[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees
of the Village of Scarsdale, effective 5-1-1965; amended in its entirety during codification 3-14-1989 by L.L. No. 12-1989 (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II). Subsequent amendments
noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Planning Board — See Ch. 77.
Building construction — See Ch. 132.
Environmental quality review — See Ch. 152.
Flood damage prevention — See Ch. 167.
Freshwater wetlands — See Ch. 171.
Zoning — See Ch. 310.
Architectural Review Board rules and regulations — See Ch. A317.
Subdivision of land — See Ch. A319.
It is the purpose of this chapter to preserve
and promote the character and appearances and conserve the property
values of the village, the attractiveness of whose residential and
business areas is the economic mainstay of the community, by providing
procedures for an architectural review of structures henceforth erected,
reconstructed or altered in the village, and thereby to encourage
good qualities of exterior building design and good appearances and
to relate such design and appearances to the sites and surroundings
of structures, to permit originality and resourcefulness in building
design and appearances which are appropriate to the sites and surroundings
and to prevent such design and appearances as are unnecessarily offensive
to visual sensibilities.
The Board of Trustees hereby finds that structures
which are visually offensive or inappropriate by reason of poor qualities
of exterior design, monotonous similarity or striking visual discord
in relation to their sites or surroundings mar the appearances of
their areas, impair the use, enjoyment and desirability and reduce
the values of properties, are detrimental to the characters of neighborhoods,
prevent the most appropriate development and utilization of land and
therefore adversely affect the functioning, economic stability, prosperity,
health, safety and general welfare of the entire community.
[Amended 11-28-1989 by L.L. No. 21-1989]
There is hereby created a Board of Architectural
Review which shall consist of seven members who shall serve without
compensation. All members of the Board shall be residents of the village
and shall be specifically qualified by reason of training or experience
in architecture, land development, community planning, real estate,
landscape architecture, engineering, building construction or other
relevant business or profession or by reason of civic interest and
sound judgment to judge the effects of a proposed building upon the
desirability, property values and development of surrounding areas;
at least one member shall be a registered architect or professional
engineer in the State of New York, and at least one member shall be
an active member of the bar of the State of New York.
A.
The Chair and other members of the Board shall be
appointed by the Board of Trustees. In the event of absence or disability
of the Chair, the Board of Architectural Review may designate a member
to serve as Chair, who shall preside over all proceedings and assume
all duties of the Chair. The term of office of the Chair shall be
one year. The term of office for each member shall be three years,
two terms maximum. The Chair may serve one additional year. In addition,
the Board of Trustees may appoint two alternate members who will serve
in the absence of the regular members. These alternate appointments
shall be for three years.
[Amended 3-12-1996 by L.L. No. 1-1996; 6-23-1998 by L.L. No. 10-1998]
B.
In the same manner, vacancies shall be filled for
the unexpired term of any member whose place has become vacant
The Board of Architectural Review shall keep
or cause to be kept in the Village Hall a comprehensive record of
all meetings of the Board, as well as a record of all transactions
handled by said Board, and shall prepare and file with the Board of
Trustees on or before September 1 of each year a complete report of
the business handled by the Board during the preceding year ended
May 31.
Meetings of the Board of Architectural Review
shall be held at the call of the Chairman and at such other times
as the Board shall determine. The Board may hold a public hearing
when it deems the same to be in the public interest.
[Amended 3-12-1996 by L.L. No. 1-1996]
A majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum
for the transaction of business. One or more of the alternate members
may be substituted for regular member(s) when required for a quorum.
The Board shall keep minutes of its proceedings,
showing the vote of each member upon each question or, if absent or
failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall also keep copies
of its examinations and other official actions.
The Board shall have power from time to time to adopt, amend and repeal rules and regulations not inconsistent with law or the provisions of this chapter, Chapters 171, 251 and 310 of this Code, governing its procedure and the transaction of its business, and for the purpose of carrying into effect the standards outlined in §§ 18-11 through 18-15.[1] Such action shall be taken after public hearing and shall
be subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees.
A.
Determination of compliance; transmittal of copies;
notices; exemption from referral.
[Amended 3-12-1996 by L.L. No. 1-1996]
(1)
As soon as practicable the Building Inspector shall determine that an application for a building permit for the construction, reconstruction or alteration of any building or structure complies with all provisions of Chapters 158, Fences, Walls and Plantings; 171, Freshwater Wetlands; 182, Historic Preservation; 247, Signs; 251, Site Plan Review; 281, Trees, Grass, Brush and Weeds; and 310, Zoning. The Building Inspector shall transmit a copy of the application and plans to each member of the Board of Architectural Review a minimum of five days prior to the meeting, where the building or structure has not been directly approved by the Board of Trustees or where approval of the building or structure has not been delegated to the Board of Appeals by § 310-79A(2)(swimming pools), (4) (tennis courts) or (5) (dish antennas) of Chapter 310, Zoning, of this Code, and which is not exempt from review under the provisions of Subsection A(3) below, which comes within either of the following categories:
[Amended 2-13-2019 by L.L. No. 2-2019]
(2)
(3)
The Board is empowered and authorized, through the
promulgation of regulations, subject to the approval of the Board
of Trustees, to designate certain minor alterations and some decks
and fences as exempt from referral by the Building Inspector to the
Board for its review.
B.
Applications must be accompanied by plans showing
all elevations of new structures and all affected elevations in the
case of additions or alterations. For all new structures, a site plan
with a scale minimum of one inch equals 20 feet must be submitted,
showing the following;
(1)
Property lines, including curblines of adjacent streets.
(2)
Outline of structure, including walks, driveways,
terraces, walls and fences.
(3)
Existing and proposed contours at two-foot intervals.
(4)
Existing trees and trees to be removed having a DBH of four inches or more and trees having a DBH of three inches or less which are enumerated in § 281-3A, identifying all trees by common and botanical names, DBH and condition.
[Amended 2-13-2019 by L.L. No. 2-2019]
(5)
All proposed plantings.
C.
The Building Inspector or the Board of Architectural
Review may require submission of all or a portion of the above information
as part of the application for an addition to an existing structure.
The Building Inspector or the Board of Architectural Review may require
the applicant to furnish grades and elevations of adjacent property
and structures where they deem this information applicable to a proper
evaluation of the relationship between existing and proposed structures.
Approval of any building permit shall be by
a vote of at least a majority of the members of the Board of Architectural
Review.
In considering an application for a permit,
the Board shall take into account natural features of the site and
surroundings, exterior design and appearances of existing structures
and the character of the district and its peculiar suitability for
particular purposes, with a view to conserving the values of property
and encouraging the most appropriate use of land.
The Board may approve any application referred
to it upon finding that the building or structure for which the permit
was requested, if erected or altered in accordance with the submitted
plan, would be in harmony with the purpose of this chapter, would
not be visually offensive or inappropriate by reason of poor quality
of exterior design, would not have monotonous similarity or striking
visual discord in relation to the sites or surroundings, would not
mar the appearance of the area, would not impair the use, enjoyment
and desirability and reduce the values of properties in the area,
would not be detrimental to the character of the neighborhood, would
not prevent the most appropriate development and utilization of the
site or of adjacent lands and would not adversely affect the functioning
economic stability, prosperity, health, safety and general welfare
of the entire community.
The Board may disapprove any application for a permit, provided that the Board has afforded the applicant an opportunity to confer upon suggestions for change of the plan and provided that the Board finds and states that the structure for which the permit was requested would, if erected or altered as indicated, provoke one or more of the harmful effects set forth in §§ 18-1 and 18-2 by reason of:
A.
Monotonous similarity to any other structure or structures
located or proposed to be located on the same street or a corner thereof
and within 200 feet of the site of the structure for which a building
permit is requested, in respect to one or more of the following features
of exterior design and appearance:
[Amended 3-12-1996 by L.L. No. 1-1996]
(1)
Substantially identical facade, disregarding color;
(2)
Substantially identical size and arrangement of either
doors, windows, porticos, porches or garages or other openings or
breaks or extensions in the facade, including reverse arrangements;
or
(3)
Other substantially identical features, such as but
not limited to setbacks from street lines, heights, widths and lengths
of elements of the building design and exterior materials and treatments.
B.
Striking dissimilarity, visual discord or inappropriateness
with respect to other structures located or proposed to be located
on the same street or a corner thereof and within 200 feet of the
site of the structure for which a building permit is requested, in
respect to one or more of the following features of exterior design
and appearance.
[Amended 3-12-1996 by L.L. No. 1-1996]
(1)
Facade, disregarding color;
(2)
Size and arrangement of doors, windows, porticos,
porches or garages or other openings or breaks or extensions in the
facade; or
(3)
Other significant design features, such as but not
limited to heights, widths and lengths of elements of design, exterior
materials and treatments, roof structures, exposed mechanical equipment,
service and storage areas, retaining walls, landscaping, signs, light
posts, parking areas and fences and service and loading areas.
C.
Visual offensiveness or other poor qualities of exterior
design, including, with respect to signs, considerations of the harmony
or discord of colors, or incompatibility of the proposed structure
with the terrain on which it is to be located, including but not limited
to excessive divergences of the height or levels of any part of the
structure from the grade of the terrain.
The Board of Architectural Review shall advise
with respect to public buildings and such other matters as the Board
of Trustees, the Board of Appeals and the Planning Board may refer
to it.
The Building Inspector shall refuse any building permit application disapproved as provided in § 18-15.
If the Board of Architectural Review shall fail to approve or disapprove any application referred to it under § 18-10 within 60 days of the date of referral of such application to it, the application shall be considered to have been approved unless the applicant shall have agreed to an extension of time.
Any applicant aggrieved by the action of the
Board of Architectural Review in disapproving a building permit application
and of the Building Inspector in denying such permit because of such
disapproval may request the Board to make formal findings of fact.
In the event of such a request, the Board shall make such findings
of fact within 60 days after the request is filed in the Village Clerk's
office, shall thereafter provide the applicant with an opportunity
to answer the findings by the submission of formal proof and shall
reconsider the application on the basis of such answer. If the application
is disapproved after such reconsideration, the applicant may bring
a proceeding to review in the manner provided by Article 78 of the
Civil Practice Law and Rules in a court of record on the ground that
such action is illegal, in whole or in part. Such proceeding must
be commenced within 30 days after the filing in the office of the
Village Clerk of the decision after reconsideration.
[Added 3-12-1996 by L.L. No. 1-1996]
All applications to the Board shall be accompanied
by a fee as established by the Village Board.
