OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

New Rochelle City Council Committee of the Whole and Regular Meeting - February 10, 2026

Meeting Portal — Tuesday, February 10, 2026
BodyNew Rochelle, New York
SessionMeeting Portal
DateTuesday, February 10, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 3:39:22

Transcript — Verbatim
0:32

Good afternoon and welcome to the February 2026 committee of the whole meeting.

0:36

Madam City Clerk, please call the roll.

0:38

Mayor Raymond Serber here.

0:40

Council Member Lopez.

0:42

Here.

0:42

Council Member Tarantino.

0:44

Councilmember Peters.

0:46

Council Member Astin Layeth.

0:48

Here.

0:48

Council Member King and Council Member Stern.

0:50

Here.

0:51

Good afternoon once again.

0:53

The first two items on the agenda this evening, or afternoon, rather, are presentations.

0:57

The first being the 2026 City Manager Work Plan.

1:01

We have a presentation.

1:02

We have a deputy city manager at the steering wheel.

1:05

I will turn it over, City Manager.

1:09

Well, thank you.

1:10

Thanks for the opportunity to present the work plan for 2026.

1:17

Okay.

1:21

So each year we develop a work plan that reflects the priorities and projects that we identified during the budget process and the planning process.

1:32

And we incorporate city council initiatives and departmental operational and capital priorities for the upcoming fiscal year.

1:40

So just one thing to highlight for this work plan.

1:57

And some of those initiatives are incorporated into the 2026 work plan.

2:01

So that was a step that we wanted to formalize.

2:04

I know it happens organically every time every year, but we formalized it by adding that step in the process.

2:12

So this work plan highlights some of the major initiatives planned for 2026.

2:17

But a common theme you'll see it also continues on the initiatives and the successes of the 2025 previous work plan.

2:25

So it serves as a roadmap, it outlines the strategic priorities and operational steps that we're going to take to achieve our goals, focusing and enhancing on the quality of life of Neurishell residents now in years to come.

2:38

So keeping to the same theme, 2025, we developed the work plan pillars, so we kept that theme.

2:44

We thought it was it was it worked well.

2:46

But if you look at this slide and compare it to 2025, one thing you see we added city council.

2:52

So city council and departmental priorities is what went into the work plan.

2:58

So next slide.

3:00

So the theme, um we put we talked about this internally, and we said, you know, we said land the planes, because last year was a big year as far as like initiating different things and there was a lot of things that we put up like planes that are in the air.

3:18

So if for 2026, we're going to try to focus on landing some of those initiatives.

3:23

So that's really a big focus for this year.

3:26

Um so in 2025, we identified some pretty big buckets, right?

3:31

So some public safety, community engagement initiatives, we had the bicycle units downtown, we had this, we added additional CSOs.

3:41

We, you know, our law enforcement career program, we had uh initiatives with the Red Cross.

3:47

So we're just going to build on that for 2026.

3:50

And we'll see that we're going to expand some of those uh community public um safety meetings and that'll be one of the items that you see.

3:58

So we're gonna just expand that in that um uh collaboration for community engagement.

4:05

Infrastructure and planning.

4:06

So last year uh we embarked again on our stormwater mitigation uh and our complete streets initiatives.

4:13

We had a lot of planning that went into those projects and through the course of our stormwater mitigation program that was based on our um drainage studies that we had uh completed previous years ago, um, found out that a lot of these projects are very complicated.

4:34

And there's a lot of things to work through, and um I don't want to steal Albarose Thunder for the stormwater presentation, but he'll explain what those challenges are.

4:43

So that meant that you know the project stood in the queue, but just took a little longer to to initiate.

4:49

So this year we're looking to really um see those projects through in construction and planning and implementation.

5:00

Another thing in environmental planning, last year we adopted uh updated Green NR, we completed uh a climate study.

5:08

So we we did a lot of plans, so this year we're looking to do a lot of implementation of those plans and those practices.

5:16

Uh economic development strategies last year we really embarked really on the vanguard retail uh initiative for the downtown.

5:25

We had the tenant improvement fund that was established, um, you know, two over two million dollars, and we're seeing that actually happening right now.

5:34

So the so the the I you know the focus for 26 is going to be really measuring that success, right?

5:41

Measuring that retail and seeing what those fiscal impacts are for that initiative.

5:45

And in community engagement, we we worked a lot last year with uh uh a robust event schedule, uh we had a lot of activations.

5:54

So the idea is to you know leverage that community, see that those successes with those events, and you can see how we could use that, right?

6:04

Because we have that tool where we're actually you know um interacting with our residents and see where we could use that to further enhance our 2026 goals.

6:13

So uh you know, add transparency and and really convey the reliable service that we do here in the Rochelle.

6:21

So I'm just gonna highlight, go through with a couple of buckets on some of the newer initiatives and each of the pillars on public safety.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Zoning And Land Use█████████████████████21%
Community Engagement█████████████13%
Procedural█████████9%
Engineering And Infrastructure████████8%
Economic Development███████7%
Environmental Protection██████6%
Public Engagement██████6%
Affordable Housing██████6%
Transportation Safety████4%
Summary of Proceedings

New Rochelle City Council Committee of the Whole and Regular Meeting - February 10, 2026

The City Council of New Rochelle met on February 10, 2026, starting at approximately 4:45 PM with a Committee of the Whole to review the 2026 City Manager Work Plan and proposed Downtown Overlay Zone updates, followed by a regular meeting at 7:00 PM that included a public hearing, adoption of a consent agenda, and public comments. The meeting concluded with three executive sessions.

Consent Calendar

  • Item 4 (Webster Ave Traffic Signal Agreement): Approved to execute state agreement for 95% reimbursement of traffic signal work.
  • Item 5 (Parking Regulation Changes on Westchester Place): Approved, re-establishing paid parking stalls expected to generate ~$10,000/year.
  • Item 6 (CARES UP Grant): Accepted New York State Office of Mental Health grant for first responder/veteran resiliency (no city cost).
  • Item 7 (Cannabis Excise Tax Trust): Established a trust account for cannabis tax revenue to fund community programs.
  • Item 8 (Reappointment to Board of Ethics): Wilbert Ortiz reappointed.
  • Item 9 (Acceptance of Supplemental DGEIS as Complete): Accepted the draft generic environmental impact statement for the Downtown Overlay Zone update.
  • Item 12 (TAP Grant Applications): Authorized submission of four grant applications to NYSDOT for Quaker Ridge, Pinebrook Blvd, Transit Center, and Webster Ave projects; city match of $4.6M required if awarded.

Public Comments & Testimony

Public Hearing (Hudson Country Montessori School): No speakers.

Citizens to be Heard (seven speakers, plus group statements via translation):

  • Vincent Malfatano (45-year resident) criticized overwhelming development, lack of parking enforcement, and dangerous traffic conditions, stating "I take my life into my own hands driving from Pelham Road." He alleged the city is unresponsive to public input.
  • Maxine Gollup (98 Bay Berry Lane) spoke on behalf of the United Community Center of Westchester (UCCW), which was flooded in October 2025; she requested the city prioritize help finding space and financial support to resume services for immigrants, domestic violence survivors, and others.
  • James O'Toole (230 [street]) condemned inaccuracies in the DOZ report (wrong street names), lack of police enforcement of double parking, and poor snow removal on business corridors.
  • Jim Calorin (25 Leroy Place) opposed further high-rise development, citing fire truck access issues, false alarms, and panel failures at new buildings. He supported UCCW and proposed a historic trolley and moving city employees downtown to activate retail.
  • Sarmika Maribel (55 Beachwood Ave) criticized unaffordable housing pushing out long-term African American residents, unresponsive city officials, and proliferation of smoke shops.
  • Serge Becker (no address) opposed the proposed 500-unit luxury tower at 570 Main St, questioning why it advanced despite a moratorium on further density in the area. He noted 96% of new units are unaffordable for the average resident.
  • Jose Luis Cohen, Blanca Martinez, Juan Parra, Paula Vera, Celia Resendiz, Jesus Gonzalez, Marisela Gonzalez, Daniel Rodriguez, Aurora Condenas Cardenas, and Mario Acuna (all Spanish-speaking residents) pleaded for support to reopen UCCW, describing essential services: food distribution, health insurance enrollment, English classes, youth programs, and domestic violence assistance. Diana, a translator and former UCCW staffer, pleaded: "Invest in an organization that has been here for decades."

Discussion Items

2026 City Manager Work Plan (presented by Deputy City Manager)

  • Pillars: Public Safety, Resilient Infrastructure, Environmental Sustainability, Economic Development, Community Building.
  • Key initiatives: quarterly community safety meetings, the Link phase one (traffic calming on Memorial Highway, scaled back after losing $16M federal grant), stormwater mitigation projects (Whitewood Ave, Pinebrook, Van Meter/Fens, City Park), parks upgrades (Lincoln Park pool, Maplewood Park playground, Pinebrook Tennis Center pickleball expansion, Ward Acres improvements), Hagedorn building (Carnegie Library) acquisition and arts assessment, CVS/625 North Ave redevelopment, Black Box Theater, Thrive nonprofit grants ($5K–$35K), participatory budgeting pilot near New Rochelle High School, workforce development rebate program (20% labor cost reimbursement), amplified city communications.
  • Councilmember Stern asked about recycling asphalt; Commissioner said DPW is studying it. He also asked about solid waste management plan; City Manager replied it's in grant agreement phase.
  • Councilmember Lopez praised comprehensiveness and projects benefiting District One.
  • Councilmember Peters expressed frustration that District Three (the Link, Lincoln Avenue corridor) lacks visible progress, especially stormwater mitigation and retail catalyzing. He noted the $16M federal grant loss and questioned the actual cost needed ($60M? unknown). He urged prioritization of union labor policy to attract alternative funding. City Manager and Development Commissioner responded that phase one focuses on safety and traffic, and stormwater engineering is ongoing; they need to determine final cost before seeking additional funds.
  • Councilmember Kay lauded the work plan's iterative approach (measure success, leverage events, year of committees). She highlighted workforce development integration and public safety dashboards. She noted the city applied for a $10M Climate Smart Communities grant but didn't get it; Assemblyman Minotits is now prioritizing the Link.

Downtown Overlay Zone (DOZ) Updates (presented by Development Commissioner, Kevin Kane, Sarah Eagle)

  • Proposed changes: expand DO1 boundary (up to 28 stories vs 48 with 60,000 sq ft min for large-format retail), remap DO5/DO8, add missing middle housing by increasing bonus heights in development standard one (to three or four stories), revise storefront requirements (no longer mandate retail on secondary streets), adjust valet parking credits, increase fair share mitigation fees (estimated additional $20.8M), remove waterfront access fee outside DO7, update TDS (more residential, less non-residential).
  • Councilmember Lopez asked about parking enforcement, valet inefficiency, and retail frontage flexibility. Staff clarified changes apply only to secondary streets; primary corridors require retail. On parking, they noted a comprehensive parking management plan is underway.
  • Councilmember Peters questioned cost of full Link project (stormwater could exceed $16M), union labor integration, and need to know exact number to secure funding. City Manager confirmed engineering is evaluating multiple options; cost will be clearer after design.
  • Councilmember Stern requested clear, jargon-free public communication before the March 10 hearing to ensure meaningful input.

Key Outcomes

  • Item 10 (Public Hearing for DOZ Update): Approved (vote: aye). Public hearing set for March 10, 2026; comment period open until March 20.
  • Item 11 (NEA Grant for Hagedorn/Carnegie Library): Approved (vote: aye). Authorized city manager to apply for federal FY2026 grant (deadline Feb 12). Several members requested future reference as "Carnegie Library."
  • Executive Sessions: Three topics approved: settlement, appointments, real estate.
  • Next Steps for DOZ: After public hearing, prepare final supplemental GEIS (April), then findings statement and final zoning vote (May).
  • UCCW Support: Council heard multiple pleas; staff directed to work on solutions. No immediate action taken.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon and welcome to the February 2026 committee of the whole meeting. Madam City Clerk, please call the roll. Mayor Raymond Serber here. Council Member Lopez. Here. Council Member Tarantino. Councilmember Peters. Council Member Astin Layeth. Here. Council Member King and Council Member Stern. Here. Good afternoon once again. The first two items on the agenda this evening, or afternoon, rather, are presentations. The first being the 2026 City Manager Work Plan. We have a presentation. We have a deputy city manager at the steering wheel. I will turn it over, City Manager. Well, thank you. Thanks for the opportunity to present the work plan for 2026. Okay. So each year we develop a work plan that reflects the priorities and projects that we identified during the budget process and the planning process. And we incorporate city council initiatives and departmental operational and capital priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. So just one thing to highlight for this work plan. And some of those initiatives are incorporated into the 2026 work plan. So that was a step that we wanted to formalize. I know it happens organically every time every year, but we formalized it by adding that step in the process. So this work plan highlights some of the major initiatives planned for 2026. But a common theme you'll see it also continues on the initiatives and the successes of the 2025 previous work plan. So it serves as a roadmap, it outlines the strategic priorities and operational steps that we're going to take to achieve our goals, focusing and enhancing on the quality of life of Neurishell residents now in years to come. So keeping to the same theme, 2025, we developed the work plan pillars, so we kept that theme. We thought it was it was it worked well. But if you look at this slide and compare it to 2025, one thing you see we added city council. So city council and departmental priorities is what went into the work plan. So next slide. So the theme, um we put we talked about this internally, and we said, you know, we said land the planes, because last year was a big year as far as like initiating different things and there was a lot of things that we put up like planes that are in the air. So if for 2026, we're going to try to focus on landing some of those initiatives. So that's really a big focus for this year. Um so in 2025, we identified some pretty big buckets, right? So some public safety, community engagement initiatives, we had the bicycle units downtown, we had this, we added additional CSOs. We, you know, our law enforcement career program, we had uh initiatives with the Red Cross. So we're just going to build on that for 2026. And we'll see that we're going to expand some of those uh community public um safety meetings and that'll be one of the items that you see. So we're gonna just expand that in that um uh collaboration for community engagement. Infrastructure and planning. So last year uh we embarked again on our stormwater mitigation uh and our complete streets initiatives. We had a lot of planning that went into those projects and through the course of our stormwater mitigation program that was based on our um drainage studies that we had uh completed previous years ago, um, found out that a lot of these projects are very complicated. And there's a lot of things to work through, and um I don't want to steal Albarose Thunder for the stormwater presentation, but he'll explain what those challenges are. So that meant that you know the project stood in the queue, but just took a little longer to to initiate. So this year we're looking to really um see those projects through in construction and planning and implementation. Another thing in environmental planning, last year we adopted uh updated Green NR, we completed uh a climate study.

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