Jan. 17, 2008

What should Westchester County look like in 2025?  How do we ensure that we preserve the Westchester so many people love while moving to the future in a deliberate, progressive fashion? How do we best prepare for the environmental and land use challenges that we are not yet even aware of?

These are questions that County Executive Andy Spano, the Westchester County Planning Department and the county’s citizen Planning Board have been exploring. On Wednesday, Jan. 16 they shareed their thoughts on important land use policies  as they unveiled "Westchester 2025," a new framework for a planning partnership between the county and its 45 municipalities. 

The project includes a special, interactive community-by-community web section that will be updated as new issues arise, with tools and resources  added as technology evolves.

“This project builds on our highly respected "Pattern for Westchester"  report that has guided planning in Westchester for more than a decade,” said Spano. “We face many issues that are changing and evolving – from flooding to traffic to housing to climate change – that require us to rethink how we make big and small decisions. 'Westchester 2025' will provide a solid foundation for constructive conversation about maintaining our quality of life and how to work together on shared goals.”

“Our intention is for 'Westchester 2025' to be a starting point for putting in place real improvements in the ways we work together to maintain and improve the quality of life of our diverse county,” said Cheryl Winter Lewy, chair of the county Planning Board.

"Patterns for Westchester: The Land and the People," drawn up in 1995 and endorsed by the Board of Legislators, outlined a vision of land  use and open space that is still valid. However, the Planning Board concluded that Patterns was in need of updating to address new issues that have come to the forefront in the 21st century.  In response, the Planning Board drafted a set of updated policies that are proposed to be included in "Westchester 2025."

The many challenges identified include: a shift in development from low density construction across the county’s towns to higher density and taller projects in cities and villages, interest in placing new uses on office campuses, incorporation of green building technology, remaking commercial strips into more attractive and pedestrian-friendly places, adapting to an ever-diversifying population with an expanding number of seniors and finding transit alternatives to auto use.

"Westchester 2025" is designed to assist the county government and its 45 local municipalities work together and speak with one regional vision, a critical need in the complex New York metropolitan area.  Unlike Patterns, it will be a web-based planning resource that will integrate the plan’s elements with sections on visualization, community overviews, regional partnerships and demographics that can help decision-making and communication.  These web tools include:

• Overviews of each municipality, 54 downtown centers and 17 corridors with planning opportunities
  
• Descriptions of character areas, such as vertical downtown, walkable hamlet and countryside residential, with suggestions on how to protect and enhance these areas
  
• Population, housing, transit and other relevant data
  
• The Planning Board will be scheduling community meetings to present the blueprint.

For more information on Westchester 2025, contact Bill Brady, associate planner, at (914) 995-6535 or wbb4@westchestergov.com.