Pelham Mayor Volpe addresses development, zoning and projects using municipal land

Former Pelham Mayor Michael Volpe is New York chairman of the SAM Party.

Courtesy Michael J. Volpe Facebook page

Former Pelham Mayor Michael Volpe is New York chairman of the SAM Party.

From the desk of the mayor:

My term as Mayor of the Village of Pelham will end on April 1.  It has been a pleasure and honor to serve this wonderful village.  I wish you all the very best in the future and report the following to the community as my term finishes.

I would be remiss if I did not mention two important and related development topics, the BDFZ and the Village’s RFP to developers concerning potential rebuilds of municipal property.

The BDFZ — Under my leadership and after 14 months of study and public input, the Village adopted a Business District Floating Zone (BDFZ) to promote mixed use, commercial and residential development in our community.  The BDFZ concept was suggested in the 2008 Master Plan for our community, but no actions were taken.  As a result of inaction, the Village of Pelham has fallen way behind other communities in terms of development and tax-base diversity.  Ask our business owners. . . Pelham can be a difficult community to successfully run a business.  Also, we have done nothing to address housing stock issues and, lastly, no plan has ever been implemented to address ever rising taxes.  Encouraging responsible new development will address these issues.

Our board has carefully addressed the aesthetic concerns of development, as well as the potential services burden and school crowding issues by (i) making unit mixes lean toward smaller one and two bedroom apartments, (ii) cutting down on parking for each unit (less desirable for multi-car families), (iii) encouraging age-restricted projects and (iv) limiting height and bulk of buildings and having oversight of all projects by our Planning and Architectural Review boards.  To be clear, 2 projects are under construction (16 units on a formerly vacant piece of land and 5 townhomes at a former gas station site), one 63 unit project has received site plan approval at the decades-long vacant lot next to Rockwell’s.  All other projects are in planning stages.

As is typical, there are many untrue rumors about potential development in our community.  We have recently heard that the proposed “buildings with balconies will ruin Pelham” and the BDFZ will “increase population with hundreds of apartments and people.”  All are misrepresentations and/or false.    Developers would be spending tens of millions of dollars in Pelham (if approved) and are not typically betting their dollars on failed projects.  Balconies, if approved, can be monitored with conditions on the site plan approval and under applicable law.  Finally, we are considering somewhere between 100 and 250 apartments if all “plans” happened, including the RFP plan below.

The RFP – our community has old, failing and costly infrastructure. In the past few years we spent over $200,000.00 on structural steel to keep a parking deck safe, various infrastructure improvements and to remove mold in the firehouse.  We cannot replace these structures without more debt and higher taxes unless a developer pays for some or all of the improvements.  Our village issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking developer input to rebuilding our infrastructure in exchange for the right to build commercial and residential development in our downtown district.  This has been discussed in our public meetings for at least 12 months. The interest from developers is great.  We may be able to replace the aging infrastructure at no cost to residents, and, at the same time, improve our downtown district with housing and commercial spaces as well as parking.  Certainly the construction phase will be a difficult time for the community, but if accomplished the Village of Pelham will receive over $10,000,000 in value and will thrive for decades to come.  Inaction in government breeds problems.  If we fail as community to act upon this important opportunity, the next one may not come along for many years. To those who suggest we must do nothing to ‘preserve’ Pelham, I say I have no interest in preserving vacant lots, derelict gas-stations and empty store-fronts.

We have accomplished much in my six years of service to the Village.  When I was Deputy Mayor (2013 – 2015), along with former Mayor Cassidy, we implemented fiscally sound policies to stay within the tax cap. Since that time, our village board has continued these sound fiscal policies while:

  • Adopting 6 budgets at or under the tax cap;
  • Demanding transparency on all government functions;
  • Creating a Sustainability Advisory Board to assist the community moving forward in an environmentally responsible manner;
  • Completing the Wolfs Lane park redevelopment and improving green space in the community;
  • Continuing to address traffic remediation by setting a 25 MPH speed limit in certain areas, adding digital speed and other signage, and adding crossing guards for those walking to and from school;
  • Repaving more roads than had been done in any prior administration;
  • Transferring the Heights water system to Suez Water;
  • Entering into an aggregation energy saving arrangement to reduce resident billing for power while promoting environmentally sound energy consumption;
  • Implementing plans for LED lighting for street lights to save money and reduce electrical usage;
  • Supporting a solar panel installation effort with unprecedented results;
  • Continuing the exemplary delivery of village services from the police, fire, public works and buildings departments;
  • Adhering to a capital spending program to address some failing infrastructure and to make necessary equipment purchases;
  • Collaborating with Pelham Manor on police and fire training to address safety and responses to issues at the High School/Middle School complex;
  • Continuing and improving evening “Free Parking” locations for shopping and dining;
  • Overseeing the installation of “MY VOP” and “Municity” to deliver communications and village services to residents more easily;
  • Concluding the first long-term (5 year) labor agreement with our fire-department, before the current agreement expired; and
  • Making certain the Village has sound leadership in place by hiring a new Village Administrator, Police Chief, Police Lieutenant, Fire Chief, and a new combined DPW and Buildings Department head.

Thanks to my Board colleagues (present and former) and to all of the Village employees for their hard work during my years.  Without them, nothing gets done.  Special thanks to Trustee Xaira Ferrara who has served with me the last 4 years.  When I reached across the aisle and asked her to run it was based on her love and commitment to Pelham; not party politics!

It has been my honor and privilege to serve as Mayor of this wonderful community.  If ever you have questions or would like to meet for coffee, please contact me at [email protected].

Yours in service,

Michael J. Volpe, Mayor