Downtown the Focus at Mt. Kisco Comprehensive Plan Forum

About 35 Mount Kisco residents and merchants brainstormed on ideas to help reshape the village’s downtown area during a Comprehensive Plan workshop last Saturday.

 

Frank Fish, president of BFJ Planning, the firm hired by the village to lead the update, said an 11-member steering committee that has been created to help revise the plan. A public meeting was recently held at the library.

Three additional meetings have been scheduled for Apr. 11, May 12 and June 13. Similar to Saturday, the May 12 meeting will also focus only on downtown.

BFJ Planning Senior Associate Jonathan Martin said public transportation is an advantage for Mount Kisco, with its Metro-North station and Bee-line bus service, providing residents opportunities to travel without a car.

The revised Comprehensive Plan could recommend downtown zoning changes that could be implemented if residents supported them, Martin said. The shopping district has been plagued by numerous vacancies during the past few years.

He presented examples of work BFJ Planning has done for other municipalities to improve their downtowns. Armonk Square in North Castle has created a center where one did not previously exist. In Bronxville, BXV Villa, with its roughly 60 housing units, has spurred new commercial development for that village’s downtown, Martin said.

Resident Brian Pickard said “walkability is the key to everything else” in improving Mount Kisco’s downtown, including increasing foot traffic for businesses.

Another resident, John Rhodes, said there are parts of downtown, such as the area near Northern Westchester Hospital, that are dangerous for pedestrians because of speeding traffic.

“You take your life in your hands” in those areas, he said.

Local business owner Ralph Nuzzi said traffic backups are a problem on Route 172. Traffic signals in that area should be better coordinated to improve the flow of vehicles, he said. Fish responded that state Department of Transportation approvals would be needed because Route 172 is a state-owned road.

Nuzzi also suggested two- or three-story parking structures be built in the village parking lots, which could free up land for new development. Improvements to the Route 117-172 intersection are under consideration.

Attendees divided themselves into four groups with specific topics to be discussed at each table, led by a BFJ Planning representative.

The table discussing transportation, transit and parking made several recommendations, such as the expansion of Westchester County Bee-line bus service in the village; greater turnover in parking spaces; replacing the current parking meters with solar-powered digital meters; increasing penalties for motorists who have had several parking violations; and promoting bike riding.

Reaching out to local artists to create signs to help guide pedestrians to their destinations, a dog park and making downtown walking easier were improvements suggested at the public realm table.

Those who discussed Moger Avenue recommended more mixed-used developments, reducing traffic in the area and building a pedestrian bridge leading to the Metro-North parking lot.

Some of the suggestions from the downtown revitalization table included enticing specialty stores and service providers offering goods and services not easily obtained on the Internet, grouping types of businesses in an area, and finding ways to have landlords and business owners beautify their properties. That would include those who own vacant storefronts.

Mayor Gina Picinich said the village encouraged feedback for the update.

“This is up to the community,” she said.

Picinich asked those who attended last Saturday’s meeting to reach out to neighbors and friends and bring them to future Comprehensive Plan meetings.

Fish said the steering committee will complete its work during the summer. The Village Board will hold a public hearing on the revised document and the board is slated to approve it in either December or January, he said.

The Apr. 11 workshop will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at the library, located at 100 E. Main St.

For more information about the Comprehensive Plan update, visit www.envisionmk.org.