Dobbs Ferry trustees, planning board review revised 19 Livingston Avenue plan as engineer flags soil constraints

Dobbs Ferry — The Village Board of Trustees and the Planning Board met Feb. 24 in a joint workshop to review revised plans for 19 Livingston Avenue, where designers have reconfigured nine townhouse units and added a roughly quarter-acre conservation easement to protect a viewshed from the gateway. The village engineer told the boards the geotechnical work shows a continuum of problematic soils rather than a distinct "unbuildable" area, meaning engineering judgment and careful staging will be required if construction proceeds.

Why it matters: The site sits at a prominent gateway into Dobbs Ferry and has been the subject of repeated review because of steep slopes, fill conditions and an objective among board members to preserve a southern view corridor. The proposal seeks to balance those community design goals with the economics of a nine-unit project that the applicant says is critical to feasibility.

Design and key changes: A project representative presented three earlier studies and the team’s chosen scheme. The plan includes six units facing Livingston Avenue and three at the rear, narrowed footprints on several units to open the southern viewshed, relocated garages to reduce visible bulk and two accessory dwelling units under garages at Units 7 and 9. Presenter said parking now meets zoning requirements, with three additional visitor spaces; a viewing platform about 50 feet wide is proposed near a bus stop, and the development team identified approximately one-quarter acre for a conservation easement to encourage native plantings and wildlife habitat.

Engineer’s assessment: The village’s consulting engineer, Anthony, summarized the borings and slope-stability considerations and described the applicant’s report as reasonable for planning purposes. He said the data and historical borings show a range from poor to worse soils, and "I never felt there was really a kind of a line in the sand we could draw" to mark a clearly buildable versus unbuildable area. Anthony warned that conditions can change during excavation and that final engineering will need to balance slope stability, staging and the desire to maintain the viewshed.

Board reaction: Mayor Christy Nell praised the revisions, saying she appreciated "all of the work that has gone into it" and that the current layout appears to improve the viewshed and align better with the street. Trustees and planning board members said the revised setbacks and reduced bulk at the rear are notable improvements; one trustee urged that architectural details in later design phases reflect Dobbs Ferry’s historical character rather than cookie-cutter townhouses.

Next steps: The planning board will continue detailed review and the applicant must complete required studies and obtain engineering sign-offs before final site plan approval by the Board of Trustees. No formal approvals were taken at the workshop; the boards provided guidance to allow the applicant to proceed to the next stages of design and technical review.

Clarifying details: The presenters said the scheme keeps nine units total; Unit 5 is identified as the affordable housing unit and was reduced in width to meet site constraints; parking was described as meeting the code plus three visitor spots; the conservation easement area was described as slightly under a quarter-acre. The borings and slope data were described as historic plus recent borings submitted by the applicant and reviewed by the village engineer.

What’s next: The project will return to the planning board for site-plan development, architectural details and necessary engineering approvals before the board of trustees considers final site-plan action.