Village outlines $6.6 million green-resiliency plan, acknowledges traffic trade-offs if Station Plaza Bridge is removed

Village staff told the board on May 16 that the village received a Green Resiliency grant awarded in 2024 worth about $6,600,000 with an estimated local match of $733,000 to fund work at the Ward Avenue bridge, a planned floodplain bench and related projects at the river confluence.

"The green resiliency grant...was $6,600,000 share, dollars 733,000 local match," said Dennis, the staff member reporting on the award and coordinating work with county and federal partners. He said the village will be lead agency for the environmental-review process and that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct the historic, archaeological and cultural‑resource assessment and share results with the village and county.

Dennis described efforts to avoid duplicating prior Army Corps work: "So we met, we worked through the issue, and we believe we're gonna be able to leverage the work that the Army Corps has done and is doing, so that we don't have to repeat that work. That is gonna be a big time and cost saver for us." He said consultants (SLR) and county staff are also supporting engineering, surveys and wetland delineations.

Board members and staff discussed sequencing of projects along the Mamaroneck River, saying it may be more efficient to combine related work rather than treat each site as a separate grant-funded project. "Which is the way it should be done because it shouldn't be done as individual projects," one trustee said during the exchange.

The meeting also revisited earlier study recommendations that called for removal of the Station Plaza Bridge. Dennis described the Army Corps' alternative — a subterranean diversion tunnel — but said local studies also propose nature‑based solutions. "The current proposals ... do call for the removal of the Station Plaza Bridge," he said, adding that the design alternatives include options such as floodable lots and expanded parking capacity elsewhere.

Officials acknowledged trade-offs between flood mitigation and transportation access. One resident warned removal could "cut a third of the village off," and staff said the grant scope includes traffic and parking studies to identify mitigation measures such as signage, redesigned intersections, expanded walking‑distance lots or public–private partnerships for parking. "Short of replacing the bridge, which the grant won't fund, we could develop alternatives with a consultant to take traffic counts, to come up with some ideas," Dennis said.

Staff cautioned that some bridge work is already in design: "the demolition and reconstruction is at 30% design" for one span, and the board said the projects will cause temporary inconveniences including detours and potential property or tree impacts. Staff committed to advance communication and signage to reduce surprises.

Why it matters: The grant funds infrastructure intended to reduce flooding risks that have affected the village for years. The measures under discussion — channel realignment, floodplain benches and bridge removals or replacements — affect transportation, parking and nearby properties and will require coordinated environmental and cultural reviews.

Next steps: Staff said the environmental review process is underway (referred to in the meeting as the SECA/SECRA/"seeker" process in the transcript) and that design work and additional studies will follow; the board did not take a separate vote on project implementation at this meeting.