Authorizes a residential parking system in the village of Bronxville

Summary of specific provisions

Section one states legislative intent.

Section two amends the vehicle and traffic law by adding a new section 1640-n which allows the village of Bronxville, by adoption of a local law or ordinance, to provide for a residential parking system on certain specified roadways. No permit shall be required on those portions of the specified streets where the adjacent properties are zoned for commercial/retail use. Motor vehicles registered pursuant to section four hundred four-a of the vehicle and traffic law shall be exempt from any permit requirement. The village shall determine certain times and days during which permit requirements shall be in effect, make not less than twenty percent of the spaces within the permit area available to nonresidents, provide short term parking of not less than sixty minutes in the permit area and determine the fees for such permits. Additionally, no local law or ordinance shall be adopted pursuant to this section until the village board of the village of Bronxville has adopted a finding regarding certain specified issues. A public hearing on the ordinance shall take place before the adoption of the ordinance.

Section three defines the effective date.

Justification

The Village of Bronxville has entered into a contract to sell three public parking lots, located adjacent to the Metro-North train station along Kensington Road, to a private development company that plans to build residential condominium units with an underground parking garage on the land. The private developer will convey to the Village of Bronxville a permanent easement over enough of the new parking lot to replace at least that much public parking as currently exists on the property. In fact, the developer will convey a permanent easement to the Village for 200 parking spaces to replace the 180 parking spaces that currently exist on the Kensington Road lots.

A similar provision was passed into law in 2006, but the economic downturn prevented the project from moving forward when the previous developer lost solvency. With recovery underway, the Village has entered into a new contract with a new developer to move ahead with this much awaited project.

During the estimated two-year construction period, the 180 cars that currently park in the Kensington Road lots will be displaced. The Village of Bronxville is seeking proactively to establish a residential permit parking system to avert the inevitable parking crisis in the neighborhood that will occur during the period of

construction. The Village of Bronxville leases the 180 parking spaces in the Kensington Road lots to three distinct groups of drivers: 1) Village residents who live in the Kensington Road/Sagamore Road neighborhood ("neighborhood residents"); 2) Village residents who park their cars in the lot during the day and commute from the train station ("commuters"); 3) Merchants from the nearby commercial district. Significantly, it is only the neighborhood residents that the Village is seeking to protect by this legislation.

Roughly 125 neighborhood residents will be displaced during the two year period of construction. The Village seeks to issue residential parking permits to these neighborhood residents.

The Kensington Road/Sagamore Road neighborhood is a residential area consisting primarily of multiple dwelling buildings. Many of these units do not have driveways and do not offer on-site parking. The closure of the Kensington Road parking lot for two years will leave these neighborhood residents who currently park in the lot without any place near their homes to park. Moreover, the proximity of the neighborhood to the train station and downtown business district already puts parking pressure on the neighborhood residents. When the Kensington Road parking lot is closed, the parking pressure will increase dramatically as commuters and merchants seek to park on the roads in the Kensington Road/Sagamore Road neighborhood.

A two-year residential parking permit system is necessary to allow neighborhood residents the opportunity to park near their homes. This legislation will help alleviate the inevitable parking crisis in the neighborhood that will result by the closure of the Kensington Road lots during the period of construction.

Prior legislative history

This is a new bill.

Fiscal implication

None to the state.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have become law and shall expire on January 1, 2017 when upon such date the provisions of this act shall be deemed repealed.