story, see page 15. Photo/Mike Smith

Village board attempts to address parking congestion By KILEY STEVENS Staff Writer The Board of Trustees in the village of Mamaroneck passed an amendment to the village code that restricts the amount of consecutive days a vehicle may be parked on any street from 21 to seven days. This amendment to the vehicle abandonment code, passed during the Feb. 22 Board of Trustees meeting, comes after months of complaints from residents who have been demanding a solution to overcrowded parking villagewide. Laura Abbate, of the Wash-

ingtonville neighborhood, has been a strong advocate for a solution to the problem for more than two years. Abbate, who has lived in the village her entire life, is glad to see the amendment passed, and believes it will mitigate part of the parking problem. Many residents have experienced trouble finding available parking spaces throughout the village. “Our street in particular [Washington Street] gets very congested,” she said. Although Abbate has a driveway that can fit more than two cars, she said that her tenant, a local teacher

and mother of two small children, often has to park three to four blocks away. Abbate has done some of her own research in her quest to fix the issue, including counting cars that haven’t moved and demanding traffic studies be conducted. “We’ve had two snowstorms and there were at least 11 vehicles that haven’t moved since the first [storm on Jan. 22],” she said as of Feb. 26. Abbate told the Review that she’s so passionate about this issue because she’s the fourth generation in her family to live in the Washingtonville

section of the village. “It’s my investment,” she said. “I live there and I’ve always lived there.” Abbate also believes that with more housing being built and the industrial area of the village expanding, parking spaces will become even more coveted. Village Manager Richard Slingerland told the Review that village employees have been observing these vehicles left for several weeks at a time throughout the village. “They become targets for vandalism and theft and it also takes parking continued on page 10

After nearly a decade of anticipation, the second iteration of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ wholesale flood mitigation plan for the village of Mamaroneck—which was released in January—has made its way to public comment. This time around however, officials warn, it may be the last opportunity to see the plan to fruition. On Thursday, Feb. 25 at the Emelin Theatre, representatives from the Army Corps, as well as officials from the village, New York state and federal governments, held the first public forum on the $72 million proposal to mitigate flooding in the village and surrounding area. According to Mayor Norman Rosenblum, a Republican, though the federal government is proposing to foot 65 percent of the project’s bill—with the state and Westchester County also chipping in—the village could pay anywhere from $7 million to $10 million of its own money. This sum would be covered by bonds that would last over a 30-year period, Rosenblum said. Severe flooding has been a major issue in both Mamaroneck and surrounding areas of the Sound Shore, with flood events that have resulted in tens of millions of dollars in damage. One of the worst storms on record, which occurred in April

2007, resulted in approximately $50 million in total damage to the village and dumped 7.5 inches of rain in just 45 hours. To mitigate against such future occurrences, the plan aims to reduce the severity of flooding by a combination of deepening and widening large swaths of the Sheldrake and Mamaroneck rivers, in addition to adding approximately 4,300 feet of retaining wall, a 350 foot-long culvert and multiple levees along the water. In doing so, engineers speculate they could drastically shrink the size of the village’s current severe flood zones and save millions of dollars in flood damage each year. Additionally, according to the drafted document, the plan may provide compensation to private property owners whose land would be affected by potential construction, depending on the scope of the project. According to Eugene Brickman, the chief deputy engineer for the Army Corps who also worked on a 1986 iteration of the same flood mitigation project, the most recent report serves two primary purposes. The first purpose, he told the audience, which nearly filled the theater, is that it will serve as a reference point for members of Congress that will be in charge of giving the project its proper approvals. “This is where Congress says flood continued on page 10