WHITE PLAINS, NY — The Westchester County Planning Board has reviewed the draft GElS for New Rochelle’s “Recommended Action Plan” for downtown development and raised two major concerns regarding waste treatment outflows resulting from the proposed development.
1. County sewer impacts – “the existing infrastructure may not support the proposed level of growth in terms of wastewater treatment and nitrogen removal. When the sewer infrastructure was planned and designed, a 14% rise in population within the sewer district was not contemplated. If development occurs as allowed under the proposed zoning amendments, much of the capacity at the New Rochelle Wastewater Treatment Plant will be taken. However, the capacity at the plant is allocated to the entire sewer district, not just downtown New Rochelle. Therefore the potential impacts of the rezoning become intermunicipal
2. Solid waste management and recycling – “The draft GElS estimates solid waste generation to increase by approximately 2,436 tons/month. The draft GElS goes on to state, “Westchester County indicated that there is sufficient capacity at the MRF to receive waste material from redevelopment in downtown New Rochelle.” This statement is inaccurate as no consideration is given in the GElS as to how much of the additional solid waste would be residential and how much would be commercial. Only residential waste would be acceptable at County facilities, unless the City committed to collecting the waste in the newly developed commercial zones. In addition, only residential recyclables are acceptable at the MRF.
The County Planning Board also raises some questions about a proposed downtown circulator transportation system which was tried in White Plains and failed.
Read the entire comment here.