WPCNR THE PLANNING NEWS. By John F. Bailey. December 16, 2005 UPDATED 11:36 P.M. E.S.T., December 18, 2005: Mary Cavallero in an exclusive interview tonight with the CitizeNetReporter,  announced she plans to resign from her appointed position as Chair of the White Plains Planning Board early in March. Ms. Cavallero recalls she was appointed to the city Planning Board in July, 1989 by Mayor Alfred Del Vecchio and has served on the Board for 16 years, and as Chair for about “the last decade or so, I can’t remember. It seems like forever,” she joked with the CitizeNetReporter tonight. Mayor Sy Schulman appointed her Chair of the Planning Board in April, 1994.

She told WPCNR, that now she is working full-time teaching at Rye Country Day School classes in algebra, trigonometry and pre-calculus, and she no longer has the time to devote to her planning duties as she did in the past. She said she had joined the Planning Board on Mayor Del Vecchio’s appointment as a young mother seventeen years ago to get “back into the real world.” Now, she says, “I really enjoyed doing it. It’s been a fun experience, and now I think I know White Plains more than I ever thought I could.”

Ms. Cavallero said she would leave the Planning Board within the next six months, saying, “I don’t want to leave them in a lurch.” She said she hoped the Mayor would appoint her successor by March, as well as a replacement for J. Russell Imlay, a seven-year Planning Board member whose term is up at the end of December. The Mayor will also have to appoint a new Chairperson to replace Ms. Cavallero.

Cavallero is a veteran plan analyst, meticulous in picking architectural flaws and foibles in site plans, taking into account neighborhood objections, considering them and suggesting amiable solutions to presenting developers. Perhaps the best known decision of recent years, on which the Planning Board was vindicated by the Federal Court of Appeals, was their denial of a cellphone tower to the Omnipoint communications giant on the Fenway Golf Club property.

Wanted Three Planners. Lots of Reading. No Pay.

Ms. Cavallero’s planned departure, (if she leaves before Mr. Imlay and the former member, Mr. Roskol is replaced by the Mayor), would leave the critical 7-member Planning Board  with just four members, if  the Mayor does not name at least two replacements before her March departure.  She plans to leave within six months, if not sooner. She pointed out that Mr. Delfino needs to name three new members, to replace Carlos Roskol, Mr. Imlay, departing this month, and of course, herself.

Cavallero said, “I want to resign, but not in a rush. It’s just my time. I do not want to leave it (the board) in a lurch. I want to get off the board in the near future.”

When asked if her experience as Co Chair of the Comprehensive Plan Committee lead her to resign, she said absolutely not, that it was a matter of her return to teaching full-time, and simply not having the time to handle the planning board work load in addition to her new duties.

Mayor Urged to Act Quickly.

Cavallero said it was critical to residents that the Mayor move quickly to fill vacancies on both the Planning Board and the Zoning Board, because the Mayor has been slow to fill vacancies in the past. She, with due respect, hoped the Mayor would act quickly because short boards creates problems when specific majorities are required, and a Board is short a member or two. She said it tends to drag out the project process for months when Boards are short members, because of the need to convince three of four members, such as in the case of the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Cavallero praised the members she has served with on the Planning Board, saying, “The Board Members are very conscientious, and have done a great job. They read the material. They go on the planning visits.”

Cavallero said she was consistently surprised by the lack of preparation and timeliness in submissions by professional organizations presenting to the Planning Board. “The teacher in me, is a good thing to have to be Chair of the Planning Board,” she said referring to the need to educate and direct many who should know better. She related the story of one professional who said, “If it wasn’t for the last moment, nothing would ever get done.”

Reflecting on her decision to depart, Cavallero said: “It’s time. Seventeen years is a long time to be doing this. I’m doing more. This year it’s really hit me. I just don’t have time for it.”

The person, WPCNR has dubbed “The Flower of the Planning Board,” said she was very happy she and her husband settled in White Plains to live: “It’s a wonderful city. I’m so pleased we picked White Plains.”