Conservation Advisory Council Finds Tree Ordinance Ineffectual
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- Written by Lee Fischman
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Scarsdale's Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) recently announced the findings of their analysis of the Village's Tree Ordinance, enacted in January 2009. The current code requires tree permits for the removal of certain trees as outlined below and the CAC wished to determine if the current law was effective at preserving Scarsdale's canopy. Under the current law, a tree removal permit is required to remove trees that fall into these categories:
- Removal of more that two 2 trees exceeding 6 inches DBH (diameter of a tree trunk measured at 54 inches above the ground) per lot per 12 month period.
- Trees identified to be removed/protected as a result of a Land Use Board determination.
- Removal of replacement trees 6 inches or less in DBH that are planted as a result of a Land Use Board determination or pursuant to Section 281-10.
- Removal of tree(s) determined to be preserved by a Land Use Board for at least 2
- growing seasons after issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy or Land Use Board approval.
Also requiring a permit for removal from the Village Engineer are certain tree species: American Elm, American Beech Tree, designated Heritage trees and any tree in a wetland or wetland buffer area - in accordance with Chapter 171.
Tree(s) on private property may be removed as-of-right provided any of the following:
- Trees 6 inches DBH or less can be removed with no restrictions.
- Removal of up to 2 trees exceeding 6 inches DBH per lot per 12-month period.
- A tree removed that is > 36 inches DBH must be replaced with a replacement tree.
- Actual or ongoing emergency for the protection of life or property.
- For a tree determined to be dead, dying, hazardous or diseased, a report from a Tree Expert must be submitted to the Village Engineer.
- A tree may also be removed if considered an invasive species (listed in the Invasive Plant Atlas of New England).
The CAC's goal was simple enough: how had the current law fared in practice?
What they found is that the Tree Ordinance, specifically its permitting process, is essentially a rubber stamp. While the Ordinance does mandate that any tree larger than 36 inches in diameter that is removed must be replaced, there are otherwise few restrictions on what a landowner can remove from a property. For alterations to a property, such as the addition of a pool or tennis court, landscape approvals are required by land use boards that are most definitely not rubber stamping. All the same, these landscape approvals do not follow a formal standard.
Report
The CAC has produced a reader-friendly report in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, accessible on its site. For their review, the CAC consulted with foresters, developers, staff and others, as well as reviewing the state of neighboring tree ordinances and current best practices. They also surveyed residents to ascertain the community's attitude towards trees in Scarsdale. Here are some highlights from its report:
Numerous irate homeowners came forward to vent their frustration at neighbors' unpermitted removals and clear cutting of properties, so much so that the CAC concluded these misunderstandings may be fairly common.
Since 2009 there has been a steady and pronounced increase in the number of permits being issued.
While permits are granted for properties throughout the Village, they seem to be more concentrated in the Greenacres and Fox Meadow neighborhoods. This may be due to their concentration of older trees.
Violations in the form of unpermitted removals are few and far between, which surprised no one because there is not a strong means to enforce the ordinance.
In 2011 and 2012 the Village removed over 300 trees, while planting only about 160.
Neighboring communities' tree ordinances don't fare much better; in reviewing the tree ordinances of eight mid-Westchester towns other than Scarsdale, the CAC found that those too were "almost useless" due to exemptions.
A survey of residents found support for replacing large trees upon their removal, very strong support against clear cutting lots, and conditional support for notifying neighbors of tree removals. Still, the comments revealed how conflicted feelings about trees. Said one respondent, "I love the trees in our neighborhood and in Scarsdale. But when we bought our house, I had no idea about the damage these trees might cause." Another countered, "I love my neighbor's trees! I look at them every day and I enjoy those in my neighborhood when I go on walks. Some parts of town, however, are looking too much like Queens." Survey results and comments can be viewed online here.
Recommendations
As an advisory committee, the CAC seeks to balance its agenda of maintaining the "Village in a Park" with respect for landowners' property rights and constraints on staff and board resources. Its recommendations for the Tree Ordinance and related activities are:
Amend the tree permit to require that neighbors be notified before a tree is removed; it has been argued that notification without being able to contest a permit is meaningless. The CAC argues that this step would actually make the permit process far more meaningful than it currently is. The simple act of notification is intended to mitigate the confusion, fear and even ignorance it witnessed in conversation with numerous homeowners affected by tree removals. Notification also helps to strengthen the permit process; as currently there is no way of knowing when a tree removal has been permitted or not.
Increase Village planting along the right of way - as residents remove trees from their properties perhaps because of the threat of storms, or because new lifestyles dictate more open land and onsite amenities such as pools, the Village must work harder to maintain its overall canopy. The CAC therefore suggests that more trees be planted on the right of way, as an offset to their inevitable continued loss elsewhere on properties.
Require that developers of new properties plant street trees - as a condition of redevelopment, the CAC recommends that new properties be required to plant one or more suitably large trees on or just inside the right of way. The number of trees would depend on street frontage. Larger trees would be required to offset the greater loss of plantings elsewhere on the property.
For permits associated with land use applications, require satisfaction of one of a set of replacement standards - the CAC surveyed nationwide practices and found a number of standards that could be used. It is recommending that these standards be satisfied in addition to land use board approvals.
If you would like to take the CAC's survey about residents' knowledge and attitude towards trees, it is still available via a link on the home page of Sustainable Scarsdale.com.
A Hollywood Ending: Scarsdale Grads Introduced by their Moms Actually Get Together and Collaborate on a Web Series
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"Would you be willing to talk to this Scarsdale boy, please? His mom is really nice."
Charlie Alderman (SHS '07) recently graduated from the University of Southern California with an M.F.A. in Film Producing from the Peter Stark Program. He is currently "exploring opportunities" in Los Angeles. His mother, Nancy, emails him regularly.
One such email included a request from her friend Emily Kirschenbaum. Emily's older son, Josh (SHS '09), had just moved to LA after graduating from Carleton College as an English major. Emily hoped that Nancy's son might have some inside knowledge on how Josh could crash the gates of Hollywood. Charlie was a good boy and responded to his mother promptly. Josh was thrilled. But upon actually meeting Charlie, Josh quickly discovered he had no such knowledge and vowed not to take his mother up on any more networking opportunities.
In the end, their mothers were right. Josh discovered a hole in his resume: while he had labored over scripts, he had never actually worked on a set. Charlie had an opportunity – not a glamorous one, but an opportunity nonetheless -- to help Josh get his hands dirty. Josh will co-produce Charlie's latest comedic web series, "New Partner."
The project includes some of the major players from Charlie's last project, "Chloe and Zoë," which has 100,000 views and was listed on IndieWire as Best of 2012. "New Partner" is a spoof of crime TV with a simple premise: at the beginning of each episode, Officer Ron Robinson is assigned a new partner; by the end, that partner will be murdered. The show will star Josh Margolin (The New Girl), Quinn Beswick (Boychicks), and Nick Searcy (Castaway, Fried Green Tomatoes).
Charlie explained that making a web series has become the most eye-catching way to demonstrate talent in Hollywood. If anything great were to come of their new collaboration, Charlie vows to bring his new pal Josh along for the ride.
Charlie and Josh are raising money to help finance production of the first three episodes. Their goal is to then pitch those videos to production companies as samples for a larger scale production. They'd be honored if you'd take a look at the campaign.
A Fall Food and Wine Tasting Plus Recipes
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- Written by Dina Braun
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Guest Chef Jennifer Rossano served the third organic food and wine tasting at Vintology's new location on Palmer Avenue on Friday, October 4th. Twenty-five guests enjoyed six courses and wine pairings.
Guests were greeted with a a tasting of a white blend from Oregon, 2012 Borealis, and a Ratatouille Tartlet with fresh ricotta and herb infused oil. The tart was light and crisp and the fresh cheese and ratatouille was very flavorful.
The next course was a Truffle Scented Cauliflower Soup – see the recipe below. It was pureed and smooth and paired with a 2011 Errazuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay, a well-balanced Chardonnay from Chile.
The soup course was followed by a Fall Harvest Salad including shaved fennel, celery root apple and hazelnuts served with a Hazelnut-Shallot Vinaigrette. The salad had a perfect balance of both texture and flavor. The salad was matched with a 2011 Marcel Deiss Alsace, a very good white blend from Alsace, France.
The two main courses were a Pork Tenderloin with Spiced Crust and Apple Chutney (recipe below) served with a 2009 Benziger Merlot, Sonoma County and a Braised Beef Ragu over Celery Root and Turnip Mash served with a 2010 Montirius Vacqueyras. Both meat courses were tender and savory and the wines matched up perfectly.
For dessert, the group enjoyed the chef's homemade Fresh Plum Tart served with Vanilla Bean Gelato and a 2012 Vajra Moscato d"Asti.
The combination of terrific food and wine along with the knowledgeable and personal staff all helped to make for a perfect evening.
Here are a few of the delectable recipes:
Truffle Scented Cauliflower Soup
Ingredients:
2 TBSP butter
3 TBSP minced shallot
1 cauliflower, about 2 pounds, florets and stems cut into small pieces
3 cups whole milk
½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
¼ tsp white pepper, plus more to taste
1 tsp white truffle oil, plus more to taste
1 tsp finely minced chives (optional)
Directions:
Melt the butter in a medium size pot over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for two minutes, until soft. Do not let them brown. Add the cauliflower and milk, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly, and then blend with salt and pepper to desired consistency. Return the soup to the pot and stir in the truffle oil. Taste, and add more salt, pepper or truffle oil as desired. Serve with a sprinkle of finely minced chives (optional).
Notes:
- This soup tastes lovely without any truffle oil at all. You can also change the seasoning by replacing the truffle oil with 1 teaspoon curry powder or ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg.
- If you do not have any white pepper, use freshly ground black pepper, however you will see the little flecks of black pepper in the soup.
- If you are looking for a low fat option, substitute the whole milk with low-fat milk.
- If you want a dairy free option, use ghee or olive oil instead of the butter, and replace the milk with chicken stock.
Makes approximately 6 cups.
Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Spice Rub and Spiced Apple Chutney
Ingredients:
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp dried mustard
½ tsp black pepper
1 TBSP olive oil
1 pork tenderloin, well trimmed, about 1 ¼ pounds
Directions:
Mix the first 8 ingredients together in a small bowl. Dry the pork tenderloin well with a paper towel, and then rub the spice mix well into the pork on all sides. Let the pork sit, well covered, in the fridge for at least 1 hour. The pork can be seasoned up to 8 hours in advance, or the night before.
When ready to grill, take the pork out of the fridge 30 minutes beforehand and let it come to room temperature. Pre-heat the grill to medium, about 400-450 degrees. Grill the pork until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees, medium-well, about 5-6 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board, cover loosely with foil and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice, pour any juices that have accumulated on the cutting board over the meat, and serve with Spiced Apple Chutney, recipe below.
Serves 4.
Apple Chutney
Ingredients:
1 TBSP butter
¼ cup currants (or raisins)
½ tsp cumin seeds
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ tsp coriander seeds
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp fennel seeds
pinch salt
3 medium tart apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 cup orange juice, preferably fresh, strained of pulp
Directions:
Heat the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the cumin, coriander and fennel seeds, and sauté until the butter froths and the seeds begin to darken, about 1-2 minutes. Add the apples, currants, brown sugar, cinnamon and juice. Stir until the sugar dissolves and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and let the apples simmer gently for about 10 minutes, covered. Remove the lid, stir and continue to simmer uncovered for another 20-25 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the apples become very soft and the mixture becomes thick and glazed. Serve warm or at room temperature. Can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.
For more information, contact:
Vintology Wine and Spirits
2 Palmer Avenue
Scarsdale NY, 10583
(914) 723-2040
www.vintology.com
Jennifer Rossano
Chef and Culinary Instructor
[email protected]
914-713-8665
Contributor Dina Braun spent fifteen years as a Catering Sales Manager and loved planning the menus.
She currently spends her days raising her three boys and in her spare time, follows the local food scene and tries many of the new restaurants in Westchester County. She enjoys sharing her opinions with other foodies.
Letter to the Editor: Why We Support Noam Bramson for County Executive
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To the Editor: We are proud to support Noam Bramson for Westchester County Executive. Please join us in voting for Noam on Tuesday, November 5th. Here's why:
Long-range, Intelligent and Honest Financial Management Plan to Cut Costs
Noam has a detailed, sustainable and innovative plan to grow Westchester's economy, protect our environment, strengthen vital services, and, most importantly, reform government to reduce taxes. (It's on his website; check it out.)
Proven Leadership for Westchester– Approachable, Consensus-Builder and Smart
As the experienced mayor of a complex city, Noam has created jobs, preserved open space and natural resources, and worked closely with people of every background and circumstance. Under Noam's leadership, New Rochelle has the lowest municipal tax rate of the all the big cities of Westchester.
Values and Integrity
Noam shares the moderate, mainstream values of Westchester County. He supports a woman's right to choose, stronger gun laws and marriage equality. Make no mistake, those are big differences in this election, and they are relevant to County government.
Noam's opponent, Rob Astorino, has run a dishonest and negative campaign. The Fair Campaign Practices Committee, an independent watch group, found Astorino's ads about Noam to be outright lies. Astorino's response was to continue to run the ads and to attack the Committee as 'partisan.' Just not true! Instead of running on his record, Astorino has resorted to false attack tactics, far outspending Noam's campaign. Should the loudest ads really guide your choice?
Noam is a rare politician -- smart, honest and deeply committed to service. This is an important election; the choices made by the County impact hundreds of thousands of lives. We need leadership with proven integrity and vision. Be sure to vote on Tuesday, November 5th for Noam Bramson.
Sincerely,
Diane and Marc Greenwald
Phyllis and Alvin Goldman
Lynn and Michael Pollack
Arthur and Erika Rublin
Lisa and Jordan Copeland
Lisa and Stephen Eisenstein
Laurence and Lauren Mintzer
Civil Rights Chief Reviews Voting Rights at LWVS Luncheon
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Though Section 4B of the Voting Rights Act was struck down by the Supreme Court in June, 2013, there are still many other enforceable sections of the law that do protect the rights of citizens to vote. That was the subject of a talk by David J. Kennedy, Chief of the Civil Rights Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District to the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale on October 18 at the Scarsdale Golf Club.
Section 4 required that jurisdictions of the country with a history of voter discrimination get pre-clearance from the court before making changes to their voting laws. Even without this provision, the U.S. Attorney's office in New York continues to bring cases against districts with discriminatory practices.
Kennedy reviewed a case against Port Chester where according to the 2000 census Latinos constituted 46% of the village's population but failed to win seats on village boards in village-wide elections. As the village had no voting districts, at-large voting denied minorities the opportunity to get elected.
They Department of Justice proved via demographic and regression analysis that the race of a candidate could be correlated with their election results in a certain district. They used this data to demand that Port Chester form voting districts. In the ruling the Judge opted to institute a "cumulative voting" process where each voter is given multiple votes that they can allocate to candidates in whatever quantity they choose. For instance, if there are six candidates for the Board of Education, each voter is given six votes that can be given in multiples to a desired candidate.
As a result, following the redistricting, Port Chester elected their first Hispanic and first Latin American candidates in history. In fact, the first Latin American elected to the Village Board in Port Chester was Luis Merino who works at Scarsdale's Edgewood Elementary School.
Kennedy also reviewed cases brought by the Department of Justice to require that voting materials be available in foreign languages when a jurisdiction included high percentages of Spanish or Arabic speakers for example. If the census indicates that large populations of foreign speakers are present, the jurisdiction must print the ballots and signage in that language.
What can you do to ensure that voting is fair? Kennedy suggested that if you notice any violations you alert his office. They investigate complaints and take action when necessary.
The League's luncheon was well attended and the audience included several candidates and elected officials. Ben Boykin, candidate for County Legislator was there along with State Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins.
In other League news, the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale recently released a consensus statement on changes to the Village's telecommunications laws in response to applications to install DAS antennas in the Village. You can review the statement on their website here.
For more information about the LWVS, visit their website. (Photo credit Nan Berke)
