CASE STUDY: ADVOCACY, DATA AND DIGITAL
MAMARONECK COASTAL ENVIRONMENT COALITION (MCEC)
Hampshire Country Club had been a private, membership golf club since the 1930s. It ran into trouble during the financial crisis in 2008 and was acquired in 2010 by a group that initially indicated it would not develop the property. However, shortly after acquiring the property the owners, Hampshire Developers, proposed that part of the property be rezoned to allow for the development of a 120-unit massive five-story luxury condominium complex. When that request was not entertained by the Mamaroneck Village Board of Trustees, the property owners devised a new proposal that might fall within current zoning laws, submitting instead a proposal to build a housing development consisting of 105 homes (44 single-family homes and 66 townhouses).
The development was proposed under a Village Code provision allowing for “Planned Residential Developments” to be authorized under specified circumstances by the Village Planning Board. The proposal would reduce the golf course to 9 non-contiguous holes ringing portions of the housing development.
The Mamaroneck Coastal Environment Coalition (MCEC) was concerned that the development would have significant negative environmental impacts throughout the village. Several tests from the site showed the presence of arsenic, lead, and other toxins; toxins that did not raise concerns so long as they remain undisturbed and unexcavated.
The MCEC felt that they, and their concerns, were representative of the Village of Mamaroneck as a whole and thus, with the backing of the community, wanted to share those concerns with the Village Board.
Over the course of time, the Village Board held many public hearings. MCEC worked with Majority Strategies to help get the facts out to residents.
Majority Strategies made it simple to share thoughts with the Village Planning Board by giving residents the easy ability to submit their concerns directly through the MCEC website.
On May 6, 2020, the Village Planning Board unanimously rejected Hampshire’s application.
“As MCEC has conveyed to its community partners throughout this process, the Planning Board determined that the Project was not consistent with Village law, and that the adverse impacts of the project were significant and required that the application be denied.”
– Celia Felsher, President, Mamaroneck Coastal Environment Coalition
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