March 9, 2018 by The Mamaroneck Review

Mamaroneck REVIEW THE

March 9, 2018 | Vol. 6, Number 10 | www.mamaroneckreview.com

40 Ocean Ave. faces renewed demolition efforts By JAMES PERO Staff Writer

Overtime heartbreak Shane Smith reaches for a loose ball during Mamaroneck’s Feb. 28 Class AA semifinal contest against Ramapo at the Westchester County Center. The Gryphons topped the Tigers 47-44 in overtime. For story, see page 15. Photo/Mike Smith

Larchmont candidate ready to challenge BOT status quo By JAMES PERO Staff Writer Shaped by a boisterous battle to help preserve the village of Larchmont’s historic homes, Sarah Bauer is running for a seat on the village Board of Trustees, becoming the first challenger of a board controlled by Democrats for more than a decade. According to Bauer, 40, who is running as an independent under the newly created “Preservation Party”—a political faction that Bauer says was created as a formality after entering the race late and miss-

ing the Democratic nomination process—reforming village land use laws through advocacy has been formative, but substantial change may need a more official approach. “I feel like I can make more of a difference from the inside than I can on the outside,” she said. “I’ve gone as far as I can, trying to affect change from the outside.” In 2016, Bauer, who works professionally as an attorney, became a major player in a movement dubbed “Preserve Larchmont” which set out to stem the tide of what the group viewed as rampant overdevel-

opment; particularly teardowns of Larchmont’s older homes in favor of new subdivided properties. In 2017, after a lengthy moratorium on residential development—one that rippled to neighboring communities—the village passed a slew of new zoning and planning laws that were designed to give the village board and local land use boards greater authority over potential demolitions. Bauer said that even after a year, whether those laws are achieving what trustees and concerned residents set out to do remains to be seen.

A pending application for a house located on 15 Bayard St. will be the first-ever potential teardown to trigger the village’s new zoning laws. “Do all the laws work together correctly; are there any loopholes; can they be interrupted in multiple ways?” asked Bauer of the new zoning regulations. “That’s the question.” But preservation isn’t the only issue on Bauer’s radar. She told the Review that among the major platform items on her agenda is addressing overcrowding in Mamaroneck’s CANDIDATE continued on page 8

The focal point of an anti-development movement in the village is facing the prospect of being demolished once again, even despite the passage of stricter zoning and planning laws meant to slow the progression of residential development in Larchmont. A century-old property on Ocean Avenue in the village of Larchmont was the subject of a special meeting of the village Planning Board last week, after a new application was filed by owners of the property, KOSL Building, who intend to raze the structure and 27 trees. No vote was held, however, on whether to allow the special permit for demolition after one board member was unable to attend the meeting. According to Sarah Bauer, a candidate for village trustee and historic preservation advocate, the four Planning Board members in attendance were divided over whether to grant the permit. While an original plan— which was retracted after a prolonged moratorium—would have demolished the on-site structures and subdivided the property into four separate buildings it’s not clear that KOSL will pursue the same plan, first telling the Planning Board that they would leave the lot empty, only to later admit that they may sell the property.

The private 40 Ocean Ave. residence, which has existed on the property for 122 years, sparked a full-on movement in 2016 when residents protested its potential demolition in droves. Subsequently, the village Board of Trustees and land use boards, with the help of a hired consultant, passed the moratorium on residential development and undertook a holistic revamp of its zoning and planning laws that were eventually passed last year. A residential advocacy group, Preserve Larchmont, which helped to spearhead a movement to blockade what they felt was a trend of overdevelopment in the village, is arguing that the demolition should trigger a positive declaration under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, SEQR. “The developers should be forced to provide alternatives to save the house before demolition is even considered,” the group said in a statement. “Our village leaders must require this mitigation effort be evaluated.” After the postponement of a decision by the Planning Board on the issue, a new meeting has been scheduled for March 20 at 7 p.m. in the courtroom of Village Hall. At that meeting, a vote on the permit application for 40 Ocean Ave. is expected to take place. CONTACT: james@hometwn.com