Public Hearing on Size, Height and Bulk of Rye Homes Tonight

The City Council will hold a public hearing tonight on an amendment aiming to change the requirements for size, height and bulk of homes in order to address concerns that houses in Rye are out of scale to others in their neighborhoods.

Rye resident John Mayo-Smith is encouraging the public to attend the public hearing, arguing that it is fundamentally about about property rights and planning for Rye's future. 

“More than thirty builders are expected to attend to voice their thoughts on zoning and their vision for Rye,” Mayo-Smith said.” Help broaden the discussion and ensure the conversation isn't one-sided and, instead, includes a range of stakeholders.”

Mayo-Smith believes the trend to tear down smaller homes to build larger homes for families with children is threatening the city’s sustainability- the empty-nesters who were moving into the smaller homes will no longer have that option and may move out of Rye, taking their tax dollars with them, according to an article by The Rye Record’s Bill Lawyer published in June, 2013. 

Mayo-Smith has a website dedicated to a plan for a sustainable future. It lists 12 ideas: Create a Master Plan, Align RCSD and town-planning goals, zone for multigenerational neighborhoods, create financial incentives, negotiate voluntary easements and covenants, rezone, place moratorium on demolitions, revise development standards, revise floor area rations, track and publish residential expansion statistics, close zoning and tax loopholes, develop historic real estate marketing and education programs. 

The proposed legislation to be discussed at tonight’s hearing addresses some of these concerns -specifically the use of attic space and how it counts in floor area ratio, City Planner Christian Miller explained at the last city council meeting. Corporation Counsel Wilson noted that the draft local law would have to be referred to the County Planning Department.

Tonight’s resolution reads: “Concerns were expressed to the City Council that some new residential construction is considered potentially out of scale in size, height, and or bulk. The City Planner drafted changes to Rye Local Law to address some of the bulk and height concerns associated with residential attics and provide greater consistency between the requirements of the City Zoning Code and the New York State Building Code. The attached was reviewed by the Planning Commission at their August 14, 2013 meeting and was unanimously supported.”

The local law adopted to address the same house size, height and bulk issues in 2003 included: 

-A reduction in maximum building height from 35 to 32 feet in some zoning districts and 35 to 28 feet in others.

-A reduction in maximum permitted floor area for properties that exceed 150 to 250 percent of the minimum lot area of the applicable zoning district.

-An amendment to the definition of attic

-Voids- interior floor area, excluding stairways, with a floor-to-ceiling height more than 14 feet would be counted twice in calculation of gross floor area.

-Basements- 25 percent of basement floor area would be included gross floor area, the provision was made to address construction that hid garages under homes.

-A requirement for the first floor to be no more than three feet above grade

-Porches- excluding porch floor area from the gross floor area

 Similar changes are being considered in the most recent proposals to amend the zoning laws. 

The public hearing will be held at the City Council meeting at 8 p.m. tonight, Oct. 9, in City Hall. 

Read more on the zoning issues on John Mayo-Smith’s website created to inform he public on the issue. Read more about Mayo-Smith’s concerns in this June, 2013 Rye Record article.