Compiled from the Feb. 24 Rye City Council meeting
Mayor’s Manager Report
•    WSP Sells made a presentation on hydrology and flood related items pertaining to Bowman Avenue. David Weiss, project manager for WSP Sells, refreshed the new council members on his task, commissioned in 2007, to investigate flood improvements at the site of the Bowman Avenue spillway.

The firm is currently investigation resizing the upper pond by widening it and excavating soft materials out. Early estimates of resizing are between $5 million and $7 million dependent upon how much rock and earth has to be removed. Along with the sluice gate project those seem to be the only two feasible actions the city can maneuver at that location.

•    City Planner Christian Miller updated the council on the Central Business District Streetscape Plan first unveiled in April 2009. The planner focused on three projects at different intersections within the downtown and the challenges that the city faces with the downtown boundaries. “You’re trying to retrofit a 19th century main street to meet 21st century needs,” Miller said. The projects are all considered high priorities. 1) Replacing the Purchase Street-Locust Avenue traffic signal, at an estimated cost of $165,000, involves the installation of a new traffic signal and installation of bump-outs and other pedestrian safety improvements. 2) Replacing the traffic signal at the offset intersection of Purchase Street-Theodore Fremd Avenue-Purdy Avenue is recommended to meet state DOT standards; the city would also add a turning lane on Theodore Fremd Avenue to reduce intersection delays. Costs estimates are $165,000 for the project. 3) The Elm Street-Smith Street project, estimated at $95,000, would include replacing the existing signal with stop signs and other traffic calming measures including changes in intersection paving material and new crosswalks.

Other News
•    Another presentation on possible solutions to the pedestrian safety perils at the Sonn Drive area along Boston Post Road came before the council. Peter Russillo of John Collins Engineers P.C. provided several options that the city could undertake to enhance the safety of the area near the Osborn School most notably a modified three-lane diet that would cost the city roughly $40,000.

•    The council voted to de-map Edgar Place which is the final obstacle for an affordable housing project to get underway. The project requires the use of Edgar Place, a right-of-way which is unimproved but is designated on the city’s official map. The Planning Commission supports de-mapping the right-of-way for use for the affordable housing project. The project would include 18 affordable units and four market rate units. Miller, the city planner, said the move was the last piece in local approvals to get the project underway.

•    The city weighed possibly dissolving the Youth Advisory Committee, a committee that hasn’t met in five years. Former Councilman Bob Cypher (R), who campaigned on the formation of the group, urged the council to reconsider dissolving it. “Don’t let this resource fall by the wayside…I urge you to retain this,” Cypher offered. “Use this as the valuable resource as it once was and can be again.” Councilwomen Catherine Parker (I) and Suzanna Keith (R) both seemed to support keeping the youth’s ability to have a voice in government alive. But Keith felt it prudent to wait until June after the city could finish focusing on the pedestrian safety issues that remain ever-present. Mayor Douglas French (R) said the former councilman sold him on the idea of keeping the committee alive in some form, assuring everyone that they didn’t need to wait until the summer to revive it. The issue is expected to again be discussed by the City Council and School Board at their joint meeting in early April.

•    The council also amended the Traffic and Transportation Committee through the Rye City Charter to expand the number of members on the committee due to pressing issues it is currently involved with; there are 35-40 target projects that are under review. The council also renamed the committee as the Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Committee to reflect the new issues. In a related matter, Steve Secon and Maureen Gomez were appointed by the mayor to serve on the committee.

•    Sandhya Subbarao was appointed by the mayor to serve on the Rye Cable Television Commission.

•    The city briefly discussed the proposed redevelopment of the United Hospital in the nearby Village of Port Chester located on Boston Post Road. The village forwarded a State Environmental Quality Review notice proposing itself as a lead agency in the project. The document was provided to the City Council to review as an interested and involved party. Port Chester has identified Rye as a party and plans to make a presentation of the large-scale project, by Starwood Capital Management, before the Rye City Council in the future. The city does not have an approval authority over the project which sits near its municipal border but can require a full Environmental Impact Statement to be completed.

•    A public hearing on noticing requirements for building applicants was set for the March 10 council meeting where the city planner will provide the council with some proposals to restructure the current law and possibly finalize an issue that has been ongoing since November of last year.

•    Mayor French announced the scheduling of a special meeting set for Monday, March 15 at 7 p.m. for an update from the city manager regarding the city’s financial position.

•    The next regular meeting of the Rye City Council will be held on Wednesday, March 10 at 8 p.m.

– Reporting by CHRISTIAN FALCONE