Rye Brook HOA seeks updated tree-species list to fix overgrown screening

The Enclave at Rye Brook homeowners association asked the Rye Brook planning board during a sketch-plan conference to approve a list of replacement tree species after residents said original screen trees have outgrown their spacing and are dying.

Tommy Ciminello, who said he lives at 26 Carroll Court in the Enclave, told the board: "we could cut them down and replace them with a species that won't grow as large and kill the trees and and continue to grow at a level that is sustainable for our community?" Lee Freund, treasurer and a board member of the Enclave at Rye Brook HOA, showed photos of the border planting and said some trees are "growing into each other" and dying prematurely.

Why it matters: The HOA is not proposing to change the screening obligation in the approved site plan; rather, it wants the village to allow a master list of species that homeowners or the HOA may use when replacing failing plants, so future plantings will not recreate the same overgrowth and maintenance problems.

At the meeting village staff and board members said conditions on the ground have changed since the original site plan was approved over a decade ago. Staff noted the golf club across the property had planted roughly 36 trees in the last three years, which changes how much screening is effectively present. Village staff advised the HOA to finalize a planting palette with planning staff so the board can approve an amended site-plan planting schedule without requiring the HOA or each homeowner to return for individual approvals.

Village staff summarized how responsibilities and approvals would work: homeowners or the HOA must still obtain any required village permits to remove healthy trees, and "currently by code, a site plan approval does not expire. So once you get your site plan approval for the modification, that's your approved site plan," staff said. The board and staff said the HOA would retain responsibility for enforcing the approved planting plan; in the meeting staff explained that the HOA typically pays for trees that are dying or at risk, while a homeowner who requests a nonstandard replacement could be required to pay.

Board members and staff emphasized process and next steps. The planning board expressed general support for the concept of adding a list of smaller, native species as options and urged the HOA to work with village staff (identified in the meeting as Sarah and Michael) and the HOA's landscape architect to finalize spacing and species so the plan will hold up 5–10 years into the future. Staff said the HOA should submit a formal application; a public hearing will be required for a formal site-plan amendment.

The meeting did not include a formal vote on an amendment. Instead the board concluded the concept was acceptable in principle and directed staff and the HOA to prepare a formal landscaping plan for the board's later consideration.

Details and constraints raised at the meeting included: the original screening row had many white pines and blue spruce spaced about 8 feet apart (white pine and blue spruce can reach large mature widths noted in the discussion), some new plantings on the site are columnar species expected to reach about 30 feet in height and 6–8 feet in width, and removal of healthy trees requires a village permit and will generally be denied. The board noted that any reduction in screening requirements could be a material change to the original site plan and would require agreement from the golf club and a fuller board-level review.

The village also advised that once a modified planting palette and planting plan are adopted and made part of the approved site plan, homeowners or the HOA may implement replacements over time using that standard without returning to the board for each individual replacement. Staff said they are available to review the HOA's submission and that the planning board will schedule a formal application and public hearing when the HOA files the amendment request.