Planning board approves Master School parking lot with conditions to beef up landscaping and on-site stormwater measures

The Dobbs Ferry Planning Board on Wednesday approved a site plan for the Master School to build a 41-space paved parking lot, including two ADA-compliant spaces and related stormwater-management work, while attaching conditions asking for more robust landscaping and verification that on-site green infrastructure is effective.

The action followed presentations from Master School operations director Dan Perera and the school’s civil engineer, Anthony Catalano of Woodard & Curran, who said the project team changed the drainage approach from a detention system to on-site infiltration after testing supported infiltration at the site.

The board’s nut graf: the project won conditional approval that aims to reduce stormwater discharge to the village system and to give the village engineer final sign-off on any additional green infrastructure incorporated into the design.

Perera told the board the school submitted an updated design showing an infiltration system and that the team has been coordinating with the village engineer. “We’ve been working on changing our design from a detention system to an infiltration system,” Perera said, adding the school will pursue the plans and respond to technical comments.

Catalano said test results support infiltration on site and that the team had provided a plan showing the proposed system. “We submitted calculations. They’ve demonstrated that the system is sufficient up through the hundred‑year storm,” he told the board, and said outstanding comments were “straightforward” details that would be added in the next plan submittal.

Residents and advisory boards urged the Planning Board to push the school to incorporate visible green‑infrastructure features and to address parking and traffic impacts. Christine Perez, who lives at Clinton and Brace, said parking and construction trucks on Brace Terrace have blocked emergency access and urged the school to keep buses and staging off neighborhood streets. David Tabakoff of Brace Terrace, who said the neighborhood had been “at loggerheads” with the school over parking, urged quick approval so the lot can be built before fall.

Daniel Vargas, representing the Conservation Advisory Board and the village’s Comprehensive Plan committee, encouraged the applicant to explore vegetated rain gardens, bioswales or other above‑grade treatments so the project can also serve as a demonstration of green stormwater practices. “This is a great opportunity for an important institution in the village to be a forerunner,” Vargas said.

The Planning Board adopted a SEQR negative declaration based on the board planner’s environmental assessment (EAF) and found that the application meets local requirements. The board’s resolution grants site‑plan approval subject to conditions that include: addressing all items to the satisfaction of the village engineer, execution of any required stormwater maintenance agreement, compliance with zoning section 341 for proposed plantings, provision of additional landscaping to the satisfaction of the building department, and that additional green infrastructure be evaluated and incorporated to the satisfaction of the village engineer.

Board members and applicants debated the level of prescription to write into the resolution. Ultimately the board required the applicant to “evaluate and incorporate” green infrastructure where feasible, with the village engineer to determine final technical acceptability. The school agreed to study expanded planting along the parking edge and to explore bio‑treatment at the infiltration outfall instead of a concrete riprap channel.

The project also drew operational commitments: the Master School said it is working to move buses onto campus and to add on‑campus EV chargers in other locations; school representatives said they plan to increase charging infrastructure elsewhere on campus to reduce neighborhood parking pressure.

Outcome and next steps: the board adopted the negative declaration and approved the site plan. The school must finalize engineering details, satisfy the village engineer on the stormwater design and incorporate the agreed landscaping and any green infrastructure improvements before the chair signs the site plan. The applicant said it will pursue required building permits and the school reiterated its intention to complete construction while school is not in session.