In “Read more,” see aerial view of the RD property and front elevation of North Village apartment buildings.
July 30, 2010
by Christine Yeres

In a press release dated July 23, developer Summit Greenfield returned its final environmental impact statement (FEIS) to the New Castle town board with a new alternative.  The “Modified Project” includes construction of 199 non-age-restricted units, 20 of them units that would satisfy the county settlement’s requirements as “fair and affordable housing.” The developer also would retain 662,000 square feet of the existing office space, and donate 6.5 acres of land to the town for municipal uses.

February 19, 2010
by Christine Yeres

A live receptionist who is a certified notary public will continue to answer the main number for New Castle Town Hall, 238-4771, from 8:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. But from 1:00 p.m. until town hall closes at 4:30 p.m., a recorded message directs callers to the various departments there. The robo-system – a cost-cutting measure by the town board – has been in place for close to a month.

Meeting begins at 8:15 in the Academic Commons at Greeley
UPDATE: December 15, 2009
by Christine Yeres

Over the weekend, NewCastleNOW.org spoke with Board of Education President Jeffrey Mester about tonight’s budget presentation and the first of the board’s 2010-2011 budget discussions. Mester assigned approximate times for the main agenda items, stating that immediately following a brief presentation at 8:15 p.m. by Seven Bridges’ “Kids against Pollution” club members, the board would reveal the results of the two focus groups conducted last week.  Two groups of residents were queried on how the board can engage residents in helping to craft a budget for a year in which state monies will likely be less and local school expenses greater.

November 30, 2009

Editor’s note: The first 148 comments were published in our Friday, November 27 issue. New comments submitted since that date start at number 149.

For your convenience, we have reprinted the preface and the survey questions below followed by a complete listing of all 221 comments received.

August 20, 2010
by Christine Yeres

At the conclusion of the August 10 joint town board-school board meeting dedicated to a discussion of Chappaqua Crossing, board of education members returned to their own meeting in Greeley’s academic commons.  There, for the benefit of the handful of audience members and the potential video watchers later, they reported on their meeting with town board members and spoke further about the development proposal for the property across Roaring Brook Road from the high school, now nearing the final stages of environmental review.

Looking into town from the deck of the bridge
Click for a live view of the bridge from our webcam in Erik Nicolaysen’s 2nd floor window.
UPDATED Monday, August 23, 2010
by Christine Yeres

August 20, 2010
by Christine Yeres

Quaker Road is paved.  Last week workers joined the new roadway with driveways and side streets and created swales alongside the road to conduct water to drains.  This week, working nights, Conti Construction crews will pave King Street from Starbuck’s up the hill to D’Agostino’s.

Inside, see 23 readers’ comments since April 13
Click “Read more” for YouTube of discussion.
August 13, 2010
by Christine Yeres

Toward the end of Tuesday’s joint town and school board work session, Clinton Smith of Wormser Kiley, counsel to the New Castle town board, explained to members of both boards and an audience of 100 residents the ways in which the town board is constrained in deciding what to grant the developer of Chappaqua Crossing. Following is the conversation among Smith and members of both boards.

August 6, 2010
by Lee Seham

In “Read more…” find lyrics and chords to Seham’s composition.  To hear the tune, see the YouTube of Seham performing it, also in “Read more…”

Officer Shelby Pileggi, Sgt. Heather Rudisill, Officer Eduardo Pazmino; see slide show of the day in Photo Gallery
July 30, 2010
by Christine Yeres

Yesterday, in full noonday sun in front of the Bell school, the New Castle Police Officers’ Police Benevolent Association hosted a Bike Safety presentation, hot dog lunch and bike raffle for the town’s Camp Adventure kids.  “The PBA has been doing this for the past 15 years, at least,” said PBA President Estuardo Pazmino. “In our 15 minute bike safety talk we emphasize how important it is to make sure the bike is safe to ride, to wear proper close-toed shoes and bright clothing, and to wear their helmets properly.  We touch also on rules of the road.”

July 23, 2010
by Christine Yeres

Last Tuesday night the town board viewed drawings prepared by landscape architect Nick Pouder for a new gazebo for the downtown recreation field, a project the Downtown Steering Committee, an advisory board to the town board, has had in development during the last several months.

See “Read more” for larger photo
July 9, 2010

Dear Neighbor,

We want to invite you to a special meeting of the Millwood Board of Fire Commissioners on Tuesday, July 13th at 7:30 PM. The purpose of this meeting is to present the results of the Schematic Design Phase for the Millwood’s new firehouse. At this meeting, the site design plan, the firehouse floor plans, building design and construction budget will be presented. In addition, the Board of Fire Commissioners will present a preliminary fiscal impact analysis, showing what this new building means to your taxes.

July 2, 2010
by Geoff Thompson

Gregg Bresner’s Op-Ed article (see Op-Ed: Baffled by parents’ lack of awareness and concern over rezoning of Chappaqua Crossing by Gregg Bresner, NewCastleNOW.org, June 28, 2010) on the impact of the Chappaqua Crossing plan on the Chappaqua schools is completely off base.

The town now sends out alerts through Nixle.com
Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The town board was so impressed with the New Castle Police Department’s use of Nixle.com that the town changed from its e-alert system to Nixle-only, at a savings to the town of around $3,000.  Nixle.com allows you to tailor which messages you get and how you get them.  If you’d been on Nixle last week, you’d have received updates on burglaries, coyotes and road closings. 

Check out the view of the bridge—and traffic flow—from Erik Nicolaysen’s second floor window by clicking HERE.
Updated Monday, June 28, 2010
by Christine Yeres

This week workers will continue installation of the steel rebar—the green steel sticks—into which the concrete surface of the bridge will be poured in two or three weeks.

Architect’s rendering of affordable housing at Hunts Lane, seen from the Route 120 bridge, looking north
UPDATE: June 21, 2010
by Christine Yeres

The town board will continue the hearing on a change to the town code to allow multi-family, or workforce, housing in certain areas of downtown Chappaqua.

Gray Williams and Nancy O’Neil at town hall
Monday, June 14, 2010
by Nancy O’Neil  

New Castle is a town with many small committees, made up of volunteers, who do some of the special things that make our town such an interesting and pleasant place to live. Each of these committees makes an annual appearance before the town board to explain what they do and why they do it.  Tuesday night, June 8, was the Landmark Advisory Committee’s turn.

June 11, 2010
See “Read more” or Photo Gallery for before and after pictures of the plaza.
by Christine Yeres

Last night at Xavier’s on the Hudson, the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation celebrated local efforts at innovative planning projects.  On behalf of New Castle, Deputy Supervisor Elise Kessler Mottel accepted a commendation award “for the construction of a downtown vest-pocket park at Citibank Plaza in the hamlet of Chappaqua, which also mitigates storm water runoff.”

Since Friday, this article has drawn eight comments.  See them in “Read more.”
June 11, 2010
by Christine Yeres

At 1:19 p.m. on Thursday, April 29, while attempting to park behind town hall, an 81-year-old male inadvertently accelerated through the wood post fence behind town hall and into the playground, which is lower than the level of the parking lot.  No children or adults were in the playground area at the time. There were no injuries to the driver. The playground has been closed since then and the town is taking steps to recover monetary damages from the driver.

UPDATE: June 7, 2010
by Christine Yeres

[Editor’s Note: Since publishing this article last Friday, Supervisor Barbara Gerrard informed NCNOW.org that the final EIS will not be submitted mid- to late-June, but later in summer.]

The New Castle town board, lead agency for N.Y. State environmental review purposes, is in the last stages of reviewing Summit Greenfield’s final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for its proposed development of the former Reader’s Digest property, now called Chappaqua Crossing.  With the help of expert consultants whose fees are passed on to the developer, the board has reviewed the massive documents submitted by the developer and by mid-to-late June will produce a final EIS of its own that will be an actual narrative, shorter than the raw documents and in readable form, according to New Castle Town Supervisor Barbara Gerrard.