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SCARSDALE, N.Y. Beatrice Underweiser of the Scarsdale Forum and Kit Rosenthal of the Scarsdale League of Women Voters voiced their questions and concerns about the village's proposed fair and affordable housing law at Tuesday night's bimonthly Village of Scarsdale Board of Trustees meeting.
The discussion was part of a scheduled public hearing on the topic that was expected to dominate the meeting. At the outset, Trustee Stacey Brodsky said the hearing would not be concluded at the meeting and, instead, would continue at the board's Nov. 9 meeting.
The fair and affordable housing law is designed to bring the village into compliance with federal laws and an agreement between Westchester County and the federal government regarding compliance. That agreement has been a hot-button issue in the county legislature races this fall.
Underweiser, of the Scarsdale Forum's Zoning and Planning Committee, said her group had been through the resolution proposing the law and supported it, but had a few questions. As the act calls for monitoring the implementation and compliance and allows for fees for such monitoring, she asked, who will pay for the monitoring?
Brodsky said that Westchester County would pay at the outset, but eventually those costs could be transferred to the developers and landlords.
Rosenthal emphasized the League of Women Voters' support for affordable housing, but said it has been a consistent position of the group that housing be made available to Scarsdale residents and employees who work in Scarsdale. She said she would like a clarification of how the housing would be marketed and monitored.
Martin Kaufman, a Scarsdale resident, took a brief turn at the microphone, but the questions he posed to the board in writing will take a bit longer to answer.
"I don't want to read the questions tonight because they are lengthy, and I don't expect any answers tonight," Kaufman said. "I'd like to submit these questions," he said, holding up some papers, "and let you discuss them and come back at the Nov. 9 meeting with some answers."
He asked the board member to be specific about how the act advances the health, safety and welfare of Scarsdale residents. He also asked if they thought housing in Scarsdale had been unfair, and why the resolution had to be adopted now instead of when the dispute between the federal government and Westchester County has been finalized.
The board agreed to come back with answers at the Nov. 9 meeting.
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