GovernmentThe Examiner

New Castle Scraps Form-Based Code, Takes No Action on Findings Statement

Martin Wilbur , 
We are part of The Trust Project

The New Castle Town Board shelved the Form-Based Code Wednesday night, putting an apparent end to any chance of the document being adopted after more than a year of contentious debate.

All four council members, including the three-member majority that supported the Form-Based Code, agreed to take no action on the findings statement just eight days after the Unite New Castle ticket, led by Councilwoman Lisa Katz, defeated the entire slate of Democratic-endorsed candidates in the town election. It was also three weeks after the board approved the Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement.

A vote would have completed the state environmental review process.

Proponents advocated for the Form-Based Code as a way to add vibrancy to the downtown with mixed-use development as well as helping New Castle diversify housing stock, while its detractors argued it was inappropriate for downtown Chappaqua because it would have inundated the schools with children and caused taxes to spike.

Councilwoman Lauren Levin, who said she ran for the board in 2019 mostly to help the hamlet, agreed with abandoning the effort because the Form-Based Code “was doomed to get caught in the political crossfire.”

“I think it is a sad outcome after countless meetings, the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent, endless hours we all spent on due diligence, I find it ironic that some will celebrate a total lack of progress,” Levin said.

“I think what is particularly disappointing is that we can’t even make progress on an abandoned and dilapidated section of North Greeley (Avenue). The chained-up parking lot, overgrown weeds, unfinished sidewalks and an empty warehouse look more like a town in decline that one of the nicest towns in America.”

Acting Supervisor Jeremy Saland decried opponents’ efforts to spread fear and misinformation, including repeated falsehoods of a hamlet with five-story buildings, nearly a thousand new units of housing, hundreds of additional school children and skyrocketing taxes.

Saland said he wondered whether anything will be done by the new administration over the next two years to improve downtown Chappaqua.

“Listen, we can disagree on the Form-Based Code and that’s fine, that’s absolutely fair, but it should rise and fall on its own merits, and let our words and honest voices be heard and not misinformation,” he said.

Katz, who will be the town’s next supervisor, campaigned vigorously against the Form Based Code. She said she was appreciative of her colleagues’ decision against taking a vote; however, the defective plan was wrong for the town, she said.

“What it is was a mistake that turned out to not be what it was initially intended to be, and it’s been said that you should not cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it,” Katz said. “It’s fine that we study the Form-Based Code as a zoning and development plan, and I’m glad that we are all self-aware enough now to recognize that it is not right for our town and we can’t let inertia continue to drag us down a faulty path.”

Councilwoman Lori Morton said she found it ironic that some of the loudest opponents to the Form-Based Code live in multifamily housing that was made possible by the landmark 1975 state Supreme Court decision that found New Castle to have had exclusionary zoning.

However, the town is still one of the most segregated communities in Westchester County, she said.

“As a community, New Castle is poorer for its lack of economic, age, cultural and racial diversity,” Morton said. “New Castle is not currently providing sufficient opportunity to those outside the age, economic family structure, and by extension, cultural and racial limitations currently in place with our current restricted housing options. This is merely one reason I have been supportive of an innovative approach to evolve our half-century-old zoning.”

After Saland was accused of being swayed by development interests by Form Based Code opponents in recent months, he revealed that former councilman Adam Brodsky, whose family is in the real estate business and owns property downtown, was a major contributor to the Unite New Castle campaign. Brodsky was a two-time running mate of Katz.

Another developer who lives in town also made multiple donations totaling $15,000, Saland said.

But Katz dismissed the comment, saying she was called anti-development by the Democratic ticket throughout the campaign and now is being accused of taking money from developers.

She said her goal is to leave the election behind and represent all residents in town for at least the next two years.

“I understand losing is tough and I understand that we’ve been working hard on this Form-Based Code, and especially town staff,” Katz said. “You’ve been working tirelessly on this and we appreciate it because I think a lot of it will be able to be utilized going forward, but again it doesn’t mean we move forward with it just because it’s been done and time has been spent on it and it doesn’t mean that we lied, it just means that people have realized it’s just not the right thing for our community.”

We'd love for you to support our work by joining as a free, partial access subscriber, or by registering as a full access member. Members get full access to all of our content, and receive a variety of bonus perks like free show tickets. Learn more here.