Greenacres Man advocates that Village stop building tall retaining walls on Kingston Road

Real Estate Published: Wednesday 06 January 2021 4:22 PM Joanne Wallenstein

An aerial view of the proposed project.What do you do when you discover that a developer is planning to put two rows of 30m retaining walls on the hill in your back yard?

A. Contact the village technical department for help.
B. Appointment to the Board of Architectural Review.
C. Start a petition to get help from neighbors.
D. Legal counsel, engineer, town planner and architect.

Brite Avenue resident and realtor Mark Nadler has taken all of these steps and still has no answer as to why the village would allow a contractor to build an 8,000-square-foot home on a steep hill and use the back yard to do so Retaining walls to extend protrude over the backyard of the needler.

The developer doesn’t even have to submit a representation of what the property and walls would look like from the base of the hill where Nadler’s house is located.

The property in question is located at 4 Kingston Road, where the contractor has requested “2 or 3 retaining walls to be built for approximately 130 feet to maximize the size of the yard and house, and one 44″ by 20 ” Pool house with a complex of decks, spa, grill, bars and gas fire, surrounded by two and a half acres of landscaped gardens and lush lawns, “on property listed for US $ 3.795 million.

Nadler claims the project will “require the removal of over 30 large, medium, and small trees and all of the foliage and create a tall wall that will be a permanent visual eyesore in the neighborhood.”

Nadler’s questions go unanswered as the Board of Architectural Review says they are not getting involved with the engineering department and the engineering department says they are not dealing with aesthetics.

The project will be re-submitted to the Board of Architectural Review at its January 11th meeting and the Zoning Board of Appeal will consider the request for the pool at its January 13th meeting. At the BAR meeting in June 2020, when the plans were first available, applicants submitted two sets of drawings, one with two rows of retaining walls and one with three. Nobody noticed until Nadler’s attorney reviewed the project after the meeting.

Nadler appeals to the neighbors to do the following:

A. Sign the petition he made against the demolition of the hill and the construction of massive retaining walls:

B. Ask all members of the Board of Architectural Review (BAR), as well as the Mayor and Trustees, to enter the property prior to the meeting to assess the steepness of the property and determine if the property is unsuitable for this project. No images have been submitted by the developer.

C. Consider attending the Zoom meetings and speaking out against the demolition of the hill and building massive retaining walls during the planned renovation of 4 Kingston Road.

The project approval meeting is the Zoom BAR meeting on 11/1/21, and the pool approval meeting (pending approval at the BAR meeting) at the Zoning Board of Appeal will be on 1/13/2021.

Nadler asks you to forward the petition to the neighbors in Greenacres and Scarsdale for their assistance to stop the destruction of the hill.

Here are the links to see what the developer submitted to the Board of Architectural Review:

And here are the documents for the Zoning Board of Appeal:

Below is a letter from Nadler:

Nadler’s yard on Brite Avenue

Dear Mayor, Trustee, BAR Members, Members of the Zoning Board of Appeal,

I am sending this email with an urgent request that 4 Kingston Road, Scarsdale, hold your attention for a few more moments. Please forward this to the BAR and ZOA members if necessary.

As the downhill neighbor of this proposed renovation, expansion, and in-ground pool project, the system has not worked properly to give this the proper review it needs.

As a result, I had to hire a lawyer, engineer, town planner, and law firm to represent myself (and my neighborhood) and put a lot of effort into simulating the planned development to ensure my objections were heard.

I am now sending you an email with several inquiries:

1. Please walk across the property prior to the Monday meeting to see the steep, unsuitable property where the developer plans to extend the yard over the hill and put up several retaining walls. The developer has not submitted a single image or rendering of the hill in the entire time this project has been submitted. Feel free to take a physical walk in my garden so that you understand the significant depreciation of my property if this project goes as illustrated.

2. Please ensure that my experts can be present at the BAR meeting. They need to present pictures and reports and need to be heard and NOT just under public comments. The June Zoom BAR meeting was not a forum where this could be done or where people could raise issues.

3. Please attend the BAR and ZBA meetings (if necessary) to make sure you see what is being presented if you need to be informed as it will have a negative impact on the neighborhood.

Below is the email I sent to the neighbors and other Scarsdale residents. As of Sunday evening, around 350 people have signed the petition against this project.

Please email or call me if you have any questions.

Regards,
Mark Nadler