New Castle Kicks Off Comprehensive Plan Public Hearing; Resumes Tuesday
After more than four years of outreach, study and discussion, New Castle officials held the first public hearing session on its proposed Comprehensive Plan update last Tuesday drawing a modest number of speakers.
The new plan, the first time the town has undertaken the project since 1989, is divided into five main categories, containing 48 goals and 184 action items. It is a policy document that will last for the next generation and lays out a path forward for the community in that timespan, said Director of Planning Sabrina Charney Hull.
Broad topics in the plan are Livable Built Environment, which includes buildings, roads and infrastructure; Harmony With Nature, which addresses the environment; Resilient Economy, a section that will help the town prepare for economic changes; Healthy Community, a portion that discusses recreation and sustainability; and Responsible Regionalism, which explains how the town can interact and coordinate with neighboring municipalities regarding planning issues.
Town workshops collected input from various community stakeholders, including residents and merchants, to help shape the plan. It is expected to be adopted in the coming months by the town board.
“Public outreach has been a foundation of our Comprehensive Plan update,” Hull said. “This is the community’s document. It’s based on your hopes and dreams for New Castle.”
At the Apr. 18 hearing, about a half dozen speakers delivered comments, each focusing on a different topic with tone ranging from complimentary to negative.
Resident Elizabeth Hamyson said that as a lifelong Chappaqua resident and whose family has been in town for multiple generations, she was concerned that the proposed plan is too development friendly, which could contribute to the town losing its character.
One of the objectives of the plan is to bring a greater mix of housing for seniors, empty-nesters and young adults, with an eye at including some residences in downtown Chappaqua.
“The whole document, it doesn’t ever say anything about making sure that the existing residential uses, that we look at preserving the mix that we have, so not changing that mix,” Hamyson said.
Supervisor Robert Greenstein responded that one of the town’s challenges is that many seniors can’t afford to stay in New Castle and many young families can’t afford to move in. The goal, Greenstein said, is to give those households a place to stay.
“There’s actually plenty of people who would like to sell their houses if they had an option to move in the community,” Greenstein said.” They love the community, they have their friends and this is their community and they don’t have anywhere to go.”
Another resident, Annette Clearwaters, who attended some of the outreach sessions, said she was uncertain how the information in the plan will translate into actual changes. She recalled one session where there were four different proposals to revitalize downtown Chappaqua, and asked how those will be implemented.
“From a resident’s perspective, when I think of a Comprehensive Plan, I mean I appreciate this, but to some extent this is just collating everything people said, obviously, what got more comments and more support,” Clearwaters said.
Councilwoman Lisa Katz said the Comprehensive Plan’s doesn’t dictate where a particular building should be placed, but recommends broader goals resulting potentially in zoning changes and overtures to developers. Board members have indicated that following adoption, the board will address a set of action items it wants to address each year.
“If we waited to do that and we waited to develop every one of the 184 action items on there, the town would never get a plan done,” Katz said.
Kristen Browde, the Democratic nominee for supervisor, delivered the most critical comments of the evening, taking to task Greenstein and the board majority for spending four years on a plan that calls for additional study. She also said the process largely cut out the town’s planning board from having meaningful input.
“(That) it took us four years to produce this document shows exactly what’s wrong here,” Browde said. “It took four years for this administration to say we need to study this problem more, and that’s what the action is – study it more.”
The hearing is expected to resume at Tuesday night’s board meeting. Greenstein said there could be several more sessions in the weeks ahead.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/