NEW: Mastering the Master Plan Process: A Week in Master Planning

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Editor’s Note: Last week was jam-packed with Master Plan-related meetings.  Supervisor Greenstein in a “conversation” sponsored by the League of Women Voters, a presentation by the firm contracted to perform $6.5 million of infrastructure repairs for downtown Chappaqua, a Board of Ed meeting in which members discussed their fears that the $600,000 for Greeley road improvements may not be enough, a Pace outreach session to recap Master Plan efforts so far and show what’s to come, and Bob Kirkwood resigns from Master Plan Steering Committee. Below are “in brief” and more lengthy accounts and observations of each—as well as some of the editor’s opinions [in brackets].

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NEW: Greeley roadway mitigations money from Summit Greenfield may not be enough, says Board of Ed

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Editor’s Note: Last Wednesday Board of Ed members discussed a draft letter to the Town Board stating that the Board of Ed will not pass on cost overruns if Summit Greenfield’s $600,000 for proposed changes to Greeley’s interior roadways proves insufficient.  The letter is below:

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“You spoke, we listened”—Master Plan public workshop set for Thursday, March 12 at Library

Master Plan review process picks up from last sping’s public outreach sessions
Monday, March 9, 2015
by Christine Yeres

On Thursday, March 12, a meeting is scheduled for 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Chappaqua Library to recap for residents where the Master Plan review stands and to chart its next steps.  Below is Town Planner Sabrina Charney’s memo apprising Town Board members of her meeting—closed to outsiders—with Pace representatives and the Master Plan Steering Committee members on February 12, 2015. Later, by email, NCNOW submitted some questions about the report, to which Charney supplied some responses.

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MasterPlanNOW

Tuesday, January 20. 2015

Editor’s Note:  NCNOW has trimmed down.  The town itself does a fine job as a community bulletin board, pushing out notices and announcements, so NCNOW will concentrate strictly on keeping track of the Master Plan process.

Supervisor Rob Greenstein reported two weeks ago that the Master Plan process is alive and well, but it hasn’t been well at all. The process has been not-started, then false-started, restarted, derailed by the supervisor, then bypassed for Chappaqua Crossing—and possibly for Rosehill—and is now supposedly back on track.

It’s had no-money, some money for an outreach by Pace, more money for a survey, a canceled (or postponed) survey, money for a consultant (Pace) to pick up where Pace left off.  Tonight Pace will speak to Town Board members as well as Master Plan Steering Committee members about what comes next—and whether or how the “transit-oriented development” on town-owned property supported by the supervisor will be included in the Master Plan review.  Below is the video of Pace’s presentation of January 20, 2015:

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NEW: Calendar for New Castle for the week starting Tuesday, March 17, 2015

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• Tue. Mar. 17 at 8:00 pm: Joint meeting with Town Board, Planning Board, Architectural Review Board to discuss Chappaqua Crossing preliminary development concept plan [This meeting was originally scheduled for March 3 and was postponed due to snow.]  The meeting will be held in and broadcast/streamed live from the Assembly Room.  This joint meeting is preceded by a TB work session.  To see agenda, click HERE.
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“All about us”—County provides extensive baseline data on New Castle

Excerpts from the report; video of the presentation
Monday, March 9, 2015
by Christine Yeres

At the end of February, representatives from the County’s Planning Department visited a Town Board meeting to give a brief summary of long-awaited baseline data on New Castle, significant material in master planning.  The extensive report resides on the County’s website; it begins:

While much of the Town’s civic life revolves around New Castle, no residents have a “New Castle” mailing address. Community identity can vary between the five school districts serving the Town, the proximity to either the hamlets of Mount Kisco or Millwood, or even just a resident’s mailing address (the zip code with the largest area is Chappaqua, while other portions of the Town have an Ossining, Millwood or Mount Kisco address).

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REPRINTED: Where We Left Off:  Pace’s “Master Planning Public Engagement Report” is released


Reprinted from: Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Editor’s Note:  Below are excerpts from the New Castle Master Planning Public Engagement Report produced by Pace Land Use Law Center from sessions conducted in May and June of this year with close to 300 participants.  For each of five topics—Commercial Development, Environment & Habitat, Pubic Works & Infrastructure, Public Services & Recreation and Housing—Pace facilitators asked residents, “What’s good now”?  “What’s not working?” and “What are some strategies to overcome what’s not working?”  Pace did not conduct a survey; its informal discussion groups were a qualitative, rather than a quantitative, effort to identify what residents considered “priority issues, assets, and challenges facing the town.”  The report is just shy of 300 pages, much of it in simple list form, with some narrative summary, analysis and conclusions.

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