YONKERS - A leading environmental group this week called for a more environmentally sustainable city and issued a series of guidelines to make that possible.
The "Blueprint for a Greener Yonkers," produced by the New York League of Conservation Voters, urges the city to pass new building codes that would require energy efficient new construction and promote a waterfront that's accessible to all residents - not just those living in new developments on the Hudson River.
The group chose to examine Yonkers because the many development proposals now under review present an opportunity to remake the city in a more environmentally friendly manner, said Marcia Bystryn, the Manhattan-based organization's president. The Yonkers blueprint is the first of three in the state to be issued by the group this summer; the others will cover Schenectady and Brookhaven. The organization had previously released one for New York City.
Smart city development is critical for the environment, Bystryn said, because it takes up less space and is less reliant on private cars - using less energy and producing less air pollution - than sprawling suburban development that requires paving over open space.
"Historically there has been a tension - the idea of development and the environment being on opposite sides," said Bystryn. "But, in fact, they don't have to be."
In Yonkers, city officials, developers and some community and environmental groups have argued over open public space, protection of views and density, all of which the blueprint supports. Bystryn said a careful balancing act was needed to achieve the three goals.
"You have strong advocacy groups in Yonkers whom we applaud," Bystryn said. "We believe intelligent negotiations between those groups, the administration and developers can result in the kind of Yonkers that everyone embraces."
Among the blueprint's other proposals are zoning rules to establish open-space requirements for new developments; protection of waterfront views from inland portions of the city; and assorted measures to make city government more environmentally friendly, including a city policy to purchase only hybrid vehicles beginning in 2009. It also called for creating an "Office of Sustainability" to help city government become more energy efficient and cut down on pollution, as well as develop similar policies for the entire city.
Mayor Phil Amicone, who won the organization's backing in his re-election bid last year, praised the blueprint and said the city was already moving to enact some of the measures. All new city facilities will be built to energy and environmentally sustainable standards, and the city is negotiating with developers to follow similar standards in private construction, Amicone said.
"The good news is we don't have to sell it as hard as we used to, because I think most developers understand that in the end it is in their benefit to do so," Amicone said. "And there is the biggest incentive of all, frankly - over the course of a building's lifetime, it saves money. It saves money in energy usage; it save money in water usage."
The mayor, however, said he did not believe the city should enact its own green building standards, saying that such measures increasingly were controlled on the state level. At the same time, Amicone, a Republican, cautioned against the state enacting such measures, saying that evolving technologies could quickly make any standards outdated.
City Council President Chuck Lesnick, a Democrat, said the council is considering green building standards legislation. A proposal could come before the council for a vote in the fall, he said.
"I think it should be put in code so that everybody does it," Lesnick said yesterday
Other measures proposed in the group's blueprint are under study, Amicone said.
Reach Len Maniace at lmaniace@lohud.com [1] or 914-694-5163.