Pleasantville Village Board of Trustees Work Session – Tree Ordinance Follow-up (October 29, 2025)

The Pleasantville Village Board of Trustees held a work session on October 29, 2025, focused on the proposed tree ordinance, with Conservation Advisory Council members Helen Muir and Ben Sarabin presenting revised key points. The agenda and transcript identify the meeting as Monday, October 27, 2025, but the provided timestamp is 2025-10-29; this summary uses the required timestamp. The agenda also listed a 7:30 p.m. continued discussion of the Pleasantville Music Festival and an 8:30 p.m. executive session on personnel and contractual matters, but the supplied transcript does not cover those items.

Proposed Tree Ordinance – CAC Presentation

• Helen Muir and Ben Sarabin said the revised proposal removes the tree replanting fund, which had drawn the most pushback, and eliminates any application fee; it is intended primarily as data collection through a free online permit.
• A permit would generally be required to remove a tree with a diameter at breast height (DBH) of six inches or more; within property-line buffer zones the threshold drops to four inches.
• Clear-cutting limits would apply to removal of more than 25% of trees on a property or five trees, whichever is less, described later as a maximum of five trees per 12 months or 25% of the canopy.
• Removal of very large or old trees would require a justification such as disease, hazard, or being too close to a house, and would receive more thorough review.
• Buffer-zone rules were drawn from New Castle’s ordinance, with a five-foot buffer on a quarter-acre or less and larger buffers for larger properties; the goal is to protect neighbor interests and shared shade.
• The proposal also includes an annual or biannual sapling distribution, continuation of the existing 50-50 front-yard tree planting program, maintenance of a street tree inventory, and development of a more cohesive street tree planting plan.
• Parks and Recreation recently planted five village trees and plans five more in the spring; the CAC is also trying to restart the tree inventory, possibly using free software developed for Yonkers after the previously used free software stopped working.

Board Discussion and Positions

• Trustees questioned how online permits would be reviewed and enforced, who would conduct site checks, and how the village would handle homeowners who do not apply.
• One trustee advocated a “light touch” initially, noting the average person would likely support the goal of maintaining a healthy tree canopy.
• Another trustee cited a past clear-cutting incident during development at Clark Street and said large projects should have independent monitoring or pre-work marking of protected trees; the same trustee noted no formal complaint was made at the time.
• A trustee expressed a “slight aversion to being told what to do” and asked to review ordinances from comparable municipalities before committing to the concept.
• CAC members emphasized that this is the least restrictive version they have proposed, that no application fees are included, and that about two-thirds of Westchester municipalities already have tree ordinances.
• The CAC cited research by Andy Reyman showing a direct correlation between tree canopy preservation and municipalities with tree ordinances or replanting plans.

Next Steps

• The board agreed the next step is to produce a draft ordinance, to be prepared in local-law format with the village attorney and based on the CAC’s key points.
• Before a public hearing, the village will hold internal meetings with department heads to confirm operational and enforcement feasibility.
• CAC members will share their comparison spreadsheet and sample ordinances from similar-sized municipalities, including Sleepy Hollow and New Castle.
• The online application form would be kept simple, with a few questions, photo/location information, and review by village staff; the exact system has not yet been selected.

Key Outcomes

• No formal vote was taken.
• Direction was given to move toward a draft tree ordinance and to schedule internal staff discussions and public input before adoption.