- Click here for previous Sidewalks reports
City Brass, CCOS, Trust for Public Land's Gallay present Mayor Delfino's $5MM Environmental Protection Initiative to attendees of erstwhile Referendum Committee Meeting Monday
Observers from Council say "The EPI" needs "tweaking," but not how much.
Teck: Trust for Public Land "ready now" to "leverage up" city's $5 million.
White Plains Endangered Species Identified: Rattlesnakes in Silver Lake, butterflies, dragonflies, more critters.
By John F. Bailey
CityLine: January 24, 2001 - Memorial Methodist Church
The new Green Coalition of White Plains formed in bipartisan harmony last Friday by the Westchester Land Trust, Concerned Citizens for Open Space and the Delfino Administration presented more information about the Mayor's Environmental Protection Initiative Monday evening, hosted by Concerned Citizens for Open Space.
Key objectives of the EPI and the planning behind it emerged:
1. The Environmental Protection Initiative if voted by the Common Council will become a policy in perpetuity, making the preservation and acquisition of Open Space official City of White Plains policy.
2. The $5MM bond funding, the EPI asks the council to approve, will give the city a two year head start on acquiring financial backers from private sources the Trust for Public Land might tap to aid the city in acquiring both small and large open space tracts, as well as state sources.
3. The methodology of servicing the debt: pension interest from a fully funded pension fund and the Recreation Trust Fund, and $200,000 a year in parking fines previously earmarked for The Galleria parking garage debt relieves the city of the necessity to raise property taxes or ask the state to raise the mortgage tax, and averts the necessity of scheduling a public referendum on a funding mechanism through a new tax.
4. The Open Space Advisory Committee proposed by the Initiative would be the governing body on all facets of Open Space in White Plains.
5. The plan is structured to encourage use of the conservation easement method of acquiring open space, resulting in tax reduction for the donor of open space.
6. There are dangerous "critters" living in White Plains. In Ms. Habel's comments on the endangered species piece of the legislation, the audience learned that the endangered species, the timber rattlesnake, resides in Woodcrest Heights by Silver Lake.
Movers and Shakers and Movers and Shakers-to-Be turn out:
The meeting was originally scheduled to form a citizens' committee for developing a referendum to secure a formal way to raise funds in White Plains to purchase Open Space.
This original objective was made unnecessary by Mayor Delfino's news conference the previous Friday detailing his Environmental Protection Initiative, which provides $5 million of bonds for acquisition, if the Common Council votes for it.
The meeting filled the Fireside Room of the Memorial Methodist Church, and served as the first informal community introduction of the EPI to a meeting of about 75 citizens plus various city dignitaries.
City officials included Councilpersons William King, Larry Delgado, Pauline Oliva, Robert Greer and Benjamin Boykin, Mayor Joseph M. Delfino, his Executive Officer, George Gretsas, and the meeting was addressed by Deputy Commissioner of Planning Susan Habel who revealed more financial details of the plan. Council President, Rita Malmud, did not attend, and was said to still be on vacation.
Benjamin: CCOS a sponsor; Thanks Delfino for "a superb initiative."
Mayor returns the support.
Barbara Benjamin, Chairperson of Concerned Citizens for Open Space, said the original purpose of Referendum Committee meeting was "we wanted to jump start a movement as other communities have done...we called this meeting because there was an absolute need for a referendum."
She said that now there appeared to be no need for a referendum committee because of the Mayor's introduction of the Environmental Protection Initiative introduced Friday.
Benjamin thanked the Mayor for "a superb initiative for getting us started down this road," and introduced Mayor Delfino who said "I'm glad it (his initiative) was so well-received. We're truly excited about it. There's no reason we can't protect as much of it (Open Space) as we can."
The Mayor emphasized that the EPI "didn't just fall out of the sky," and that his administration had worked a long time on it. He said the policy was created because he did not want to "go to the taxpayer" to fund Open Space acquisition, but that "right now we have a stream of funding, and I'm hoping we can have the support of this organization (CCOS) to move on."
Benjamin says "we don't need four committees. We now have one."
Ms. Benjamin said that before the Mayor's Initiative was presented to them last week, the idea of the Referendum Committee grew out of the CCOS perception of the need for a referendum. She said they thought they would originally have to form four committees to study how referendums are held, whether they needed one, and that three other committees, a ballot draft committee, a publicity committee and a petition committee to get on the ballot.
"We don't need those committees at this point," Benjamin said. "We need just one committee that can study the Mayor's initial proposal." She urged persons to sign in to help study and render their opinions on the proposal.
Delgado: "We leapfrog. We save a year or two."
King: "A good start."
Councilmen Larry Delgado and William King who originally had been asked to moderate the Monday evening meeting, found themselves asked by the Mayor to be on the Open Space Acqusition Committee proposed by the legislation.
Mr. Delgado, who by letter, applauded the initiative Friday morning, said in person Monday night "A wonderful thing happened on the way to this meeting," meaning the Mayor's initiative.
Delgado said he liked the plan because "We leapfrog. We save a year or two. We get the full $5 million upfront. The biggest crime of all would be never to start."
He gave way to Councilman William King, who remarked the Mayor's EPI was a "really good plan and we should support it. This is a good start."
King said that the $5MM in bonds, called for by the plan would cost the taxpayers nothing the way the city proposes to finance it. He gave as an example that if the $5MM were financed through property taxes over 15 years, it would cost taxpayers an extra $16 per household per year. He pointed out that other referendums voted in place around the county were to cost their community tax payers from $50 to $100 more per household per year. The city proposes to finance the $5MM through parking fines, and shifting interest payments.
Gallay --advocate: "City leapfrogs 2 years."
On hand was the original speaker who was to address the meeting, Paul Gallay, the Executive Director of the Westchester Land Trust , who elaborated on his support for the plan which he expressed at Friday's Mayoral News Conference.
He said "Congratulations to you all for coming together at that stage...In White Plains, you might say, every acre (you save) is more important than other communities because of your density."
Gallay called the Mayor's plan, "a blueprint for the 21st century," and emphasized that the immediate funding proposed by the plan would attract matching funding from other sources quickly. He said that he hoped discussion would be "not to discuss problems but to discuss opportunities (of the plan)."
Susan Habel: Conservation easements encouraged.
The Deputy Commissioner of Planning, Susan Habel was introduced to talk about the financing of the plan.
In her remarks, she mentioned the formal adoption of the plan which would identify open space preservation candidates, would encourage use of the conservation easement method. This is a method, she said, by which owners of private property restrict use of their property in some way, in this case, restricting their property from being developed, and "receiving a tax deduction in the bargain."
Habel said that this would prevent attractive properties in the city from being subdivided upon transfer of the property. "Private individuals could donate an easement," Habel said. "They could make it to any charitable or municipal organization."
The open space policy proposed by the Mayor's plan, would make it more likely that private persons would donate a conservation easement.
Gallay: funding now leverages your funds. "You can make purchases this year."
Teck: Trust for Public Land ready to leverage up the city's kitty.
Gallay pointed out that 83 acres (worth millions of dollars) were donated in Bedford to Westchester County in just this manner just year.
He pointed out that "the more time you spend putting into this plan the better. You can make purchases this year (2001)."
Dr. Alan Teck, President of Concerned Citizens for Open Space, seconded this thought. "The $5 million is actually more than $5 million, because the Trust for Public Land is set up to raise funds. They are ready to participate to leverage up on this $5 million."
Teck, long a tireless advocate for open space, gave gracious tribute to the Mayor's plan. He said that the Mayor "precluded us (the referendum committee) from spinning our wheels. We were able to get right to the chase."
Pension fund members set for life, More than enough to meet their needs.
According to Habel, the trust fund which interest would be diverted from to pay the debt service is only being enjoyed by 9 persons. She said that there was more than sufficient principal in the trust to meet their needs the rest of their lives according to the city finance department. The city must request the state legislature to approve this transfer of interest payments in this fund, should the Common Council approve the Environmental Protection Initiative.
The other piece, the transfer of parking fines from retirement of Galleria garage bonds has been pre-approved by the Parking Authority.
The use of interest, Habel said, from the Recreation Advisory Fund is in keeping with the way that fund has been used in the past (such as paying for the roof of Ebersole Rink.)
Habel pointed out that by establishing the fund now, the city would "develop a constituency" and "have built up a base of growth" to attract major funding for open space acquisitions in future years.
She said increasing the mortgage tax to fund open space acquisition was not attractive to the city because the state, which has to approve any such mortgage tax increase was unlikely to do so until the community had first raised the property tax. She said this was the reason the city opted to finance through transfer of available funds.
Questions and answers reveal policy scope:
In the question and answer portion of the meeting that followed, this information was revealed:
White Plains' Susan Habel said that the EPI was a logical Phase 2 of the recreation master plan, which first took an inventory of all recreation and parks property and identified capital improvements. Habel said that first phase is well under way, and now the second phase of focusing on acquisition of recreational land was being addressed by the Mayor's Environmental Protection Initiative. "(The Recreational Master Plan) is by no means being ignored."
She answered a question about which lands to preserve and where conservation easements might be granted, "We know where the parcels are. We are not looking at any one area of town. Requests will come in throughout the community."
Paul Gallay in response to a question about negotiating secretly with an owner of attractive land said "You don't have any advantage by negotiatingprice in private. You need a good buyer's appraisal." Habel buttressed this thought,saying the city could only buy land based on an appraisal.
Habel confirmed that the proposed Open Space Acquisition Committee would be considering all properties identified in the 1997 City Master Plan as possible candidates for acquisition.
Ms. Habel described the Environmental Protection Initiative as being written to be adopted as a guiding policy of the Common Council and the City beyond the current administration.
Marc Pollitzer raised the question of whether the EPI "precludes" having a referendum should be placed on the ballot to give the opportunity for the citizens of White Plains to demonstrate their willingness to vote taxes to fund Open Space Acquisition. Habel indicated such an option was not being considered by the city. Paul Gallay, the referendum expert said the city was "saving a year (with the EPI resolution) relative to the time it takes" to get a referendum going," saying that the $5MM in bonds, if paid for in property taxes would increase property taxes by $30 per assessed valuation. Habel added that funding the EPI out of the city pocket, prevents having to ask the legislature to approve city tax changes in the mortgage tax.
When asked what the endangered species were in White Plains, Habel mentioned butterfies, dragon flies, and the timber rattlesnake, which she said inhabits the Woodcrest Heights area off Silver Lake. This brought a gasp from the crowd. She said there was a 4-page list of endangered species published by the Westchester County Department of Conservation which lists a number of migratory birds, such as the peregrine falcon, plus the wood turtle and bog turtle and the timber rattlesnake.
Councilpersons Pauline Oliva and Benjamin Boykin, interviewed by WPCNR after the meeting, said the program was interesting but it needed "tweaking." They would not say whether it needed a little or a lot of "tweaking," but said they expected to add their input in worksessions. Oliva and Boykin were very positive but not committal.
At this point, with the Mayor, Councilmen Delgado and King solidly behind the program, the Mayor only needs one Democratic vote to carry the program judging by initial reaction. The Council is expected to receive the Environmental Protection Initiative to vote on at their February 6 meeting. That is the city plan.
Dr. Teck said the Environmental Protection Initiative derived its start from a meeting the Mayor's office held with him and Ms. Benjamin in mid-summer, and that the plan was presented to them for the first time last week.
