New Castle Looks for Residents to Help With Master Plan Update
New Castle officials who want to include the public to help complete the first Master Plan update in 25 years, are now reaching out to its residents to be part of the process.
Volunteers are being sought to fill slots on one of five Master Plan update work groups that will each address a different topic, said Town Planner Sabrina Charney Hull. Each group will have five to seven members.
The groups are tentatively scheduled to kick off their meetings around Nov. 6 or Nov. 7 and will meet about twice a month over the course of four months, Hull said.
There is also a mechanism for individuals who are not part of a work group to leave comments or suggestions about any aspect of the Master Plan update. Comments cannot be lodged anonymously and users may register through the town website or through their Facebook page or Linked In or Google mail accounts.
Residents may sign up and register to volunteer or make comments by visiting the town website or http://townofnewcastleny.mindmixer.com.
“It won’t happen unless we have volunteers,” Hull said of the work groups. “If you don’t want to volunteer but you want to engage in the conversation this website is the way to do it.”
As of Tuesday, there were nine volunteers who had enlisted to be part of the groups.
Work group categories are commercial development and hamlets; housing, including multifamily and affordable units; public works and infrastructure, which will address sewers, water, sidewalks and utilities; environmental habitat and scenic resources; and public services, which includes recreational facilities and senior services.
Hull’s presentation to the public on the Master Plan update efforts at the Oct. 8 town board meeting followed a contentious work session regarding the Chappaqua Crossing retail rezoning proposal. During the work session and again following the presentation, some opponents of the plan questioned why officials were seemingly pressing ahead with consideration of the retail plan before waiting for a completed Master Plan update.
Opponents have argued a full-service supermarket that is part of 120,000 square feet of retail will devastate the Chappaqua and Millwood downtown business districts and create nightmarish congestion on area roads. Resident Lisa Katz, a town board candidate who is running on the Republican line next month, said it didn’t make sense to go through with a Master Plan update if the rezone vote for the former Reader’s Digest property is on track to occur first.
The Master Plan update is expected to take one year to complete, according to Hull.
“It just seems like this should have been done already because if that’s supposed to be a blueprint then you’re leaving off kind of a big area to decide why is that not in the blueprint, to see if this should have been delayed,” Katz said.
Hull responded that the Master Plan focuses on all areas of town, not just one parcel.
“If somebody comes in with an application the two is required to react to that application,” she said. “As the town planner my job is to make sure that that application, one, is heard and, two, is not causing any negative impact or unmitigated impact on the community.”
If any New Castle resident is interested in serving on a Master Plan work group, call the office of Sabrina Charney Hull at 914-238-4723.
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/
