New Castle Officials Ponder Changing Town’s Name to Chappaqua
The New Castle Town Board plans to ask residents for feedback on changing the town’s name to Chappaqua in hopes of making the municipality more identifiable and to capitalize on the name’s cache.
Board members who discussed the matter at last Tuesday’s work session mentioned that lack of recognition of the name New Castle makes branding the entire town less effective.
Supervisor Robert Greenstein said he has spoken to roughly 10 residents about a name change and all were receptive to the idea.
“The thinking is there’s a lot of people who pay Chappaqua taxes but have no connection to anything Chappaqua besides their tax bill and the Chappaqua Library and they want more connection to Chappaqua,” Greenstein said. “Greenwich has five zip codes, we have five zip codes, but they’re the Town of Greenwich. They’re not the town of something that nobody’s ever heard of.”
If a name change would take place, mailing addresses would remain the same, he said. Addresses in New Castle use Chappaqua, Millwood, Mount Kisco, Ossining and Bedford depending on the area of town. The current areas could then be considered hamlets of the town.
Officials said they will publicize the proposal to residents, then schedule another work session to hash out various issues and invite public comment. Under state law, the town would be required to hold a formal public hearing, then pass a resolution asking the state legislature for permission to move ahead with a name change, said Town Attorney Edward Phillips.
Phillips’ research has turned up only a couple of municipality name changes in New York State in the last 70 to 80 years, he said.
Greenstein said a change would make it easier to market the entire town.
“It would help us brand, which Chappaqua, whether people want to accept it or not, is a popular brand,” Greenstein said. “They know it, just like they know Greenwich, just like they know Scarsdale, and it would allow us to brand Chappaqua without alienating people who live in Millwood and Mount Kisco and Ossining and Bedford and Yorktown.”
Councilman Adam Brodsky said he would like the board to explore the possibility and to hear from residents. Using a name that is easily recognizable has value, he said. Owners of a shopping mall in Eastchester just outside Scarsdale included the village’s name into the shopping center’s name and received positive reaction.
“I think it’s a clever idea and I think it’s intriguing and I think we should give it some serious thought,” Brodsky said.
Councilwoman Lisa Katz added that few people know where New Castle is located. She has also found that the name is frequently confused with North Castle.
But one resident of the Ossining portion of New Castle said she would be opposed to a name change because instead of uniting the town it could be more polarizing.
Nicole Riche, a member of the Millwood-West End Advisory Board, said she would anticipate there would be pushback from some current Chappaqua residents who moved into that area of town and might not want to be associated with the town’s other areas. There would also be opposition from residents of Millwood and the West End, which has distinctive qualities.
“I don’t think it would make people feel more a part of (the town),” Riche said. “If anything, I think it will make them feel more isolated because it would be the Town of Chappaqua, only we’re not Chappaqua.”
While Councilman Jeremy Saland (www.new-york-lawyers.org) said he understood the arguments against the change there is an equally strong case to be made in favor.
“One argument is that there is value in having a consistent name that can be marketed to potential businesses that can be identifiable and is respected,” Saland said.
Councilwoman Hala Makowska, a Millwood resident, said she would also like to hear from residents.
Advisory Board Co-chair Diane Kleinman said last week she hadn’t previously heard of the proposal but it is likely to be a topic of discussion at the monthly meeting scheduled for this Thursday night.
Greenstein said he would only favor a change if a significant segment of town residents agreed. If sentiment was 60-40 to make the change, for example, that would not be sufficient, he said.
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/
