Welcome to the Master Plan Section

NEW: Did we get it right?  Did we capture your vision for the town’s future?

Friday, June 12, 2015

Editor’s Note: This week, NewCastleNOW asked Town Planner Sabrina Charney some questions about the Comprehensive Plan outreach scheduled for Monday, June 15, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Bell Middle School.  Below are her responses.

  NCNOW: What is the purpose of next week’s outreach? 

Charney:  Next week, the public gets to understand how their visions for New Castle begin to fit into a planning document. They can see, for example, how the desire for sidewalks or bicycle paths gets incorporated into Comprehensive Planning language.

The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee needs the public’s input and suggestions regarding the Comprehensive Plans goals and objectives that incorporate the priority issues, assets and challenges that the public identified at the previous public outreach meetings. This document helps guide the local government officials as they make land use decisions for the future of New Castle.

NCNOW:  Why should residents attend?

Charney: It’s important for the Town of New Castle and the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee to make sure they have input from the public regarding these larger goals, so that when it comes time to think and evaluate a variety of strategies and options, the public understands what goal they are trying to meet and how best to accomplish that goal.

NCNOW: Will residents hear about specific options for improvements to New Castle?

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Master plan—What is it good for?  Absolutely everything!

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: September 20, 2013

Editor’s Note: I’ve been following the town’s effort to re-look at its 1989 master plan and bring it up to date.  Most of us come out of New York City with our personal plans to live a great suburban life—and have no idea that these master plans exist and that towns must and do have them.  I found it hard to understand not just what a master plan it is, but why it matters and why anyone would want to help re-make it.

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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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“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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Master Plan Steering Committee meets new Business Development Committee . . .

Saturday, November 22, 2014
by Christine Yeres

THIS MEETING WAS CANCELLED

According to the home page of the town’s website, “The New Castle Master Plan Steering Committee and the Business Development Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday, November 25, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. to hear a presentation on “Transit Oriented Development – The Path to Downtown Revitalization.”  Supervisor Rob Greenstein has frequently touted the benefits of transit-oriented development (TOD) for the Chappaqua hamlet, maintaining that approval of retail at Chappaqua Crossing would act as additional motivation to strengthen the existing hamlet by means of TOD.

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Master Plan Steering Committee postpones survey, approves RFP for help with Master Plan

October 24, 2014

Editor’s Note:  A notice appeared on the town’s website this week informing residents that the Master Plan Steering Committee has decided to postpone to February/March 2015 the survey that was to have taken place in September/October of this year.  Their reasons are set out below.  They also endorsed the release of a Request for Proposals for Master Plan assistance.

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Master-planning retail store-types makes for smart development

September 26, 2014
by Chuck Napoli

Several responses to my piece last week, “Op-Ed: In planning main streets, the mix is crucial,” made me realize just how deep a misunderstanding people have of the beneficial role chain stores play—when managed smartly by municipalities through Master Plan tools – in the most successful towns.

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Op-Ed: In planning main streets, the mix is crucial

thinking about CC
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
by Chuck Napoli

Mix it up in the hamlets so that they provide a retail recipe composed of chain stores and what we call mom-and-pops. Chain stores have met our convenience and consistency needs—they have the style and, according to my wife, “the-size-8-fits-me-just-right”—while Barry and Rick’s Britches-type mom-and-pop shops offer highly specialized products, along with service and experiences that provide that friendly, personal touch that suits you specially and where everybody knows your name.

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Chris Roberta appointed to Master Plan Steering Committee


Friday, July 18, 2014

Editor’s Note: The Town Board has appointed Chris Roberta to the Master Plan Steering Committee to head the “commercial development and hamlets” subcommittee, which was at first led by Supervisor Rob Greenstein.  Roberta met for the first time with the subcommittee on Monday, July 14. [Correction: July 14 was the subcommittee’s second meeting with Roberta.]

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L to E: These Master Plan visioning sessions are really something to make time for

May 16, 2014
by Maggie Christ

I went to last Saturday’s visioning session for the Master Plan, and thought it was really interesting. That said, there were only about 40 people there [I heard that there were 100 at the first session], and the younger demographic was not well represented.  It was free-flowing and well-moderated, guided without being directed.  In my breakout group, only two people had kids in school. There are two more sessions—on Wednesday, May 21 at Seven Bridges from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. and Wednesday, May 28 at the Chappaqua Library from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., sponsored by the League of Women Voters of New Castle.  If you have concerns or desires—and who doesn’t!?—you want your voice heard. We talked about everything from sidewalks to trees to retail development, parking and housing and traffic on 117 and more. I know well how hard it can be to get out of the house in the evening for three hours, but it’s really something to make time for.

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Around 100 attend first of the Master Plan outreach sessions and brainstorm freely, amicably

Zezula taking notes
Next opportunity is Saturday, May 10, at Greeley 9:00 a.m. to noon
See photos of the evening in “Read more…”
May 9, 2014
by Christine Yeres

A crowd of around 100 attended the first of the town’s outreach sessions to hear what residents like and dislike about their lives in New Castle.  Facilitators from Pace Land Use Law Center managed to engage breakout groups of 18 to 20 in different classrooms, saw to it that everyone was heard from, and jotted down words and phrases that captured the gist of each participant’s comments and ventings on the five major topics in the agenda. The format was relaxed.  Marian and Gray Williams attended, with Marian calling several times in her group for “Quick!-a-show-of-hands!” on various issues.  I asked her afterwards for her impressions of the evening.

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Letter to Ed: Creating options through “New Castle’s Big Brainstorm”

Town Board, out of the way!  Just let Pace do its job.
May 2, 2014
by Chuck Napoli

Retail development at Chappaqua Crossing is the conflict that needs to be resolved, the result of a broken decision-making process exemplified by leaders defending pre-determined choices and pushing for “buy-in” from the public. Happens all the time, conflicts go unresolved, civic trust erodes.

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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.

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In TB work session, argument breaks out over Greenstein’s place on Master Plan steering group

Greenstein resigns from steering group the following day
April 25, 2014
by Christine Yeres

Supervisor Rob Greenstein was fresh from a Master Plan Steering Committee meeting with its Pace consultant when he entered Tuesday’s Town Board work session.  His update on the Master Plan process triggered questions from Board members and a protracted argument with a member of Greenstein’s “commercial development and hamlets” Master Plan subcommittee.  Greenstein resigned his place on the committee the next day.

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Katz urges examination of “all the options” in context of Master Plan review

April 11, 2014

Editor’s Note: Deputy Supervisor Lisa Katz read the following statement on Chappaqua Crossing in last Tuesday’s Town Board meeting.  A lively argument between residents, supervisor and town attorneys ensued.  Below are her remarks:

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Op-Ed: Questions on how Master Plan review interfaces with Chappaqua Crossing and Spa proposals

With 50 comments since publication
March 28, 2014
by Christine Yeres

When Supervisor Rob Greenstein read a statement last Tuesday setting out his thinking on two current development proposals—to rezone for grocery-retail at Chappaqua Crossing and for a Spa on the Legionaries property—and explained why he doesn’t favor declaring a moratorium for either, Deputy Supervisor Lisa Katz responded, “Moratorium aside, I do think we have to make sure we plan before we develop.”  The week before, Town Board members seemed genuinely relieved that independent professionals from Pace’s Land Use Center had come to umpire, but several inconsistencies still plague the long-delayed Master Plan process.

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NEW: 38-Minute Message in a Bottle from a Small Town in Maine: How to Master Plan

March 21, 2014

Editor’s Note:  The town of Searsmont in Maine has about one-sixteenth the population of New Castle’s. Yet its 1,400 residents conducted a genuine Master Plan for their town and documented the effort in a 38-minute video that touches all the right points, really.  Like why you need a sense of humor.  And how, miraculously, people might disagree in discussions, but “it stays in the room” and people leave as the friends and neighbors they are.

Here are some excerpts, followed by the entire video.

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A Master Plan “Community Conversation” Question Seven: “Transit-oriented” housing and retail?


Monday, March 10, 2014
by Rob Greenstein

We continue our Community Conversation with another question, this one on housing.

Would you like to see a mixed-use residential and commercial area near our train station in downtown Chappaqua, (that is, “transit-oriented” development)?

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Superintendent Rob Greenstein on hamlet improvements, advisory committee, master plan, train station

March 7, 2014
by Christine Yeres

Last November, the previous Town Board had it in mind to have comprehensive infrastructure and “streetscape” work done in 2015, but there is some question of whether the ancient water mains need attention sooner.  In last Tuesday’s work session, Town Board members heard a repeat presentation by one of the firms, WSP, that pitched its services in November for the $6.5 million project.  NCNOW submitted questions to all five Town Board members following the meeting; Supervisor Rob Greenstein responded to them.

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A Master Plan “Community Conversation”—Question Six:  What besides a grocery at CC?

Monday, March 3, 2014
by Rob Greenstein

We continue our Community Conversation on the Master Plan with another question this week:

If commercial development at Chappaqua Crossing is anchored by a grocery store, what other uses would you want to see there?

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Letter to the Editor: First plan, then develop

February 28, 2014
by Betty Weitz, Ph.D.

It’s a mistake to treat master planning and development proposals simultaneously.

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An Update from Supervisor Rob Greenstein

An appeal to “Shop Local,” streetscape improvements will go forward, business development team formed, Master Plan review will launch
ASK THE BOARD
Tuesday, February 25, 2013
by Rob Greenstein

After a very tough winter, many of our downtown merchants are hurting—BIG TIME!  This tough winter comes after years of our merchants struggling with difficult economic conditions and other longstanding issues that have impeded growth and discouraged capital investment. We are in the final stages of forming our Downtown Business Development Advisory Committee, and also have in place our Master Plan Steering Committee as well as consultant for Master Plan outreach to the community.

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NEW: Comprehensive (or Master) Plan evening of public engagement Monday, June 15 at Bell


Friday, June 12, 2015
~ From the Town of New Castle

Last Spring over 250 community members attended workshops to discuss what you liked and didn’t like about New Castle. These ideas and thoughts have been transformed into goals and objectives related to a vision for our community’s future. Pace Land Use Law Center is hosting a public workshop on Monday at 6:00 p.m. at Bell School to share the transformation of your ideas into goals and objectives for the Town’s Comprehensive Plan. The meeting will include a presentation by Pace followed by breakout sessions so if you are interested in a particular topic, come and talk about that topic. Interested in more than one, you can talk about more than one. Our future depends on you!  We hope to see you there. For more information and to refresh your sense of what we told Pace last year, see New Castle Master Planning Public Engagement Report, July 2014

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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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Town Board makes it official: New Castle has a “Business Development Advisory Committee”

Brodsky promises to work closely with Master Plan “commercial development and hamlets” group
Saturday, November 15, 2014
by Christine Yeres

The Town Board officially enlisted local brain power to serve on a Business Development Advisory Committee (“BDAC”) headed by Town Board member Adam Brodsky. The group is charged with assisting the Town Board “by identifying and recommending policy initiatives that will strengthen our existing businesses, attract new and desirable businesses to New Castle, and help our community revitalize our existing business hamlets.”

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Resident promotes “The ChapLine,” a path from Chappaqua Crossing to downtown Chappaqua


October 17, 2014
by Christine Yeres

At last Tuesday’s Town Board meeting, New Castle resident Dan Googel brought to public attention a concept first floated around 2005, when Mt. Kisco needed to reline a sewer main running south through New Castle along the east side of the railroad tracks between Horace Greeley High School and North Greeley Avenue in downtown Chappaqua.  Gravel was laid down along the path so that trucks could come and go.  At the time, former Town Administrator Gerry Faiella thought to ask the county to replace the gravel with asphalt once the project was completed and even lay an electrical conduit for low path-lights someday.

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Editorial: Supervisor’s hands are still all over the master plan review

Monday, September 29
by Christine Yeres

Supervisor Rob Greenstein is eager to show that his hands are off the master plan review, but last week he demonstrated again that his hands have never been off it.  Operating through the town planner, Sabrina Charney, he continues to make decisions without either informing his other TB members or consulting the Master Plan Steering Committee, whose members were appointed by the Town Board to run the master plan review. 

When asked in last week’s TB meeting whether the members of the Master Plan Steering Committee had given their input on the RFP for a professional consultant to help with the master plan review process, no TB member or its counsel seemed to know.  Yet Greenstein was prepared to issue the RFP that night.

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NEW: Response to comments on my Op-Ed—“Rural Elegance,” the real “brand” of New Castle

Wednesday, October 8, 2014
by Betty Weitz

Thank you, Editor, for making clear that I do not live near Chappaqua Crossing.  I live towards the western side of town near Supervisor Greenstein. See Op-Ed:  On “Rural Elegance,” the real “brand” of New Castle, NCNOW.org, September 29, 2014.

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Op-Ed:  On “Rural Elegance,” the real “brand” of New Castle

Monday, September 29, 2014
by Betty Weitz

“’There is a rural elegance to New Castle that is hard to duplicate anywhere in the metropolitan area,’ says Lois L. Mitchell, Town Supervisor of New Castle” in a May 12, 1985 New York Times article.  The article speaks of “wooded roads,” the “quaint” and “colonial” character of the Chappaqua hamlet and of the high quality of our schools.  The electric trains had recently been installed and she mentions the ease of commuting.

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TB approves professional phone survey of 300 residents, randomly sampled, for Master Plan review

August 22, 2014
by Christine Yeres

On the afternoon of the August 12 public hearing on Chappaqua Crossing, Town Board, Planning Board, and Master Plan Steering Committee members met to speak with Tiffany Zezula of Pace Land Use Center about the recently released report on the community outreach sessions conducted as part of the Town Master Plan review.  Zezula confirmed that residents love where they live but also want downtowns with a greater diversity of businesses and housing, better walkability, traffic conditions, and looks.

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Planning Board struggles with its comments for Town Board on Chappaqua Crossing

Monday, July 28, 2014

Editor’s Note:  Planning Board members Bob Kirkwood (Chair), Dick Brownell, Sheila Crespi and Tom Curley met on Friday, July 18, to finish up the comments they must produce for the Town Board on the zoning amendments proposed for a grocery and retail at Chappaqua Crossing.  They also discussed whether—and how—to pose their objections to the application in a separate cover letter.  At the request of the Planning Board, the Town Board will meet with them soon to discuss the application.  The public hearing continues on August 12. The Planning Board’s discussion below is arranged by topic.

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Stores big or small—or none at all? Planning Board balks at retail zoning for Chappaqua Xing

Advises the matter be run through a master planning process
Thursday, July 17, 2014
by Christine Yeres

Racing to finish their comments on the Chappaqua Crossing proposal before the July 22 public hearing, last Tuesday the Planning Board members Bob Kirkwood, Tom Curley and Sheila Crespi didn’t confine themselves to questions of size of the retail proposed, big stores versus smaller ones, how many restaurants, or additional uses such as garden or auditorium; they also expressed deep reservations about the project.

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L to E: Master planning for the future is difficult with development projects hanging over us

An outdoor session is planned for 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. in Gedney Park on Wednesday, June 4
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
by Scottie Guerney

I attended the master planning outreach session last Wednesday. This morning meeting sponsored by the League of Women Voters drew approximately 25 residents. I have several positive comments on the process as well as some concerns.

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NEW: Master Plan Outreach: An OUTDOOR chance to tell us about the future of Your New Castle


UPDATED: Tuesday, June 3, 2014
~ from The Town of New Castle

Join us for a special event to explore the challenges, opportunities and choices that face New Castle, and help us set a course for the future.  We want to know your vision for New Castle as we update the Town’s Master Plan, which describes the community’s current conditions and blueprint for future growth and preservation.  We’ve planned an outdoor session at Gedney (Town will provide child-minding) from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 4. Rain place: The Rug-Room of the Community Center in Senter Street.

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A peek into the community outreach sessions gathering input for the Master Plan

There will be an outdoor session at Gedney on Wednesday, June 4 from 10:00 to 11:00 (child-minding provided).
Saturday, May 24, 2014
by Brett Klein

For the third of the May community outreach sessions in the town’s review of its 25-year-old Master Plan, a group of about 55 New Castle residents gathered at Westorchard Elementary School on Thursday, May 15, to voice their opinions. The group included slightly more females than males and most seemed around 50 and over.

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Response to Supervisor Greenstein’s call for NCNOW to check its facts

Tuesday, April 29, 2013
by Christine Yeres

Last week Rob Greenstein posted two non-anonymous comments to my article, Tensions surface over survey and funding, supervisor resigns his Master Plan hat, NCNOW.org, 4/25/14.  Both are critical of my fact-checking.  In one, he takes issue with my description of him as “an energetic proponent” of retail development at Chappaqua Crossing and the move of town hall to its cupola building; and—after recasting one of my “assertions” in the piece—calls it “so patently false that it is offensive and 100% wrong.”  To support his claim, in another comment he produces an email from Sabrina Charney.  In both comments, he urges me to check my facts, adding “you owe it to your readers—you owe it to the community.”  My responses follow. 

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Tensions surface over survey and funding, supervisor resigns his Master Plan hat


Tiffany Zezula preparing committee members for May Master Plan outreach sessions; video of the meeting is embedded below
April 25, 2014
by Christine Yeres

Last Tuesday, Supervisor Rob Greenstein went from a Master Plan meeting directly to a work session where he updated Town Board members on the progress of the Master Plan review.  During his update, Deputy Supervisor Lisa Katz began a line of questioning that led to an outright shouting match between Greenstein and a member of the Master Plan subcommittee he heads on “commercial development and hamlets.” It ended in his agreeing to let his place on the five-member Steering Committee be filled by someone else whom the Board will appoint.  The next day, he emailed his group to announce that he would leave.  The subject box read, “I’m done.”

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Tom Curley urges neighbors of proposed cell tower to participate in Master Plan review


“What kind of town do we want to have ten years from now?” said Curley, in a personal Master Plan outreach.
Tuesday, April 21, 2014

Editor’s Note: Following last Wednesday’s public hearing on the Homeland Verizon cell tower proposed for Armonk Road, Planning Board member Tom Curley addressed the neighbors who had spoken passionately in opposition to the project.  “I’ve lived here for 20 years,” Curley began.  “I live over on the other side of town, in Millwood, and I came here for exactly the same reason I think everybody here has said they did too. . .

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The 1989 Town Development Plan—also known as “Master Plan”

April 3, 2014

Editor’s Note: Each Master Plan Steering Committee member has his or her subject and sub-group members. They will soon examine the 1989 plan in each of their subject areas and reach out to interest other residents in weighing in on what should change, what’s worth preserving.  NCNOW has converted the PDF version of the plan, taken from the town’s website, into a copy-and-paste-able Word doc so that you can search the document and work with parts of it that might interest you.

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Pace’s Master Plan outreach proceeds apace with homework for committee and working groups

April 4, 2014

Editor’s Note: Yesterday, Tiffany Zezula, Pace consultant to the Master Plan Steering Committee, gave NCNOW.org her permission to publish her summary of an April 1 meeting with committee members.  It includes a timetable, homework and an action plan for Steering Committee members and the volunteers —“Working Group Members”—assisting them in the public outreach Zezula will conduct from April through June. Her email and the video of the meeting are below.  [Correction: When originally published, the text below was a reprint of another article; it has now been changed to Zezula’s text.]

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Op-Ed: Pace runs one Master Plan process while Greenstein runs another


With 95 comments since publication
April 4, 2014
by Christine Yeres

Just as Pace consultants and Master Plan Steering Committee members have been unfurling the sails of The Good Ship Master Plan to learn where to take the ship by catching the winds of public opinion, Supervisor Rob Greenstein has been unapologetically drilling holes in its hull.  Fellow Town Board member Lisa Katz, who also attended the April 1 meeting, noted with alarm that the words “Chappaqua Crossing” were conspicuous by their absence.  A video of the session is embedded below.

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Pace Land Use experts discuss primacy of public outreach with Steering Committee and TB members

zezula and nolan
Pace Land Use Law Center Team: Tiffany Zezula and Professor John Nolon
With 31 comments since publication
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
by Christine Yeres

In a roundtable discussion last Tuesday, Tiffany Zezula and Professor John Nolon of Pace Land Use Law Center explained the public outreach process they have been engaged to help conduct.  The two described the job of the Master Plan Steering Committee to formulate a comprehensive plan for New Castle, the Town Board’s role as ultimate decision-maker at the end of the 18-month process—and the ability of the outreach to focus also on pressing issues and pending applications.  “Not every community cares to hear from its public,” said Nolon, ”—and that’s what a comprehensive plan is.  The goal the community has for itself.  Where do you want to see yourself in five to ten years?  The comprehensive plan does that.  I applaud the town for thinking how to do an aggressive public engagement process.”

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Steering Committee goes to town on Master Plan review, reactivates volunteer groups

Master Plan Steering Committee
L to R: Standing are Town Planner Sabrina Charney, Maud Bailey, Rob Greenstein; sitting are Hala Makowska, Dick Brownell and Bob Kirkwood.
March 7, 2014
by Christine Yeres

On Tuesday, members of the Master Plan Steering Committee met with Town Planner Sabrina Charney to talk logistics on the roll-out of the Master Plan review.  Each of the them will re-activate the groups of volunteers who were put on hold during the committee’s sluggish start up period, comb through the 1989 “Town Development Plan” to see where it now falls short and needs updating, and meet with the Town Board and Pace Land Use Center consultants to discuss their results.

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