Mayor Sharon Torres and Trustee Nora Lucas oppose any rezoning of Hampshire County Club to allow residential development. 

Many years ago, Hampshire Country Club sued the Village to force a zoning change to allow it to build a high-rise residential building.  The NYS Appellate Division upheld the Village’s denial of Hampshire’s request.    Recently, there has been talk to pressure the Village Board to revive that zoning request as a “quid pro quo” for Hampshire giving some land to the Mamaroneck School District.  This highly unusual pressure campaign pits neighbor against neighbor. See related Lohud articles here and here.   See a Mamaroneck Observer article HERE.

In 1984, the Village leaders had the foresight to adopt the Local Waterfront Redevelopment Plan (LWRP), to facilitate the preservation and redevelopment of marine-related properties.  In 1985, the Village Board adopted our Marine Recreation and Marine Commercial Zoning, which foster marine-related uses on properties throughout the Village.  The Harbor and Coastal Zone Management Commission (HCZMC) is the land use board charged with administering the LWRP.

These laws have protected our community’s coastal character for over 40 years.  Village Marine Zones are located in both the Town of Mamaroneck and the Town of Rye.   These limited development zones are fundamental to what makes Mamaroneck so special.

Rezoning even one of our Marine Zones to permit residential development would have a cascading impact on the other parcels in that zone, four of which are in Orienta and four of which are in Rye Neck.  This rezoning would result  in a significant increase in residential development on the coastline, thus overburdening both school districts and infrastructure as well as increasing flooding, traffic and permanently changing the coastal character of our communities.  We are united in our opposition to the rezoning.

Sharon and Nora have a long history of supporting the Village’s LWRP.  Sharon served on the HCZMC prior to being elected Mayor and Nora served on the LWRP update committee prior to being elected Trustee.   Please see their discussion from 2023 when Sharon and Nora explaining their opposition to the rezoning of Hampshire Golf Club’s Marine Recreation Zone.

Mayor Sharon Torres and Trustee Nora Lucas will protect the Village’s coastal character.