Last week Westchester County officials unveiled an exciting effort to better coordinate local and county land use planning. County Executive Andy Spano, Department of Planning Commissioner Gerard Mulligan, and County Planning Board Chair Cheryl Winter Lewy presented the draft of Westchester 2025, the county’s new master plan, to a standing-room-only crowd of elected and agency officials, advocates, and members of the public at the Westchester County Center.
The draft includes much on “livable streets” issues. It points out that road expansion is unlikely to occur in the county, and that congestion solutions should focus on transit, traffic demand management, pedestrian and bicycle improvements, and joint transportation-land use planning. It calls for development to be channeled to centers with available transportation and other infrastructure, and for open space protections.
Most of the presentation, however, appropriately focused on how the county could help local communities plan. (Westchester County contains 43 municipalities with their own land use regulations.) Lewy described two efforts to assist local communities in doing this. The first is a proposed pilot program whereby the county Department of Planning will help localities develop their municipal plans.
The second is an online toolbox available at www.westchestergov.com/2025. The website contains a wealth of information for local planners, including geographic information maps, local demographic data, and suggested land use regulations (see above for an example). The website will be continually updated by Department of Planning staff.
During the post-presentation Q-and-A session, several respondents expressed excitement at the idea of improved information-sharing and coordination between localities and the county. County Executive Spano, who stayed for the presentation and opted to take several questions during the session, seemed just as excited, highlighting the Web-based plan as “a living document that will allow us to work together.”
Over the next three months, the county will hold public hearings on the plan. Local municipalities will either update or certify that they are satisfied with their master plans, and the county will finalize its master plan by spring of this year.
The Westchester 2025 efforts could aid state planning efforts as much as local ones. Westchester Planning Department officials have already identified centers with potential to develop around their rail stations. Once local communities update or indicate that they are satisfied with their master plans, NYSDOT and the MTA will essentially have a map of communities interested in transit-oriented development, which could streamline the creation of an I-287 transit system or transit village program.
looks like yonkers developers haven’t heard about Westchester’s plan 2025.
the written comments section for the dgeis is open till feb 20 on the yonkers Alexander street master plan. the plan calls for addition of a 3/4 mile road on the Hudson river to bring more cars from Alexander street development to the park. a trolley would work fine. a huge 7000 plus parking garage on the waterfront is a key point. this area is directly adjacent to two metro-north train stations, glenwood and Yonkers main station. no mention of implementing new public transit in the design.
proposed 3750 residences, 200,000sq feet retail, 200,00 sq feet office space. the dgeis traffic planning calls for the opposite of traffic calming, calls for widening of roads and adding turn lanes. no circles for calming , no appropriation for bike lane usage on this main NYS north south hudson bike corridor or the only east west link in yonkers . no adding of buses or street cars, a brand new car centric community next to the train stations.