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Public Comments on Port Chester Comprehensive Plan

PORT CHESTER, N.Y. – Port Chester's Comprehensive Plan Advisory Commission (CPAC) held a public hearing Thursday evening to receive input from the public on the draft of the comprehensive plan.

CPAC, formed in 2007, is made up of 15 community members. The commission features members of the village's zoning board, planning board, school board and local business owners. Also in attendance at Thursday's meeting was a consultant from BFJ Planning and Assistant Village Manager Chris Steers.

The plan aims to reduce village density, preserve residential neighborhoods, reinforce the downtown retail center, identify and improve areas of limited growth history, and modernize the village’s zoning.  School board Trustee Bob Johnson and certified planner Richard Hyman spoke about the use of the former United Hospital site.

According to the presentation by BFJ, the plan suggests reactivating the site as a mixed-use development comprised of some combination of a hotel, retail stores, restaurants and residential buildings.

Hyman took exception to the plan's proposed floor area ratio (FAR) for the new site, which is directly tied to the number of stories allowed.

"To limit what is perhaps the most important single site in Port Chester, and one of the most important in Westchester, to a 0.8 FAR to me is limiting the growth an opportunity of the village severely," Hyman said.

Johnson, speaking on behalf of the board of education, requested that the commission consider limiting the residential portion of the site to studio and one bedroom units as to not perpetuate the overcrowding of the village's school system.

"For every action there is a reaction and a responsibility," Johnson said. "We ask you to consider the plight of our school district with its steadily climbing enrollment and declining resources."

CPAC is set to submit its final comments to BFJ Planning on March 19, with the deadline for the public to submit written comments set at March 5. 

The public will get one final opportunity to be heard in early June when the board of trustees will hold a public hearing on the final draft of the revised plan, the zoning amendments and the environmental impact statement. According to BFJ, the hope is that the board will adopt the plan in early Fall.

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