Dear Neighbors,

At its meeting this past Monday, the Board of Trustees formally moved ahead on a Zoning process that actually began in July 2017.  At that time, under the prior administration, the Board unanimously voted to approve an updated Comprehensive Plan on a 5-0 bipartisan vote.

A Comprehensive Plan is a document that identifies broad goals and objectives for a municipality and then identifies specific steps or goals that would result in the broader goals being met.  Under NYS General Municipal Law, adopted Comprehensive Plans have the force of law when it comes to zoning; i.e. municipalities must ensure that their local zoning laws are consistent with that plan.

The zoning study that has been under development since late last year is a direct result of the goals identified in the 2017 Comprehensive Plans which called for considering rezoning of some areas to better achieve these goals  

Since late 2018, the Village has engaged a Planning consultant, BFJ Planning, and conducted two public input sessions and a mailed survey.  With this input and the guidance of both the Comprehensive Plan and our planning consultant, amendments to the zoning code are now under consideration.

Last Monday, the Village started the actual process required to approve a zoning amendment.  This includes taking responsibility for the State Environmental Review (SEQRA) process, referring the proposed changes to the Planning Board and to the Westchester County Planning Board for comments.  The proposed amendments must also be reviewed by our Waterfront Advisory Committee to ensure it is consistent with our Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan (LWRP). While all this is taking place, the Board must seek further input on the zoning amendments.  It has scheduled a public hearing beginning on November 6. This hearing may be continued to future meetings as well.

Only when all these steps are completed will the Board be able to makes its decision on the proposed amendments. The length and scope of the approval process is meant to ensure that all aspects of any zoning amendment are duly considered before any decision is made.

I encourage you to follow and engage in this process.

Ann Gallelli, Deputy Mayor

N.B.: Further reading is available here: https://www.crotononhudson-ny.gov/ongoing-projects-initiatives-proposed-infrastructure-improvements/pages/north-riverside