Mount Pleasant Closes Hearing on Hamlet Zoning, Comp Plan DGEIS
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The Mount Pleasant Town Board closed the public hearing last week on the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) for the Comprehensive Plan and the Hamlet Business District Zoning Code, setting up a potential adoption of both by fall.
There was just one speaker who briefly addressed the board on the proposals before a unanimous vote to close the hearing was taken. Written comments will be accepted by the town until this Friday.
Town Attorney Darius Chafizadeh said planning consultant Patrick Cleary will prepare the Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement (FGEIS), responding to all the questions and comments made during the hearing for the DGEIS. Once an FGEIS is accepted by the board, it will consider a findings statement followed by adoption of the updated Comprehensive Pan and any zoning changes officials deem appropriate.
“So that’ll happen over the next three months. It will likely take two or three months to do that,” Chafizadeh said. “We’re probably look to finalize this in October, late September, early October.”
If the board adopts an updated Comprehensive Plan, it would be the first time for the town in more than 50 years.
Officials have sought to improve the downtown business hamlets in Thornwood, Hawthorne and Valhalla by allowing for three stories of mixed-use development to provide existing property owners the financial wherewithal to improve their parcels and for the town to offer some more diversity of housing stock.
On Broadway in Hawthorne, between the Reformed Church and the ballfields, the Town Board is also considering a density bonus to allow property owners to build to four stories.
While a few residents strongly criticized the plans, there was relatively limited sustained opposition. Earlier this year, the board changed the name of the rezoning effort from a form-based code to the Hamlet Business District Zoning Code because some residents were equating the controversies that had occurred in New Castle’s efforts with Mount Pleasant’s plan.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
