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56 Dobbs Ferry applicant seeks impervious-coverage variance to add parking; board raises flood and stacking concerns
Summary
Engineer for 56 Dobbs Ferry requested a variance to increase impervious coverage from 35% toward 58% to create up to six spaces for a three-family property, and proposed a stormwater system sized to the 25-year storm. Board members questioned the large increase, the risk to an adjacent culvert and the practicality of stacked parking and asked for more detail.
The board reviewed an impervious-coverage variance application for 56 Dobbs Ferry Road. Hudson Engineer's Thomas Kohany presented aerial maps and a plan to provide additional on-site parking for a three-family house by increasing lot impervious coverage and installing a stormwater treatment and infiltration system intended to handle up to a 25-year storm.
Kohany told members the existing lot coverage is about 37% and the proposal would raise coverage to about 58% to accommodate five to six spaces (most stacked). He said pervious-paver systems were considered but judged less appropriate because silt from a nearby culvert could clog such systems; the proposed asphalt paving would be paired with an engineered infiltration and sediment-control system.
Board members, however, repeatedly questioned whether the lot geometry and curb-cut rules on the state roadway would allow safe ingress/egress, and several raised concerns that adding more impervious surface near a culvert could exacerbate localized flooding. Technical reviewers said DPW does not allow a curb cut wider than 20 feet and stressed that stacked parking for separate households creates potential operational conflicts.
The board did not decide the application and asked the applicant for additional detail about parking operation, exact space dimensions, and the stormwater design calculations. The case was adjourned to the June 12 meeting so staff can review the drainage design and the applicant can revise the parking layout or reduce the requested coverage.
