Republican/Pelham Village candidates’ final statement

Editor’s note: This statement was provided by the Republican/Pelham Village campaign.

We urge you to vote for the full Pelham Village/Republican slate in tomorrow’s election. We believe the future of Pelham is bright, for all the residents of this Village that we all prize so much.

Our position is prudent, responsible development of the Village. We reiterate that the Boulevard West and 101 Wolf’s Lane projects will be built regardless of which side wins. If we win, we will be engaging with developers as one potential solution to our infrastructure challenges, including our firehouse.

Our position is to seek development that brings the greatest promise of increased tax revenues to the Village, which is condominium and commercial development. Earlier this month, the developer for 8 Boulevard West stated that he is planning to change his luxury-rental plan and convert to condominiums. The reason? As the developer was quoted, “We look at market forces.” The fact that the first developer that the BDFZ attracted now believes that the real estate market favors condominiums strongly supports our position.

Moreover, because the proposed type of rental units will be taxed as non-homestead property, the property tax revenues payable to the Village and our school system will be substantially less than the revenues received from equivalent homestead property like condominiums and single family homes (typically one-third to one-half the taxes of homestead development). The homestead property tax approach for new residential development is a more efficient and fairer means of increasing our tax base.

The key to Pelham’s future is maintaining the quality of our schools. Our schools are the strength of our community – everyone we have asked over the last month has responded: “We came here because of the schools.” We need to market Pelham’s strengths – its schools and its proximity to New York City – to young families seeking to leave the City, so that they come to buy starter homes and increase our homestead tax base. Right now, there are bidding wars for such homes in the Village.

We have been asked for, and we have articulated, specific facts about the optimism of the projections on additional school age children and cars given by the relevant developers. We have seen no valid rebuttal of any of those specific facts, but rather references, as at the debate, to a Village more like Bronxville and Larchmont with Starbucks, scooters, and even a trolley.

The economics of new development must take into account not merely building fees and Village taxes, but costs to the schools. Our schools are very near full capacity. It was said at parent night that we have the largest 7th grade in Pelham’s history. Class sizes are much larger than previously at the elementary schools. Under state law, a bond for a new school cannot take into account growth above current student levels. Overcrowding the new Hutchinson school before it is even built worries us greatly.

Despite what was said at the debate, there are many 2- and 3-bedroom units proposed. We count between 100 and 110 2-bedroom, and between 12 and 20 3-bedroom apartments over all the proposed developments. This is why all the developments could increase the Village’s population close to 10 percent.

Residents should not ignore reality and believe that there will be one child in every 14-16 apartments, as claimed. The developer’s representative for 101 Wolf’s Lane stated at a public meeting that this project would begin costing our school district if, instead of 2-4 children per approximately 60 units, there were 8 children – when 18 of those units are going to be 2-bedrooms and 4 3-bedrooms.

Oversaturation of the flavor-of-the-day luxury rental market concerns us greatly. We heard no real answer at the debate over the effects of the 4000 contemplated units in New Rochelle that will compete with Pelham. And what about the effects of 200 more rental units on the home values of existing Pelham condominiums like Marbury Corners?

And what about traffic safety? Each of us has children in the Pelham Schools. One cannot ignore the reality of hundreds of more cars moving around a Village with at most 3 police officers on duty at a time. And hundreds more cars will in fact come because Westchester County is really not walkable or bikeable.

We have needed a conversation about moving Pelham into the future. There are voices in our little Village that deserve to be heard and might not have been heard absent such a conversation. For example, we asked a resident of Marquand Place how he felt about 8 Boulevard West. He said, “It’s like they took the sun away.”

We believe all of Pelham has a sunny future if we govern responsibly. We have a well-rounded team that will work tirelessly to address our current challenges prudently. We appreciate your considering our views in this most important election and urge you to vote for all of us.

Candice Ripoll

Steve Doka

Arthur Long

LeRoy Marriott