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MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. - Developers of Seven Springs Estates have taken steps to ensure runoff from landscaped properties will not drain toward Byram Lake, Mount Kisco Mayor Michael Cindrich said at Monday's Village Board of Trustees meeting.
Whats going on with this project is that they are really taking a strong initiative to change the topography so the properties that are going to be landscaped will not drain in the direction of the lake, and this is a significant inroad weve made, Cindrich said.
The mayor's remarks stem from a recent meeting with Eric Trump, who has taken over as project manager from his father Donald's developers.
Cindrich said he is impressed the Trump organization has assigned the project to Trumps son, who lives on the property. He actually cut the grass himself, Cindrich said. He knows the property like the back of his hand.
Located in Bedford Corners near the Byram Lake watershed, the development has long aroused village concerns about possible negative effects on the purity of the village's water supply.
In February, the Bedford Planning Board gave conceptual approval to the project and passed it on to the Zoning Board of Appeals for its review of the plans latest adjustments.
At the trustees' May 7 meeting, the Byram Lake Committee presented a study that showed an infinitesimal increase in the reservoir's sodium content. While runoff is not necessarily the source of the increase, Cindrich said, he spoke to Trump about preventing salt runoff from the small public road on the development. Cindrich said he asked Trumps people to consider homeowners association regulations to discourage the use of salt and certain other compounds used to break up ice.
Cindrich also reported that the developers have implemented a plan to reduce the amount of chemicals that can be used on manicured lawns. At the last meeting of Bedford's planning board, the developers reported that they planned to do away with the on-site equestrian facility that was originally proposed, "which could have had detrimental effects on waste in the subdivision," Cindrich said.
While it is now a nine-lot housing project, the development has been a subject of contention since the early 2000s, when citizens revolted against Donald Trumps original plans to build a golf course on the property, saying pesticides and fertilizers would contaminate Byram Lake.
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