Livable Built Environment

Goal 1. Preserve the bucolic residential character of the community’s neighborhoods

All devel­op­ment should com­ple­ment and main­tain the bucol­ic char­ac­ter of the community’s neigh­bor­hoods. Amend­ments to the Town’s zon­ing reg­u­la­tions should be craft­ed as to ensure that the devel­op­ment that occurs is con­sis­tent with the bucol­ic char­ac­ter of the Town’s res­i­den­tial neigh­bor­hoods and to encour­age devel­op­ment that keeps with the den­si­ty, scale, char­ac­ter and aes­thet­ic qual­i­ty of the exist­ing built envi­ron­ment in the Town’s var­i­ous zon­ing districts.

Action 1.1. ​Review and revise existing zoning regulations

Review and revise exist­ing zon­ing reg­u­la­tions or devel­op alter­na­tive zon­ing reg­u­la­tions that encour­age devel­op­ment that keeps with the scale and char­ac­ter of devel­op­ment in the Town’s var­i­ous zon­ing dis­tricts. This may include exam­i­na­tion of land use char­ac­ter­is­tics (e.g. den­si­ty, lot size, FAR, set­back reg­u­la­tions, cov­er­age cal­cu­la­tions, spe­cial use permits).

Action 1.2. Map and inventory existing special use permits

Map and inven­to­ry exist­ing spe­cial use per­mits out­side of ham­let areas to under­stand their rela­tion­ship to under­ly­ing zon­ing and aid in future land use plan­ning. Map and inven­to­ry should include neigh­bor­ing com­mu­ni­ties’ zon­ing and spe­cial use permits.

Action 1.3. Review and revise existing subdivision and conservation subdivision design regulations

Review and revise exist­ing sub­di­vi­sion and con­ser­va­tion sub­di­vi­sion design reg­u­la­tions to include low-impact devel­op­ment (LID) stan­dards and smart growth prin­ci­ples. Con­sid­er new ​“smart growth sub­di­vi­sion” des­ig­na­tion for new sub­di­vi­sions incor­po­rat­ing these provisions.

Action 1.4. ​Identify existing conservation subdivisions

Iden­ti­fy exist­ing con­ser­va­tion sub­di­vi­sions, as well as gen­er­al neigh­bor­hoods and neigh­bor­hoods under plan­ning board juris­dic­tion, with­in the Town’s prop­er­ty assess­ment sys­tem and GIS data.

Action 1.5. ​Redefine and codify Clearing and Grading Limit Line

Rede­fine and cod­i­fy Clear­ing and Grad­ing Lim­it Line (CGLL) in rela­tion to pro­tec­tion of nat­ur­al areas. The new CGLL def­i­n­i­tion should cen­ter around the cre­ation of a lim­it of dis­tur­bance dur­ing con­struc­tion activ­i­ty for the pro­tec­tion of open space areas across prop­er­ty lines and sen­si­tive envi­ron­men­tal fea­tures and conditions.

Action 1.6. ​Make property characteristics publicly available

Make prop­er­ty char­ac­ter­is­tics (e.g. par­cel dimen­sions, ele­va­tion, steep slopes, streams, flood­plains, wet­land areas, sen­si­tive habi­tats, and his­toric resources) pub­licly avail­able through online data­base or website.

Goal 2. Locate higher density residential development in hamlets, with density of development decreasing as distance from hamlet centers increases

To allow for high­er den­si­ty res­i­den­tial (not mixed-use) devel­op­ment in areas imme­di­ate­ly sur­round­ing the ham­lets while main­tain­ing the res­i­den­tial char­ac­ter of the neigh­bor­hoods, the Town should revise the reg­u­la­tions found in the zon­ing code regard­ing tran­si­tion areas sur­round­ing the ham­lets. Alter­na­tive zon­ing approach­es, includ­ing form-based codes, should be con­sid­ered for areas with­in the ham­lets and asso­ci­at­ed tran­si­tion areas. Reg­u­la­tions should be revised to allow for devel­op­ment, while ensur­ing it does not dis­rupt the sin­gle-fam­i­ly res­i­den­tial char­ac­ter of the adja­cent neigh­bor­hood and should include guid­ance regard­ing the appro­pri­ate scale, den­si­ty and hous­ing type.

Action 2.1. ​Revise the regulations that refer to transition areas

Revise the reg­u­la­tions found in the zon­ing code that refer to tran­si­tion areas between exist­ing ham­lets and sur­round­ing res­i­den­tial areas. Revised reg­u­la­tions should enable high­er den­si­ty res­i­den­tial devel­op­ment that is con­sis­tent with and does not dis­r­put the bucol­ic char­ac­ter of areas adja­cent to the ham­lets. Con­sid­er the use of form-based codes with­in tran­si­tion areas.

Goal 3. Facilitate a range of housing types that are affordable to a diverse residential population in the hamlets and surrounding areas

Facil­i­tat­ing a range of hous­ing options in or in the ham­lets or sur­round­ing areas would pro­vide a diverse set of res­i­dents, from young pro­fes­sion­als and low-income fam­i­lies to work­force and senior pop­u­la­tions, with access to ameni­ties and ser­vices. The Town Code should be updat­ed to bet­ter encour­age the pro­vi­sion of mixed-use, mul­ti-fam­i­ly, con­do­mini­ums, town­hous­es, senior and work­force hous­ing, and acces­so­ry dwelling units in such areas as part of infill and mixed use devel­op­ments. Cur­rent­ly, the Town Code requires the pro­vi­sion of a cer­tain per­cent­age or num­ber of afford­able units in new mul­ti-fam­i­ly devel­op­ments in all mul­ti-fam­i­ly res­i­den­tial zon­ing dis­tricts. Deter­mine whether exist­ing per­cent­ages should be increased and/​or expand­ed to apply to mixed-use development. 

Action 3.1. ​Strengthen zoning code

Strength­en zon­ing code to encour­age the pro­vi­sion of mixed-use, mul­ti-fam­i­ly, con­do­mini­ums, town­hous­es, apart­ments, senior and work­force hous­ing, and acces­so­ry dwelling units in or in prox­im­i­ty to the ham­lets and their ameni­ties, includ­ing retail, health care, and trans­porta­tion. Con­sid­er revis­ing min­i­mum lot size, park­ing reg­u­la­tions, set­backs, incen­tives and oth­er reg­u­la­tions to allow for a range of hous­ing types. Mixed-use devel­op­ment should take pri­or­i­ty over oth­er res­i­den­tial devel­op­ment in the hamlets.

Goal 4. Provide a range of housing types that are affordable to a diverse residential population throughout the community where supported by this Plan

To encour­age the devel­op­ment of alter­na­tive hous­ing options avail­able to house­holds with a range of income lev­els, hous­ing leg­is­la­tion (i.e. zon­ing) and devel­op­ment incen­tives with­in the Town Code should be stud­ied. Cur­rent­ly, the Town Code requires a cer­tain per­cent­age or num­ber of lots be cre­at­ed for the pro­vi­sion of an afford­able hous­ing unit in new sub­di­vi­sions. The Town should deter­mine whether exist­ing per­cent­ages should be increased to bet­ter encour­age price point and hous­ing type vari­a­tion in all zon­ing dis­tricts. So as to main­tain New Castle’s bucol­ic, sin­gle-fam­i­ly res­i­den­tial char­ac­ter, all new hous­ing units should be con­sis­tent with the char­ac­ter, aes­thet­ic and scale of the neigh­bor­hood with­in which they will be locat­ed. Alter­na­tive hous­ing con­sist­ing of small­er sin­gle-fam­i­ly homes (e.g. ​“gate” hous­es), two-fam­i­ly homes and acces­so­ry apart­ments locat­ed in sin­gle-fam­i­ly res­i­dence build­ings should be devel­oped using cre­ative design tech­niques to appro­pri­ate­ly fit seam­less­ly among exist­ing res­i­dences in the Town’s low-den­si­ty neigh­bor­hoods. Large-scale res­i­den­tial devel­op­ment of any kind in more remote, unde­vel­oped areas of the town faces a myr­i­ad of chal­lenges, includ­ing but not lim­it­ed to the fol­low­ing: (i) sig­nif­i­cant envi­ron­men­tal con­straints (such as sen­si­tive wet­lands and wet­land buffers, steep slopes, pub­lic drink­ing water water­sheds and aquifers); (ii) the lack of exist­ing infra­struc­ture (such as pub­lic water and sew­er util­i­ties, sub­stan­dard roads in terms of sur­face, width, drainage and sight lines); (iii) lit­tle or no access to pub­lic trans­porta­tion; and (iv) lim­it­ed fire pro­tec­tion when pub­lic water is unavail­able. Alter­na­tive hous­ing should be devel­oped as part of infill and mixed-use devel­op­ments in the Town’s ham­lets and sur­round­ing areas.

This goal can also be accom­plished through the reuse and repur­pos­ing of under­uti­lized prop­er­ties. The Town should coor­di­nate with finan­cial insti­tu­tions or non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions to iden­ti­fy prop­er­ties that may be rede­vel­oped or reused as alter­na­tive hous­ing avail­able to a range of income levels.

Action 4.1. ​Review existing housing legislation and development incentives

Review exist­ing hous­ing leg­is­la­tion and devel­op­ment incen­tives and revise to address cur­rent hous­ing needs (see hous­ing needs dis­cus­sion in Liv­able Built Envi­ron­ment chap­ter). Con­sid­er­a­tion should be giv­en to hous­ing type, income, struc­tur­al acces­si­bil­i­ty fea­tures, con­nec­tions to the ham­lets, and use of alter­na­tive transportation.

Action 4.2. Affordable housing units

Con­sid­er an increase of the required per­cent­age or num­ber of lots for afford­able hous­ing units in new subdivisions.

Action 4.3. Identify existing market rate housing

Coor­di­nate with finan­cial insti­tu­tions or non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions to iden­ti­fy exist­ing mar­ket rate hous­ing that can be used to meet mul­ti­fam­i­ly and afford­able hous­ing needs.

Goal 5. Encourage the placement of housing units of various economic value throughout new multi-family and mixed-use developments (i.e. market rate units next to workforce/affordable units)

Based on hous­ing trends and eco­nom­ic con­di­tions, it should be required that a cer­tain per­cent­age of units in all new mul­ti-fam­i­ly hous­ing devel­op­ments and mixed-use build­ings are afford­able, and that these units are inter­spersed through­out those of high­er val­ue. The zon­ing code should be revised to ensure that afford­able hous­ing units are inter­spersed among those that are mar­ket rate, as opposed to clus­tered togeth­er or phys­i­cal­ly sep­a­rate from oth­er hous­ing units. 

Action 5.1. ​Revise zoning code

Revise zon­ing code to ensure that afford­able hous­ing units are inter­spersed among those that are mar­ket rate, as opposed to clus­tered togeth­er or phys­i­cal­ly sep­a­rate from oth­er hous­ing units, in all zon­ing dis­tricts which accom­mo­date res­i­den­tial development.

Goal 6. Preserve and protect historic resources

The preser­va­tion of his­toric resources is inte­gral not only to pre­serve but cel­e­brate what gives the Town its iden­ti­ty, cre­at­ing a stronger sense of place and com­mu­ni­ty among res­i­dents. The Land­marks Advi­so­ry Com­mit­tee (LAC), led by the Town His­to­ri­an, main­tains a list of land­marked prop­er­ties in the Town and endeav­ors to add his­toric prop­er­ties to the list in order to main­tain the Town’s unique, his­toric land­scape. Approx­i­mate­ly two build­ings are added to the list of land­marked prop­er­ties in New Cas­tle each year. There are many his­tor­i­cal assets that have not yet been con­sid­ered, cat­a­loged or marked as such, includ­ing trees, parks, busi­ness­es and streets. Addi­tion­al­ly, many build­ings in New Cas­tle could be con­sid­ered his­toric for rea­sons oth­er than age or pre­vi­ous occu­pants; design and archi­tec­ture could also play a role in cat­e­go­riz­ing cer­tain struc­tures as his­toric. The Town should part­ner with the His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety, when appro­pri­ate, to pro­vide resources, such as man­pow­er or pro­gram sup­port, to stim­u­late research activ­i­ty and aware­ness regard­ing the Town’s his­toric resources. 

Action 6.1. Updated list of historical landmarks

Ensure the Town Clerk receives an updat­ed list of his­tor­i­cal landmarks/​buildings every six months from the New Cas­tle His­tor­i­cal Society.

Action 6.2. Establishing an ongoing internship program

Explore the pos­si­bil­i­ty of estab­lish­ing an ongo­ing intern­ship pro­gram, or sim­i­lar pro­grams, with the His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety to stim­u­late research activ­i­ty to aid in the cat­a­loging of his­tor­i­cal assets that have not yet been con­sid­ered such as trees, parks, busi­ness­es and streets.

Action 6.3. ​Provide access to the Historical Society website

Pro­vide access to the His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety web­site direct­ly from the Town website.

Action 6.4. Welcome Package

Coor­di­nate with the His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety to devel­op a ​“Wel­come Pack­age” with his­tor­i­cal infor­ma­tion to be giv­en to new res­i­dents along with their tax infor­ma­tion etc. upon their move to New Castle.

Goal 7. Support the improvement and promote the use of alternative transit services including rail, bus, and school transportation

To enhance access and mobil­i­ty of all those who live, work and play in the Town, the Town should coor­di­nate with Westch­ester Coun­ty to pro­vide more fre­quent bus ser­vice, more cross-town ser­vice and stream­lined ser­vice to the ham­lets. An out­reach pro­gram and incen­tives to pro­mote alter­na­tive trans­porta­tion should be devel­oped. The Town should coor­di­nate with the school dis­tricts to exam­ine school bus rid­er­ship trends and, if nec­es­sary, encour­age rid­er­ship through out­reach cam­paigns. The Town should also coor­di­nate with the Chap­paqua Bus Com­pa­ny to explore oppor­tu­ni­ties to use their ser­vices to ful­fill com­mu­ni­ty trans­porta­tion needs, such as pub­lic trans­porta­tion between the hamlets.

Action 7.1. Bee Line

Coor­di­nate with Westch­ester Coun­ty Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion (i.e. Bee Line) to pro­vide more fre­quent and reli­able bus ser­vice as well as more cross-town service.

Action 7.2. Promote alternative transportation

Cre­ate out­reach pro­gram to pro­mote alter­na­tive transportation.

Action 7.3. Bus ridership trends

Coor­di­nate with school dis­tricts to exam­ine school bus rid­er­ship trends. If nec­es­sary, encour­age rid­er­ship through out­reach cam­paigns and pur­sue oth­er mea­sures to max­i­mize bus use.

Action 7.4. Coordinate with the Chappaqua Bus Company

Coor­di­nate with the Chap­paqua Bus Com­pa­ny to address the com­mu­ni­ty’s pub­lic trans­port needs. Con­sid­er pro­vid­ing bus ser­vice between the Town’s hamlets.

Goal 8. Ensure underserved and/or special need populations have access to adequate public transportation services

Access and mobil­i­ty must be enhanced for all pop­u­la­tions, espe­cial­ly those who do not or can­not rely on pri­vate­ly-owned auto­mo­biles to get around. The Town should deter­mine whether or not there are pop­u­la­tions that have spe­cial needs or are under­served when it comes to exist­ing pub­lic trans­porta­tion ser­vices and, if nec­es­sary, iden­ti­fy areas for enhance­ment of pub­lic trans­porta­tion for those pop­u­la­tions. The Town should also remain attuned to the trans­porta­tion needs of seniors and engage with mer­chants to make mass tran­sit eas­i­er for their employ­ees to use and access.

Action 8.1. ​Identify underserved and/or special need populations

Iden­ti­fy under­served and/​or spe­cial need pop­u­la­tions (e.g. seniors, fam­i­lies, dis­abled per­sons, workforce)

Action 8.2. Public transportation for populations in need

Iden­ti­fy areas for enhance­ment of pub­lic trans­porta­tion for pop­u­la­tions in need.

Action 8.3. Provision of public transportation for seniors

Pro­vide sup­port to Recre­ation and Parks in pro­vi­sion of pub­lic trans­porta­tion for seniors when necessary.

Action 8.4. Easier mass transit for employees

Engage with mer­chants on mak­ing mass tran­sit eas­i­er for their employ­ees to use and access.

Goal 9. Alleviate traffic congestion

Traf­fic, espe­cial­ly in the Chap­paqua ham­let dur­ing rush hour peri­ods and on the week­ends, is a major source of res­i­dent frus­tra­tion. The Town should explore the use of alter­na­tive traf­fic cir­cu­la­tion pat­terns in and around the Chap­paqua Train Sta­tion dur­ing peak trav­el times and in the ham­let dur­ing the week­ends. To alle­vi­ate traf­fic out­side of the ham­lets, inter­sec­tions prone to con­ges­tion and con­flict should be iden­ti­fied, and traf­fic flow improve­ment solu­tions should be developed.

Action 9.1. Alternative traffic circulation patterns

Explore use of alter­na­tive traf­fic cir­cu­la­tion pat­terns in and around the Chap­paqua Train Sta­tion dur­ing morn­ing and after­noon rush hour.

Action 9.2. Identify intersections prone to congestion

Iden­ti­fy inter­sec­tions prone to con­ges­tion and con­flict (e.g. rail­road grade cross­ing at Roar­ing Brook Road and the Saw Mill Riv­er Park­way) and devel­op solu­tions to improve traf­fic flow.

Goal 10. Provide access for non-motorized forms of transportation, make streets accessible for all users (i.e. pedestrians of all ages and abilities, cyclists, vehicles) and promote walkability

Streets that pro­vide safe access to all users, pedes­tri­ans, cyclists and motor vehi­cles alike, are called Com­plete Streets. The Town should look to pro­vide Com­plete Streets pro­vi­sions on its road­ways, where appro­pri­ate. Pri­or­i­ty should be giv­en to roads that con­nect neigh­bor­hoods to the ham­lets, schools and oth­er loca­tions of pub­lic gath­er­ing. A Com­plete Streets pol­i­cy doc­u­ment that is spe­cif­ic to the Town should be gen­er­at­ed so that the Com­plete Street pro­vi­sions made on the Town’s road­ways are appro­pri­ate for the Town’s road­ways and improve safe­ty. A Side­walk Plan for the ham­let areas and out­ly­ing neigh­bor­hoods as well as neigh­bor­hoods near the schools and oth­er pub­lic gath­er­ing spaces should be devel­oped. The Town should also exam­ine the fea­si­bil­i­ty of side­walks with­in and between neigh­bor­hoods that do not bor­der the ham­let areas, and on all major routes includ­ing Route 117, 100, 120, 133 and 128. Coor­di­na­tion with Coun­ty and State per­mit­ting enti­ties should be undertaken.

Action 10.1. Generate Complete Streets policy document

Gen­er­ate Com­plete Streets pol­i­cy doc­u­ment spe­cif­ic to the Town. Include Com­plete Street tech­niques and best prac­tices where rea­son­able when con­struct­ing, main­tain­ing or upgrad­ing street infrastructure.

Action 10.2. ​Develop a comprehensive sidewalk plan

Devel­op a com­pre­hen­sive side­walk plan, which includes iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of pri­or­i­ty areas for new side­walk con­struc­tion and reha­bil­i­ta­tion of exist­ing sid­walks. Focus should be placed on com­mer­cial areas and out­ly­ing neighborhoods.

Action 10.3. Examine the feasibility of sidewalks

Exam­ine the fea­si­bil­i­ty of side­walks with­in and between neigh­bor­hoods that do not bor­der com­mer­cial areas.

Action 10.4. Sidewalks on major routes

Exam­ine the fea­si­bil­i­ty of side­walks on all major routes includ­ing Rt. 117, 100, 120, 133, 128.

Goal 11. Improve circulation and connectivity within and between the hamlets and Chappaqua Crossing

Improv­ing cir­cu­la­tion and con­nec­tiv­i­ty with­in and between ham­lets will mean ensur­ing that res­i­dents and vis­i­tors of the Town can make their way around and find oppor­tu­ni­ties to park. The Town should review and update park­ing stan­dards to deter­mine appro­pri­ate ratios of park­ing demand to devel­op­ment. The vis­i­bil­i­ty of pub­lic park­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties in the ham­lets should be improved through direc­tion­al sig­nage and imple­men­ta­tion of a wayfind­ing pro­gram to enhance con­nec­tions between the ham­lets and oth­er des­ti­na­tions of local and region­al impor­tance. A shared park­ing fore­cast should also be devel­oped to assess the fea­si­bil­i­ty of a shared park­ing initiative.

Action 11.1. Enhance alternate transportation between hamlets

Exam­ine oppor­tu­ni­ties to enhance bike, pedes­tri­an and alter­na­tive trans­port between Chap­paqua, Mill­wood and Chap­paqua Crossing.

Action 11.2. ​Review and update parking standards

Review and update park­ing stan­dards to reflect desired land use (includ­ing avail­abil­i­ty of pub­lic park­ing in ham­let areas, min­i­mum park­ing stan­dards, etc.).

Action 11.3. ​Undertake a parking feasibility study

Under­take a park­ing fea­si­bil­i­ty study to ana­lyze the oppor­tu­ni­ties and needs for park­ing in Chap­paqua includ­ing a future needs fore­cast and shared parking.

Action 11.4. Visibility of public parking

Enhance vis­i­bil­i­ty of pub­lic park­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties in the ham­lets through direc­tion­al signage.

Action 11.5. Develop a wayfinding program

Devel­op a wayfind­ing pro­gram (e.g. con­sis­tent sig­nage) to improve con­nec­tions between the Chap­paqua Train Sta­tion, ham­lets, and oth­er des­ti­na­tions of local and region­al importance.

Goal 12. Improve accessibility of train service

To improve the acces­si­bil­i­ty of the train ser­vice, traf­fic cir­cu­la­tion issues at the Chap­paqua Train Sta­tion should be addressed. Addi­tion­al­ly and con­sis­tent with traf­fic cir­cu­la­tion improve­ments, the Town should explore oppor­tu­ni­ties for pub­lic-pri­vate part­ner­ships in con­struct­ing a park­ing struc­ture to serve the train sta­tion and the Chap­paqua hamlet.

Action 12.1. Chappaqua Train Station

Address traf­fic cir­cu­la­tion issues at the Chap­paqua Train Sta­tion pick-up/­drop-off areas.

Action 12.2. Parking structure near train station

Explore oppor­tu­ni­ties for pub­lic-pri­vate part­ner­ship to con­struct park­ing struc­ture near train station.

Goal 13. Ensure adequate infrastructure service to meet existing and future demand

Infra­struc­ture ser­vices include roads; stormwa­ter, sew­er, and drink­ing water sys­tems; clean ener­gy sys­tems such as LED light­ing, micro­grids and/​or com­bined heat and pow­er (CHP) instal­la­tions; and potable water and fire sup­pres­sion tech­nolo­gies, among oth­ers. The Town should devel­op an Infra­struc­ture Inven­to­ry, Repair and Replace­ment Plan that includes the his­to­ry of infra­struc­ture dis­trict cre­ation (if applic­a­ble), quan­ti­fies exist­ing infra­struc­ture capac­i­ty and iden­ti­fies need­ed improve­ments regard­ing expan­sion of ser­vice for health and safe­ty (includ­ing fire sup­pres­sion) and in rela­tion to haz­ard mit­i­ga­tion mea­sures as dis­cussed in the Town’s Haz­ard Mit­i­ga­tion Plan. Pro­posed devel­op­ment projects should be coor­di­nat­ed with the Town’s infra­struc­ture needs, includ­ing the con­tin­ued exam­i­na­tion of the fea­si­bil­i­ty of extend­ing sew­er ser­vice to the Mill­wood ham­let and areas where sep­tic sys­tems are fail­ing. The expan­sion of waste­water sys­tems and oth­er asso­ci­at­ed infra­struc­ture should not take place sole­ly to allow for addi­tion­al high­er den­si­ty devel­op­ment, to the detri­ment of the envi­ron­ment, or with­out some addi­tion­al ben­e­fit that meets oth­er goals of this Plan. For exam­ple, the expan­sion of infra­struc­ture sys­tems should enhance the use of clean/​green tech­nol­o­gy, expand oppor­tu­ni­ties for alter­na­tive and/​or afford­able hous­ing, and/​or aid in build­ing alter­na­tive trans­porta­tion linkages.

Action 13.1. ​Develop Infrastructure Inventory, Repair and Replacement Plan

Devel­op Infra­struc­ture Inven­to­ry, Repair and Replace­ment Plan that can be accessed by all Town depart­ments. This Plan should include the his­to­ry of infra­struc­ture dis­trict cre­ation (where applic­a­ble), quan­ti­fy exist­ing infra­struc­ture capac­i­ty and iden­ti­fy need­ed improve­ments includ­ing haz­ard mit­i­ga­tion mea­sures as dis­cussed in the Town’s Haz­ard Mit­i­ga­tion Plan. 

Action 13.2. Capital Improvement Plan

Review and update Cap­i­tal Improve­ment Plan to pri­or­i­tize, bud­get, and facil­i­tate infra­struc­ture repair, replace­ment and expan­sion where appropriate.

Action 13.3. ​Create a workgroup consisting of relevant Department Heads and Town staff

Cre­ate a work­group con­sist­ing of rel­e­vant Depart­ment Heads and Town staff to facil­i­tate enhanced inter-depart­men­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions and coor­di­na­tion on planned and pro­posed cap­i­tal improve­ment and/​or infra­struc­ture repair and expan­sion projects, as well as large pri­vate devel­op­ments that could impact pub­lic infrastructure.

Action 13.4. Sewer service

Inves­ti­gate the fea­si­bil­i­ty of extend­ing sew­er ser­vice to the Mill­wood ham­let, areas of high­er den­si­ty, and where sep­tic sys­tems are failing.

Action 13.5. Loop water systems

Require appli­cants to loop water sys­tems and oth­er rel­e­vant infra­struc­ture as part of site plan and sub­di­vi­sion design.

Action 13.6. Explore the creation of maintenance districts

Explore the cre­ation of main­te­nance dis­tricts for ham­let infra­struc­ture (e.g. side­walks, park­ing lots) and sol­id waste management.

Action 13.7. Explore the creation of a program to inspect sewer laterals

Explore the cre­ation of a pro­gram to inspect sew­er lat­er­als from pri­vate struc­tures that are cur­rent­ly con­nect­ed to the Westch­ester Coun­ty sew­er sys­tem. Such a pro­gram should include lead detec­tion and ille­gal connections.

Goal 14. Promote development in areas with existing infrastructure over areas with limited or no infrastructure service

This goal is estab­lished in order to lim­it devel­op­ment in more bucol­ic parts of Town to pre­serve their char­ac­ter and avoid dis­tur­bances to biotic/​nat­u­ral­ly exist­ing cor­ri­dors. Infill devel­op­ment should be pro­mot­ed in areas with sup­port­ive infra­struc­ture and should be planned for spar­ing­ly in areas that lack the nec­es­sary infra­struc­ture. Exist­ing infra­struc­ture map­ping should be enhanced to aid in these efforts.

Action 14.1. ​Identify and map limits of existing infrastructure

Iden­ti­fy and map lim­its of exist­ing infra­struc­ture (i.e. side­walks, sew­er, water) in rela­tion to sur­round­ing land use. Pri­or­i­tize expan­sion poten­tial based on den­si­ty of sur­round­ing devel­op­ment, allow­ing for expan­sion where high­er den­si­ties and infra­struc­tur­al pro­vi­sions exist while main­tain­ing ade­quate tran­si­tion zones between exist­ing densities.