Message from the Mayor: Deer project, Maple parking, Andrus zoning, New personnel, Park work
Posted on: March 11, 2017 - 12:59am
Fellow Residents;
A number of developments worth covering, including the kick-off of the deer project, a parking study, Andrus proposal leading to a zoning study, and new personnel and park work ahead. A long one, but much of interest.
Deer Project
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The immunocontraception project begins its fourth season this coming week, with the Humane Society team here to dart as many of the remaining does as they can locate over the next few weeks. So far, 48 does have been treated, which is up to 65% of all does in the village. We expect that 95% of those 48 treated does should not have fawns this spring. The hope is to immunize another 15-20 more does, and then we will be at a tipping point where we should see significant drops in local deer population in the coming years.
It's worth recapping the point of this effort. The Village currently hosts approximately 130-150 deer - and they have impacted private property, our parkland, and public safety in the form of car impacts and Lyme disease. (Not all of these may be affected by bringing down the deer population – but most should be.) There is no question that immunocontraception works - it is a tried-and-tested technology used broadly in zoos, with wild horses, and with deer. What we are testing here is whether this particular formulation of PZP - one intended to last two years - will cause infertility for two years (so far, yes), and whether it will work in a non-isolated setting where immigration from neighboring communities could off-set the drop in population from lower fertility. We chose immunocontraception because it is the only realistic alternative in our dense suburb. Lethal options are compromised: only bow hunting is allowed in Westchester, and it can’t occur within 150 feet of school grounds or a house that has not given you permission. In the past year, in parks such as Pound Ridge, over 50 hours of hunting were required for each deer killed, and some estimates are that it will take seven years to reduce the population there by 25%. Hunting would be restricted to a portion of Hillside Woods, while deer live throughout the Village. Furthermore, lethal approaches suffer exactly from the same issue that our chosen approach does: immigration. Finally, hunting engenders vocal opposition – and immunocontraception does not. Whatever route we take, we have to commit to continuing the effort year in and year out, otherwise the population recovers quickly. Within the next two years, we should have a good idea if immunocontraception works in Hastings. We’ll then decide whether we will continue with this effort.
The Village website has a map (here) showing high priority areas for darting this spring. If you live in one of those areas, please email us with your permission to permission@hastingsgov.org. Give your name, address, and state that you give permission to dart on your property. You can also report sightings of groups of deer that are stationary on the deer hotline 914-478-3400 ext. 655.
Parking Study on Maple Street
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The Board is kicking off a review of the parking situation in the Maple Avenue/Riverview neighborhood, where residents have become frustrated with more difficult on-street parking. Every review begins with a gathering of facts, and we will be surveying parking patterns over a two-week period at various times. With this data, we can do the analysis to determine the degree of the issue and possible courses of action.
Andrus and Rezoning update
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Hastings has been the home of the Andrus charities’ services – the nursing facility and, separately, children’s residential school (formerly an orphanage) at our southern end for almost ninety years. They have approached the Village recently with a proposal to add an independent living facility to the Andrus Nursing campus (click here to view proposal). However, our current zoning code permits for nursing care but not specifically for independent living, a more recent concept that has emerged long after our code was written a half century ago. This comes on the heels of a similar request by Artis, the firm that has purchased property at the southern end of Warburton to establish a memory care facility for Alzheimer and those who suffer from dementia and other similar diseases. Artis had begun the process of the studies needed to kick off a zoning amendment process. However, with the Andrus request on the table, it no longer makes sense for the zoning amendments to proceed in this fashion. Rather than at this point simply reacting to the requests of applicant, the Village, instead, will take on the lead role in examining the language in our zoning code to understand the impact to changing it to more modern formulations that would cover the requested uses, among others, and determine the appropriate locations and criteria for these uses. This update of senior uses is a recommendation in the Comprehensive Plan and something the Board discussed taking on two years ago. We have voted at our last meeting to retain the services of the Chazen Group, a consulting group specializing in land use, and will begin the process over the next few months. More to come on this as the process unfolds.
New personnel
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Susan Maggiotto recently retired after over two decades of service as Village Clerk. She served the Village so well these many years, with discretion, sensitivity, diligence, and excellence. She was a font of information, knowledge and lore - a trusted confidante and a friend. We will miss her and wish her well. Our new Village Clerk, Joseph Cerretoni, comes to us from previous service in Mt. Kisco and Ossining. Please welcome him. We also welcome Matthew F. Nordt this coming Monday as our new Parks and Recreation Supervisor. He comes to us with ten years of experience, most recently from Stamford. He replaces Kendra Garrison, who left for another opportunity in a neighboring village. Kendra's quiet diligence and hard work, especially on our pool-related recreation programs, left the Village a better place. We wish her well in her new job. Matthew looks forward to providing the Village with a continuing high level of excellence in our Parks and Rec program. He comes to us with much change afoot, which is a good segue to the next update.
Parks updates
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We will have a (large) number of developments regarding our parks. We are putting out for contract the complete rehabilitation of the tennis courts up by the pool. These have gone without repair for a couple of decades and have suffered accordingly (an underground spring near one corner hasn't helped either). We hope to have the work complete by the summer. We have received bids in for completing the Quarry Trail, a path that leads from the Aqueduct down to Southside Avenue. This was the historic route of an industrial railroad that used to take quarried marble to the waterfront where it was shipped off to clad such buildings as the Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. It will be a key connector, allowing people to pass from the river's edge up to the soon-to-be-rehabilitated Quarry Park, and then on through Draper Park all the way to Broadway without ever having to step on pavement. And speaking of Quarry Park, now that we have $1.3 million from the Consent Decree, we're kicking off the final design and prep to finally finish the clean-up and reopening of this park, shut since it was turned into a dump in the 1960's. But, that's not all: we are *also* beginning the search for a landscape architect to help us on upgrades and changes to the Uniontown ball field and playground. We want to adjust the field so it is fully Little League compliant, address (at least in part) the parking issues at this location, and figure out how to best rehabilitate the playground there. In short, our new Parks and Rec supervisor will be stepping into quite the set of projects. Wish him well and Godspeed.
In short, much going on. If you’re looking for a break this weekend, by the way, the Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow St. Patrick’s Day parade is this Sunday at 1:30PM and starts on Main Street in Tarrytown, goes up Broadway, and then down Beekman through Sleepy Hollow’s charming downtown. It’s the biggest St. Patrick’s Day parade in Westchester and is a lot of fun. (Hastings is well-represented in the parade.)
Sincerely,
Peter Swiderski
Mayor