Master Plan and Chappaqua Crossing: An update from Supervisor Rob Greenstein
April 25, 2014
by Supervisor Rob Greenstein
Although the prior Town Supervisor was on the Master Planning Committee, this was not an assignment I asked for. I did not want to be on the Steering Committee. It was offered to every single town board member, and many non board members as well. It was also offered to a few members of the commercial work group committee.
At that time, it was in the best interest of the Master Plan process for me to join the Steering Committee. We needed to move the process along. And the process has moved along quite nicely, thanks to Town Planner Sabrina Charney, thanks to Tiffany Zezula of Pace and thanks to the hard work of the Steering Committee and members of the work groups. I now feel that it is the best interest of the master planning process for me to step down. I do not want to be a distraction.
On the Chappaqua Crossing front, we are currently reviewing the updated Preliminary Development Concept Plan with our counsel. We will be rescheduling the joint meeting of the Town Board and Planning Board to discuss the referral of the revised PDCP. We will also be rescheduling Michael Galante who will be available to answer questions about the traffic analysis.
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To see NCNOW’s archived articles on the Master Plan, visit our Master Plan page.
On four days in May, tell us about the future of Your New Castle
Rob- keep up the good work. It is a shame that you stepped down from master plan process. We know that the pressure for you to step down came from the NIMBYs and I am sad you caved. You have been upfront in your efforts to negotiate the best deal with SG and you have promoted the idea of Whole Foods at CC provided the strip mall concept is toned down. The NIMBYs want none of this and I hate that they influenced you to withdraw.
The pressure did not come from a NIMBY; it came from a Banana (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything), who is just as much of a ‘distraction’ if not impediment to a subcommittee on commercial development.
Rob – you have a thankless job. The people who voted for you have now tunred on you simply because you have decided to do whats in the towns best interest. The sign of leadership is doing what is in the best interest of everyone and not the vocal and disruptive small minority.
Clearly further delays will result in lawsuits that the town will not win. You know that and we know that. The only answer is to negotiate with the developer(s) and hammer out deals that get the residents of New Castle the best outcome , best ammenties, best aesthetics, and most favoravble tax revenues. Get us a town pool or rec center, turf field or walking trails and once this is all complete you will look like a hero.
The master plan review is a productive exercise but not if its participants sole intent is to stop retail at CC or development anywhere else at all costs. Whats the point of that.
Push on my man!
Well, Build it, that is your agenda. And is has become Rob’s agenda, but a true master plan doesn’t have an agenda. An agenda undermines the process. Rob Greenstein is doing everything he can to undermine the process and you are helping him.
Rob – I voted for you not to stop retail at CC but because I knew you understood that somebody was going to have to sit down with developers and negotiate a deal in the best interest of everyone. I knew that you had a stronger hand and a tougher style than Carpenter and Penny. Logic and common sense dictated that Summit a Greenfield was not going to simply fold up an go away but rather they were prepared to do battle if necessary. Their lawyers , as our lawyers, advised that SG had an increasingly stronger case against us should litigation resume. The only answer was getting someone in office that would get us Whole a Foods and pressure the developer to scale down the project and avoid the strip mall concept, and also consider a land swap to bring Town Hall to CC. It is true you are sometimes too abrasive and abrupt but I / we knew that going into the election. I voted for a tough negotiator that would have my back and my best interests at heart.
You have now crossed the line with the NIMBY community. They thought they had you in their pocket. I am glad to see they do not. There is NOTHING that will make these people happy. They only want CC to remain the same. We can not and should not derail and impede progress as they continue to obstruct. Now we know they are using the Master Plan revision as an excuse to stop progress. They think that it will buy them another year and they can and will continue to manipulate us. You are smarter and stronger than that.
To You don’t really get it- did you watch the meeting? If you did you would see that those involved , or at least many of them, clearly do have an agenda. Greenstein stepped down. Now we have a committee that is anti development. They will sway , influence and make sure they get a master plan that reflects their agenda. At least Greenstein balanced it. We bring in PACE as in outside impartial expert to assist us and this group of residents insists that they edit and oversee the questions in the survey. Why bring in an outside expert if we don’t let them do what they do best? We hand cuff them and pretend there is no agenda.
Rob,
Kudos for having the courage for stepping down from the steering committee in the best interest of our community. I strongly believe your intentions in assuming the position of the head of the steering committee were admirable in view of no one else wanted that thankless position. Unfortunately, as pointed out by an obstructionist in the working session, it does arguably place you in conflict of interest since you are also on a decision making body relative to the steering committee. However, you have now placed yourself in position to make decisions free of any conflict arguments and which are in the best interest of our community.
On a side note, it’s interesting that the self proclaimed “i am smart, very smart” Ms. Katz has recently passively aggessivly reinvigorated her NIMBY views by “recklessly” suggesting the town board influence the information gathering process of the steering committee . . . .
Rob, keep on foing what’s best for New Castle as a whole!
This is the 21st century. Things do need to change. Better to get the best deal we can no matter what piece of property is involved. Heads in the sand do not help. We need to have
people understand that this is the reality and stop fighting losing battles.
After years of inactivity Greenstein filled a void in order to move the process forward. More has been done over the past 2 months than the past 2 years. He is now stepping aside so he is not a distraction. He is now being criticized. Are you kidding me? People, get a grip!
I agree with JJS. This is the 21st century. Things HAVE changed. Have you driven by any downtown center in Westchester county? Tons of vacancies. Commercial real estate as we know it is over.
We are sitting in a huge bubble about to burst.
Need to get our heads out of the sand and understand the future will not be like the past.
We are at the end of the growth curve and it isn’t pretty.
I voted for Greenstein because I know we needed a tough negotiator working on our behalf. Too many people in this town have their heads in the sand if they simply think Summit Greenfield or any other developer (legionnaires) is going to go away because a few NIMBYs make some noise and circulate petitions. With or without an updated master plan you can’t stop progress. Many benefits can be extracted and negotiated and we need Greenstein as our advocate and watchdog. Some might say bulldog but that’s ok. No master plan committee and no revised plan will halt potential and probable litigation should we halt progress. I’m glad we have Rob on our side.
With the exception of Mr. Greenstein, who has decided that he is now for keeping the 120,000.
square ft. retail development at CC out of the master plan process AND moving the town hall to CC AND a big train station development, no one spoke of an agenda save keeping the master plan process free of manipulation and personal agendas. Now that is the re-al-i-ty. And that is the truth.
I’m so happy that Rob Greenstein is moving this process forward. I, like so many of the silent majority, am so looking forward to a Whole Foods that gives the added bonus of tax revenue back to our town. Thank you, Rob, for taking on this ugly task.
