Comprehensive Plan Update Committee
A community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other’s lives. It is the knowledge that people have of each other, their concern for each other, their trust in each other, the freedom with which they come and go among themselves. - Wendell Berry
The Comprehensive Plan Committee’s purpose is to update the adopted 2010 Comprehensive Plan. A Comprehensive Plan reflects community values, goals and priorities gathered from public input and information gathering. Comprehensive Plans are the primary basis for municipal community planning and provide a baseline examination of a municipality’s existing conditions as well as a forward-looking vision and recommendations for short and longer-term actions to be undertaken. While New York State requires towns to exercise their zoning powers in accordance with a comprehensive plan, there is no defined set of issues that must be included.
At its core, the updated Pound Ridge Comprehensive Plan will provide actionable recommendations and rationale for managed future growth and prosperity, in conjunction with the preservation of community character and key natural resources. The updated Plan will also address changing climate challenges, natural resource protection, community resiliency, economic vitality and land use and housing choices.
The Committee is comprised of the main Comprehensive Plan Update Committee, chaired by long-time resident Elyse Arnow, Members at Large, and Town Board Members and Town Committee liaisons, as well as subcommittee Working Groups focusing on chapter topics including:
- Natural Resources and Environmental Systems
- Sustainability
- Public Infrastructure, Services and Transportation
- Business and Economic Development
- Land Use and Zoning
- Housing and Demographics
- Community Assets including Historic Preservation, Cultural and Recreational Assets
- Community Engagement
In addition, the Town Board has provided a limited budget for engaging the services of a consulting municipal planner; one well-versed in Westchester County municipal planning and the same firm which assisted with the prior 2010 adopted plan now being updated. The firm of Hardesty & Hanover currently assists chapter working groups with data collection and review.
Two community engagement surveys have been undertaken- one in 2019 and the other in 2022 after a 2-year hiatus of committee work during Covid, with both survey’s tabulated and reviewed. These results suggest two strong underlying visions for Pound Ridge- the preservation of historic and natural community character along with maintaining a ‘small-town feel’. In 2025 and into 2026, Chapter Working Groups will continue their work with priority given to a Sustainability chapter -which was not included in the 2010 plan-- in conjunction with the work of the newly reconstituted Town Sustainability Committee (formerly the Energy Action Committee), the completion of the Natural Resources and Environmental Systems chapter, bringing new insights on climate mitigation and adaptation also not originally included in the 2010 plan, and recommended economic and business development actions resulting from Scotts Corners upgrades and continuing challenges. A formal community engagement process is being planned for later 2025 or early 2026 to further ground and inform chapter development as well as provide input into the Land Use and Housing chapters. The Natural Resources chapter’s descriptive and quantitative data as well as GIS mapping will inform these areas as we move forward as a community.
Once the Working Groups’ information gathering is completed, draft materials will be made available to town residents for community engagement discussions. Ongoing conversations with Pace Land Use Law Center and their work with the County on housing and land use may lead to collaborative community engagement processes in the next 18 months.
Now is a great time to join this work. Your interest and work on one or more chapter topics will provide important community input, individual thinking, and critical skill sets, which will make this volunteer-driven initiative a success. The involvement of both new and long-time residents are vital to the effort. We hope to wrap up the new updated plan for adoption in the next year and a half to two years depending on the strength and capacities of this volunteer-driven effort with support from our consulting planners. If you are looking to contribute to an important, long-term endeavor, to meet similarly interested neighbors, and contribute to the direction of important issues, please consider joining by contacting Nicole Engel chiefofstaff@townofpoundridge.com.
