WESTCHESTER'S ANALYSIS FOUND TO BE INADEQUATE

After at least four separate submissions of information on zoning in Westchester over the past year, the monitor overseeing the 2009 fair housing settlement and his team of experts are analyzing the data and conducting their own research to determine if any zoning in the county excludes blacks and Hispanics.The county’s initial analysis, submitted in late February 2012, looked at the 31 largely-white communities targeted under the settlement and found no intentional or unintentional exclusionary zoning but both monitor James Johnson and the Department of Housing and Urban Development found it to be inadequate. Throughout the following months the monitor asked for more information, receiving the final submissions in November.

“The County’s submission did not reflect the rigor of analysis required to reach a reasoned conclusion on the impact of restrictive zoning practices; and second, the County failed to state a clear strategy to overcome any municipal exclusionary zoning practices,” Johnson said of the initial submission in a report to the court filed last week.