Public Workshop Held for White Plains Comp. Plan Update
The City of White Plains held its first public workshop in connection with One White Plains, the city’s comprehensive plan update process, on Nov. 18 at the White Plains Performing Arts Center.
“It was great to see so many White Plains residents come out and participate in our opening public workshop,” White Plains Mayor Tom Roach said of the event. “I saw and had the chance to speak with many active community members as well as quite a few residents who were participating for the first time.”
The process, which will continue into 2022, hopes to engage all residents, business owners and other stakeholders to discuss their priorities for White Plains moving forward. That feedback, Roach said, will shape the cohesive, comprehensive plan for the next 10 to 20 years.
The public workshop included an informative presentation by Mayor Roach, Planning Commissioner Christopher Gomez, and BFJ Planner Simon Kates — which included an overview of what a comprehensive plan is, how it is used, past planning efforts by the city and what has been underway since launching One White Plains.
Participants in attendance visited interactive stations to provide comments and feedback around key thematic elements of the plan.
These thematic elements, which are meant to include all aspects of how residents and community members experience White Plains, include GreenWP (limiting the impacts of climate change), ConnectWP (providing an accessible, safe, pedestrian and multi-modal transportation network), LiveWP (facilitating livable neighborhoods with a variety of housing options), WorkWP (supporting a diverse economy, attracting jobs and strengthening White Plains as a regional economic hub), PlayWP (enhancing the city’s network of parks, recreation, arts and entertainment) and StrengthenWP (allocating public resources to address physical and social infrastructure needs of the community).
The pubic workshop concluded Phase I of the Comprehensive Plan, which focused on initial community engagement and included a Listening Tour, a Visioning Survey, research and review of prior planning studies by the One White Plains team.
Residents are encouraged to visit www.OneWhitePlains.com for more information on the process and to share their input.
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