1 00:00:00,097 --> 00:00:01,433 Yeah, yeah. 2 00:00:01,433 --> 00:00:02,958 Good evening, everyone. 3 00:00:02,958 --> 00:00:08,064 Thank you all for joining us tonight, and for those who are watching at home, 4 00:00:08,064 --> 00:00:10,783 thank you for tuning in. I'm Brian Healy. 5 00:00:10,783 --> 00:00:14,032 I'm the village manager here in Croton-on-Hudson, 6 00:00:14,032 --> 00:00:19,205 and I'm very happy to be here tonight to talk about the New York Forward grant 7 00:00:19,205 --> 00:00:24,709 opportunity that the village has, uh, to be able to apply for once again this year. 8 00:00:24,709 --> 00:00:30,014 We've previously applied for this program in 2024 And we've spent the time since 9 00:00:30,014 --> 00:00:34,589 that submission reviewing our application, working to make it better. 10 00:00:34,589 --> 00:00:38,170 And we're going to hear tonight from Valerie Monastra, 11 00:00:38,170 --> 00:00:41,883 who is our planning consultant from Nelson Pope Voorhis, 12 00:00:41,883 --> 00:00:44,204 on what our application looks like. 13 00:00:44,204 --> 00:00:48,979 And she's also going to give a little more detail on the program itself. 14 00:00:48,979 --> 00:00:54,151 And we're also going to hear tonight from Mayor Marjorie Chu of the Village of 15 00:00:54,151 --> 00:00:59,390 Sleepy Hollow. And Sleepy Hollow has successfully received the New York Forward 16 00:00:59,390 --> 00:01:04,695 grant award. And so we're going to hear about how that process has been going so 17 00:01:04,695 --> 00:01:04,894 about how that process has been going so far 18 00:01:04,894 --> 00:01:09,005 in Sleepy Hollow. So I'm going to turn it over now to Valerie. 19 00:01:09,005 --> 00:01:13,357 All right, great. Thank you very much. My name is Valerie Menastro. 20 00:01:13,357 --> 00:01:16,735 I'm a principal planner at Nelson Pope and Voorhees, 21 00:01:16,735 --> 00:01:21,931 and I also have a history of working— I actually We are the consultants for the, 22 00:01:21,931 --> 00:01:22,126 actually We are the consultants for the, um, 23 00:01:22,126 --> 00:01:27,063 the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, which is a $10 million, um, process. 24 00:01:27,063 --> 00:01:29,531 We work in the Mid-Hudson communities, 25 00:01:29,531 --> 00:01:33,494 and right now we're currently working in the city of Yonkers. 26 00:01:33,494 --> 00:01:38,430 And I also worked with other communities dealing with their New York Forward 27 00:01:38,430 --> 00:01:42,717 programs, especially like the village of Sleepy Hollow— excuse me, 28 00:01:42,717 --> 00:01:44,471 the village of Dobbs Ferry. 29 00:01:44,471 --> 00:01:48,888 So I'm familiar with the process, the programs, and stuff like that. 30 00:01:48,888 --> 00:01:51,681 So, um, I think first slide. Okay, perfect. 31 00:01:51,681 --> 00:01:55,254 Um, so basically, what is the New York Forward program? 32 00:01:55,254 --> 00:02:00,580 So the New York Forward program is a kind of a mini of the Downtown Revitalization 33 00:02:00,580 --> 00:02:05,517 Initiative. That Downtown Revitalization Initiative is in its 9th round now, 34 00:02:05,517 --> 00:02:10,584 and that was developed originally to give $10 million to communities to really 35 00:02:10,584 --> 00:02:12,337 revitalize their downtowns. 36 00:02:12,337 --> 00:02:17,209 But at some point in time along the process, The state realized that, okay, 37 00:02:17,209 --> 00:02:21,496 so maybe, like, larger cities could use the— now, not that we all— 38 00:02:21,496 --> 00:02:25,134 all communities can use $10 million, but in all reality, 39 00:02:25,134 --> 00:02:27,862 the types of projects they're looking for, 40 00:02:27,862 --> 00:02:32,734 they realized they really wanted to be able to give smaller communities the 41 00:02:32,734 --> 00:02:33,124 able to give smaller communities the chance 42 00:02:33,124 --> 00:02:36,566 to be able to capitalize on the same type of program. 43 00:02:36,566 --> 00:02:40,658 And that's when they came up with the New York Forward program. 44 00:02:40,658 --> 00:02:45,725 So the idea of the New York Forward program is now this is going to be its 4th 45 00:02:45,725 --> 00:02:50,857 round. Um, it's— it was launched in 2022, and it's $4.5 million that are given— 46 00:02:50,857 --> 00:02:52,740 that is given to a community. 47 00:02:52,740 --> 00:02:57,417 And it's specifically focused on you plan the projects and then you act, 48 00:02:57,417 --> 00:03:00,600 as opposed to identifying very specific— um, you, 49 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,653 you identify specific projects from the outset, 50 00:03:03,653 --> 00:03:08,135 and then you work with a planning consultant to develop the strategic 51 00:03:08,135 --> 00:03:08,785 consultant to develop the strategic investment 52 00:03:08,785 --> 00:03:13,137 plan, and then from there— you send those projects up to the state, 53 00:03:13,137 --> 00:03:17,878 and the state will identify certain projects to give the $4.5 million to. 54 00:03:17,878 --> 00:03:21,126 And I'll explain that a little bit more in detail. 55 00:03:21,126 --> 00:03:25,478 But the first round, the Village of Sleepy Hollow received funding, 56 00:03:25,478 --> 00:03:30,480 and then rounds 4 right now are taking place in the Village of Ellenville and 57 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:30,870 place in the Village of Ellenville and Hamlet 58 00:03:30,870 --> 00:03:33,663 of Livingston Manor. Next slide. All right. 59 00:03:33,663 --> 00:03:36,521 So in general, New York Forward Communities, 60 00:03:36,521 --> 00:03:40,873 this is what's typically The characteristics that distinguish a New 61 00:03:40,873 --> 00:03:41,652 characteristics that distinguish a New York Forward 62 00:03:41,652 --> 00:03:46,979 community versus some of the larger cities that would get the Downtown Realization 63 00:03:46,979 --> 00:03:51,201 Initiative. It's really the New York Forward communities provide— 64 00:03:51,201 --> 00:03:54,969 the areas provide important services to local communities, 65 00:03:54,969 --> 00:03:58,801 so it's usually a mixed-use neighborhood, walkable setting. 66 00:03:58,801 --> 00:04:04,257 It also features a distinct place of— due to the presence of, like, either cultural, 67 00:04:04,257 --> 00:04:07,635 historic, or natural resources, agricultural assets. 68 00:04:07,635 --> 00:04:10,818 Certain assets that are unique to that community. 69 00:04:10,818 --> 00:04:13,026 It also has— typically have, like, 70 00:04:13,026 --> 00:04:16,989 less dense development than your $10 million DRI communities, 71 00:04:16,989 --> 00:04:22,445 but the New York Forward communities still have what I'm going to call your downtown 72 00:04:22,445 --> 00:04:25,888 or commercial areas where they're really focusing on— 73 00:04:25,888 --> 00:04:28,356 where the funding would be focused on. 74 00:04:28,356 --> 00:04:30,500 And this also includes, you know, 75 00:04:30,500 --> 00:04:35,241 New York Forward communities typically tend to include Villages, hamlets, 76 00:04:35,241 --> 00:04:38,359 it could even just be a particular neighborhood. 77 00:04:38,359 --> 00:04:42,192 So it really varies depending upon the application process, 78 00:04:42,192 --> 00:04:46,024 because with throughout New York State, there's 10 regions. 79 00:04:46,024 --> 00:04:48,687 So we can— we're talking about, you know, 80 00:04:48,687 --> 00:04:52,195 right now we're talking about Westchester communities, 81 00:04:52,195 --> 00:04:57,067 but they vary very much so then when you look at like the counties, I mean, 82 00:04:57,067 --> 00:04:59,210 like counties like Ulster County, 83 00:04:59,210 --> 00:05:02,523 and communities up in the upper and the lower tier. 84 00:05:02,523 --> 00:05:05,511 So, the New York Forward program specifically, 85 00:05:05,511 --> 00:05:08,304 its goals is to really activate a downtown. 86 00:05:08,304 --> 00:05:11,942 They want you to— they want to be able to provide, like, 87 00:05:11,942 --> 00:05:16,943 seed money to attract new businesses, new development, enhance public spaces, 88 00:05:16,943 --> 00:05:19,412 encourage public art, cultivate, like, 89 00:05:19,412 --> 00:05:22,400 if there's a variety of housing opportunities, 90 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:27,661 and sometimes that's just really getting that impetus of that housing start being 91 00:05:27,661 --> 00:05:32,208 developed. Also identify potential projects to grow local tax revenue. 92 00:05:32,208 --> 00:05:36,755 They're very much focused on a lot of their projects and dealing with— 93 00:05:36,755 --> 00:05:38,769 they call this decarbonization. 94 00:05:38,769 --> 00:05:44,030 So they really want some sustainability and different types of initiatives worked 95 00:05:44,030 --> 00:05:46,044 into those particular projects. 96 00:05:46,044 --> 00:05:48,642 And then also specifically dealing with— 97 00:05:48,642 --> 00:05:52,669 they like projects that focus on amenities that support, like, 98 00:05:52,669 --> 00:05:58,126 the ability for walkable communities like bike lanes or pedestrian thoroughfares and 99 00:05:58,126 --> 00:06:01,309 new trails or pedestrian connections. Next slide. 100 00:06:01,309 --> 00:06:04,232 So let's just talk about eligible activities. 101 00:06:04,232 --> 00:06:09,168 So the way the New York Forward process would work is that if the Village of 102 00:06:09,168 --> 00:06:12,221 Croton-on-Hudson were awarded the $4.5 million, 103 00:06:12,221 --> 00:06:17,028 it doesn't mean that the village actually gets $4.5 million in says, here, 104 00:06:17,028 --> 00:06:18,977 you decide what to do with it. 105 00:06:18,977 --> 00:06:23,978 And there's a whole other process involved where they call this open call for 106 00:06:23,978 --> 00:06:28,980 projects. So basically, it's a process, and it's usually about 6 weeks or so, 107 00:06:28,980 --> 00:06:34,047 where the state will come in with their consultant team and then advertise for 108 00:06:34,047 --> 00:06:38,074 potential projects that fall within the New York Forward area. 109 00:06:38,074 --> 00:06:43,206 And those projects, any private property owner Or you can also be an owner of a 110 00:06:43,206 --> 00:06:46,518 business and you get permission from your landlord. 111 00:06:46,518 --> 00:06:50,546 Or it could be the village themselves can submit for projects. 112 00:06:50,546 --> 00:06:54,508 And those projects fall into 4 different types of categories. 113 00:06:54,508 --> 00:06:59,445 The first category is new development or rehabilitation of existing downtown 114 00:06:59,445 --> 00:07:04,576 buildings. So this would be like any sort of mixed-use or commercial buildings. 115 00:07:04,576 --> 00:07:08,149 It would also allow for development of housing as well, 116 00:07:08,149 --> 00:07:10,552 but it's usually multifamily housing. 117 00:07:10,552 --> 00:07:15,619 And so a couple examples, you know, I provided some examples of projects like, 118 00:07:15,619 --> 00:07:18,347 for example, in the Village of Montgomery, 119 00:07:18,347 --> 00:07:23,089 they had a mixed-use development that ended up ultimately getting funded. 120 00:07:23,089 --> 00:07:28,220 And then I know the mayor will talk about her projects later on, but, you know, 121 00:07:28,220 --> 00:07:31,663 the Strand Theater is one of those types of projects. 122 00:07:31,663 --> 00:07:36,600 Public improvement projects are another example where you can apply for like 123 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:38,678 broadband, green infrastructure, 124 00:07:38,678 --> 00:07:42,316 specifically streetscape They love funding streetscapes. 125 00:07:42,316 --> 00:07:45,109 They do— will do new park upgrades, plazas. 126 00:07:45,109 --> 00:07:48,941 They will also work on other sort of public infrastructure, 127 00:07:48,941 --> 00:07:54,398 especially if it's important improvements that really would catapult that particular 128 00:07:54,398 --> 00:07:57,970 area. Small Project Fund is another bucket of projects, 129 00:07:57,970 --> 00:08:03,232 and this is really if you have a lot of smaller businesses that potentially could 130 00:08:03,232 --> 00:08:03,362 smaller businesses that potentially could do 131 00:08:03,362 --> 00:08:08,169 facade improvements or maybe need some additional funding to activate some 132 00:08:08,169 --> 00:08:08,688 additional funding to activate some internal 133 00:08:08,688 --> 00:08:12,326 space for new commercial or new residential development. 134 00:08:12,326 --> 00:08:16,743 You can also provide— you can put together what they call— they can— 135 00:08:16,743 --> 00:08:21,939 the village can submit a project called the Small Project Fund, which basically, 136 00:08:21,939 --> 00:08:27,266 if awarded that, the village would have $300,000 to create a grant program locally 137 00:08:27,266 --> 00:08:32,137 for individual business owners or merchants to be able to obtain funding to 138 00:08:32,137 --> 00:08:32,592 merchants to be able to obtain funding to upgrade 139 00:08:32,592 --> 00:08:35,255 their businesses or facades improvements. 140 00:08:35,255 --> 00:08:37,074 So it's a project of itself, 141 00:08:37,074 --> 00:08:42,465 but ultimately that project would end up going to the local community in terms of a 142 00:08:42,465 --> 00:08:43,830 small grants program. 143 00:08:43,830 --> 00:08:47,207 And then the 4th category is branding and marketing, 144 00:08:47,207 --> 00:08:52,209 and this is really for materials and signage or wayfinding or other types of, 145 00:08:52,209 --> 00:08:52,534 signage or wayfinding or other types of, like, 146 00:08:52,534 --> 00:08:57,860 branding that really specifically speaks to that New York Forward area and sort of 147 00:08:57,860 --> 00:09:01,563 provides like a little bit of a landing of, here you are, 148 00:09:01,563 --> 00:09:06,304 this is what we have to offer, that a lot of communities, some, you know, 149 00:09:06,304 --> 00:09:10,527 it's an expense to be able to incorporate branding and marketing, 150 00:09:10,527 --> 00:09:15,074 and this allows them to be able to undertake that work. The ineligible 151 00:09:15,074 --> 00:09:15,788 undertake that work. The ineligible activities. 152 00:09:15,788 --> 00:09:20,530 So, projects that will not get funded as part of the New York Forward are 153 00:09:20,530 --> 00:09:21,179 part of the New York Forward are standalone 154 00:09:21,179 --> 00:09:22,479 planning activities. 155 00:09:22,479 --> 00:09:27,220 So, if for some reason the Village decides they wanted to undertake a new 156 00:09:27,220 --> 00:09:28,974 comprehensive plan process, 157 00:09:28,974 --> 00:09:33,261 that would not get funded as part of the New York Forward program. 158 00:09:33,261 --> 00:09:35,015 Operations and maintenance. 159 00:09:35,015 --> 00:09:39,627 So at times, and I've experienced this in a number of different rounds, 160 00:09:39,627 --> 00:09:44,954 where a property owner will say, I really need a new roof, or I really need, like, 161 00:09:44,954 --> 00:09:49,955 a new HVAC system, they consider that to be, like, operation and maintenance. 162 00:09:49,955 --> 00:09:52,943 If for some reason somebody comes in and says, 163 00:09:52,943 --> 00:09:58,205 I need a new HVAC system because there's 20,000 square feet of space that I can't 164 00:09:58,205 --> 00:10:01,907 use right now because it's not heated or air-conditioned, 165 00:10:01,907 --> 00:10:07,298 they would consider that project because that's really kind of expanding it and now 166 00:10:07,298 --> 00:10:11,975 catalyzing that particular space to become new commercial or residential 167 00:10:11,975 --> 00:10:13,859 development. Pre-award costs, 168 00:10:13,859 --> 00:10:17,562 so if for some reason somebody spent money ahead of time, 169 00:10:17,562 --> 00:10:22,823 you cannot get to develop designs or maybe to do certain types of investigations, 170 00:10:22,823 --> 00:10:26,980 those would not get funded through the New York Forward program. 171 00:10:26,980 --> 00:10:31,397 Property acquisition, so the assumption is that you, property owner, 172 00:10:31,397 --> 00:10:34,385 or whoever's what they call a project sponsor, 173 00:10:34,385 --> 00:10:37,633 whoever is submitting for that particular project, 174 00:10:37,633 --> 00:10:42,635 they either own the property or they would own the property by the time that, 175 00:10:42,635 --> 00:10:45,038 you know, the grant would be awarded. 176 00:10:45,038 --> 00:10:48,741 And then the last is training and other program expenses. 177 00:10:48,741 --> 00:10:51,729 So if somebody wants to train their employees, 178 00:10:51,729 --> 00:10:55,691 that would not count as towards eligibility for this funding. 179 00:10:57,534 --> 00:10:57,873 Next. 180 00:10:57,873 --> 00:10:59,506 All right. 181 00:10:59,797 --> 00:11:01,563 So with that, let me just— 182 00:11:01,563 --> 00:11:05,775 I want to just give you one more little bit about the process. 183 00:11:05,775 --> 00:11:08,289 So once those projects are submitted, 184 00:11:08,289 --> 00:11:13,180 you have local planning committee that reviews all the projects that get 185 00:11:13,180 --> 00:11:13,792 reviews all the projects that get submitted 186 00:11:13,792 --> 00:11:16,441 from the public as well as the village. 187 00:11:16,441 --> 00:11:21,536 And they would identify which projects most align with the New York Forward 188 00:11:21,536 --> 00:11:21,944 most align with the New York Forward goals. 189 00:11:21,944 --> 00:11:26,835 Also ones that are— look like they're ready to go and ready to be easily 190 00:11:26,835 --> 00:11:31,998 implementable and would be able to be implemented within a 2-year timeframe. 191 00:11:31,998 --> 00:11:35,463 And that they have their finances together as well. 192 00:11:35,463 --> 00:11:40,762 So there's a lot of information that does get asked from the project sponsors. 193 00:11:40,762 --> 00:11:45,789 And then the local planning committee will select which projects they feel 194 00:11:45,789 --> 00:11:47,759 potentially could get funded. 195 00:11:47,759 --> 00:11:52,922 And for New York Forward, they typically like a slate of projects somewhere— 196 00:11:52,922 --> 00:11:57,134 if it's $4.5 million, they like to see DRI— I mean, excuse me, 197 00:11:57,134 --> 00:12:00,803 New York Forward requests for somewhere between, like, 198 00:12:00,803 --> 00:12:05,490 $6 million to $8 million because some projects will potentially fall, 199 00:12:05,490 --> 00:12:08,275 fall apart as you go through the process. 200 00:12:08,275 --> 00:12:13,642 But also that slate of projects goes to the state and then the state vets those 201 00:12:13,642 --> 00:12:18,466 projects again and then they will ultimately assign the $4.5 million to 202 00:12:18,466 --> 00:12:19,009 ultimately assign the $4.5 million to projects 203 00:12:19,009 --> 00:12:24,512 within that slate of projects that was submitted by the local planning committee. 204 00:12:24,512 --> 00:12:28,180 So it is a little bit of a process, but it moves very, 205 00:12:28,180 --> 00:12:32,189 very quickly and it usually moves through a 9-month period. 206 00:12:32,189 --> 00:12:37,895 And so I'm going to turn this over now to the mayor of Sleepy Hollow so she can talk 207 00:12:37,895 --> 00:12:43,194 a little bit about her experience with it and the projects that they received. 208 00:12:43,194 --> 00:12:53,030 Thanks, Valerie. 209 00:12:56,030 --> 00:12:56,699 I'm— 210 00:12:56,833 --> 00:12:57,536 I can move that. I should have worn heels. 211 00:12:59,220 --> 00:12:59,930 But— 212 00:13:00,166 --> 00:13:00,843 here, I can move that. 213 00:13:02,315 --> 00:13:04,591 That's fine, I can— Okay. 214 00:13:04,591 --> 00:13:08,414 So first of all, thank you, Len and Brian, 215 00:13:08,414 --> 00:13:13,148 for inviting me to join your town hall this evening. 216 00:13:13,148 --> 00:13:20,340 I'm Marjorie Hsu, and I think that, you know, for DRI and now New York Forward, 217 00:13:20,340 --> 00:13:24,709 the 2 keywords are persistence and and patience, 218 00:13:24,709 --> 00:13:28,350 because when I was planning board chair, 219 00:13:28,350 --> 00:13:35,178 I actually participated in the first application for DRI, which was back in 220 00:13:35,178 --> 00:13:35,633 application for DRI, which was back in 2016, 221 00:13:35,633 --> 00:13:41,641 2 mayors ago. So nothing happens very quickly in local government. 222 00:13:41,641 --> 00:13:47,832 But we were very happy that New York Forward got created for smaller 223 00:13:47,832 --> 00:13:49,106 Forward got created for smaller municipalities 224 00:13:49,106 --> 00:13:56,116 because all those $10 million grants were going to the bigger places like New 225 00:13:56,116 --> 00:13:58,118 Rochelle and Kingston. 226 00:13:58,118 --> 00:14:05,128 And so the little villages and hamlets were kind of getting left in the dust. 227 00:14:05,128 --> 00:14:10,226 So we were thrilled because we were applying every year. 228 00:14:10,226 --> 00:14:17,599 I do think you need to be persistent and it does help you refine your application 229 00:14:17,599 --> 00:14:24,791 year over year. So we were happy to be in the first tranche of funding in 2022. 230 00:14:24,791 --> 00:14:31,983 And, um, you know, for those of you that aren't as familiar with Sleepy Hollow, 231 00:14:31,983 --> 00:14:38,810 we're a 2-square-mile village and we're, um, an economic justice community. 232 00:14:38,810 --> 00:14:45,274 We have a lot of, uh, low-income residents. We have a lot of low-income 233 00:14:45,274 --> 00:14:46,002 residents. We have a lot of low-income housing. 234 00:14:46,002 --> 00:14:48,551 Uh, we're also very diverse. 235 00:14:48,551 --> 00:14:52,374 We're a majority Latino community, um, uh, 236 00:14:52,374 --> 00:14:58,564 so probably just over half of our residents are of Hispanic descent, 237 00:14:58,564 --> 00:15:03,389 and in our school systems it's probably 2/3 Hispanic. 238 00:15:03,389 --> 00:15:09,397 So we, um, were excited to get the, the $4.5 million back in 2022. 239 00:15:09,397 --> 00:15:12,766 And now, fast forward, we're in 2026. 240 00:15:12,766 --> 00:15:17,772 And of all the funds that have been granted to the 4.5, 241 00:15:17,772 --> 00:15:21,505 as Valerie has kindly created a slide on, 242 00:15:21,505 --> 00:15:27,604 the only one that's really made any progress is the facade program. 243 00:15:27,604 --> 00:15:29,971 So that's been kicked off. 244 00:15:29,971 --> 00:15:33,703 We've found an excellent program manager, 245 00:15:33,703 --> 00:15:38,437 one of our local residents who is also an architect. 246 00:15:38,437 --> 00:15:45,355 And we formed a 3-person committee that took applications from, I wanna say, 247 00:15:45,355 --> 00:15:51,637 20 to 30 local small businesses that wanted to improve their facades. 248 00:15:51,637 --> 00:15:59,101 And so this 3-person committee reviewed all the applications and selected 12 small 249 00:15:59,101 --> 00:16:03,380 businesses to get some sort of funding for the— 250 00:16:03,380 --> 00:16:03,974 That's great. 251 00:16:05,277 --> 00:16:07,481 to improve their facades. 252 00:16:07,481 --> 00:16:14,180 So that is kind of a public-private partnership since, as Valerie described, 253 00:16:14,180 --> 00:16:18,235 we the village are administering the $300,000, 254 00:16:18,235 --> 00:16:22,114 but it's going toward small business owners. 255 00:16:22,114 --> 00:16:28,372 And then the other initiatives, one that we're extremely excited about, 256 00:16:28,372 --> 00:16:30,312 is the Strand Theater, 257 00:16:30,312 --> 00:16:36,218 which is like smack in the downtown very central on Beekman Avenue, 258 00:16:36,218 --> 00:16:38,598 which is our main downtown. 259 00:16:38,598 --> 00:16:45,826 And, um, that building has been vacant the whole time I've lived in Sleepy Hollow, 260 00:16:45,826 --> 00:16:47,942 which is about 12 years. 261 00:16:47,942 --> 00:16:53,054 And I've toured it a couple times as planning board chair, 262 00:16:53,054 --> 00:16:57,374 and there's a lot of renovation that is required, 263 00:16:57,374 --> 00:17:00,988 but it's such a historic building for us. 264 00:17:00,988 --> 00:17:07,070 And so there's a gentleman that has purchased it as of last December. 265 00:17:07,070 --> 00:17:13,681 So that $1.5 million grant is actually going to him. And he— it's 2 levels. 266 00:17:13,681 --> 00:17:20,822 If you go upstairs, you actually see the big kind of reel-to-reel film projectors 267 00:17:20,822 --> 00:17:27,962 from back in the day with the old bulbs. And so very historic, but a lot of work. 268 00:17:27,962 --> 00:17:34,661 And so So his vision is to have retail storefronts in the first level facing 269 00:17:34,661 --> 00:17:35,102 storefronts in the first level facing right 270 00:17:35,102 --> 00:17:41,008 on Beekman Avenue, and then to have some sort of performance space, 271 00:17:41,008 --> 00:17:45,504 and then also upstairs to have kind of maker space. 272 00:17:45,504 --> 00:17:49,735 So for artisanal projects, et cetera, et cetera. 273 00:17:49,735 --> 00:17:56,258 I actually have a meeting with him tomorrow. So that's the Strand Theater. 274 00:17:56,258 --> 00:17:59,696 Totally separate from New York Forward, 275 00:17:59,696 --> 00:18:06,307 we have another nonprofit that recently formed called Sleepy Hollow Cinema, 276 00:18:06,307 --> 00:18:08,687 which is for Sleepy Hollow. 277 00:18:08,687 --> 00:18:14,417 They're interested in sharing and showing primarily horror films. 278 00:18:14,417 --> 00:18:17,414 So, you know, we're a spooky town. 279 00:18:17,414 --> 00:18:22,527 So— I'm trying to get Sleepy Hollow Cinema which is a 501, 280 00:18:22,527 --> 00:18:29,843 and Strand Theatre to kind of get together since it's, I think, entirely symbiotic. 281 00:18:29,843 --> 00:18:37,071 The one that is entirely on the Village that we're looking to start in the spring— 282 00:18:37,071 --> 00:18:43,594 again, it's taken a long time to get the funding and to get the approvals— 283 00:18:43,594 --> 00:18:46,768 is our Cortland Streetscape project. 284 00:18:46,768 --> 00:18:53,379 So that is right off of Beekman Avenue and is very desperately in need of a 285 00:18:53,379 --> 00:18:59,197 facelift. So new sidewalks, there's going to be a new pocket park, 286 00:18:59,197 --> 00:19:00,960 there's going to be— 287 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:08,012 we're going to take advantage of this New York Forward funding and incorporate a 288 00:19:08,012 --> 00:19:14,006 bioswale because we do have some drainage and infrastructure issues. 289 00:19:14,006 --> 00:19:21,323 We also have a developer that has come in and purchased some properties on Cortland 290 00:19:21,323 --> 00:19:28,551 and on DePeyster. And so we're hoping that we can kind of kill multiple birds with 291 00:19:28,551 --> 00:19:33,223 one stone as we're doing the streetscape improvement, 292 00:19:33,223 --> 00:19:38,688 to take into account his development of new housing there and, 293 00:19:38,688 --> 00:19:44,859 and try to get some maybe community benefit funding from him as far as 294 00:19:44,859 --> 00:19:46,005 benefit funding from him as far as improving the 295 00:19:46,005 --> 00:19:53,145 sewer and water infrastructure to improve capacity as well as some modernization. 296 00:19:53,145 --> 00:19:57,729 The next is Plaza Nueva, which is— it's all village, 297 00:19:57,729 --> 00:20:04,340 but it's really a school district initiative because it's the playground of 298 00:20:04,340 --> 00:20:04,604 initiative because it's the playground of our 299 00:20:04,604 --> 00:20:09,276 Morse School, which is again right on Beekman Avenue. 300 00:20:09,276 --> 00:20:13,948 So it's all about Beekman Avenue and Cortland Avenue. 301 00:20:13,948 --> 00:20:17,562 And so this will create a new playground, 302 00:20:17,562 --> 00:20:22,763 but really new park space for Sleepy Hollow right downtown. 303 00:20:22,763 --> 00:20:26,906 One of the things we're lacking is placemaking. 304 00:20:26,906 --> 00:20:32,107 Like, we don't have places for people to hang out downtown. 305 00:20:32,107 --> 00:20:39,512 We created this little tiny pocket park on the intersection of Cortland and Beekman, 306 00:20:39,512 --> 00:20:43,743 but it's a little kludgy and it's not beautiful. 307 00:20:43,743 --> 00:20:50,530 So we need to create some beautiful spaces that people want to spend time in. 308 00:20:50,530 --> 00:20:57,406 Because, you know, all of our downtown on Upper Beekman is mostly multifamily. 309 00:20:57,406 --> 00:21:04,105 And so you've got people, especially with the hot summers we've been having, 310 00:21:04,105 --> 00:21:07,720 they're hanging out on their front stoop. 311 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:13,802 And, you know, other people complain about sidewalk access and noise. 312 00:21:13,802 --> 00:21:20,149 And, um, but, you know, these people don't have backyard to hang out in. 313 00:21:20,149 --> 00:21:23,410 So we have some cultural differences. 314 00:21:23,410 --> 00:21:27,553 You know, we have some cultures that, you know, 315 00:21:27,553 --> 00:21:33,812 liked their big families to come together and, um, play music, and, um, 316 00:21:33,812 --> 00:21:37,691 other people don't necessarily embrace that. 317 00:21:37,691 --> 00:21:44,566 So, um, we, we have some blending of, of cultural norms to, to manage as well. 318 00:21:44,566 --> 00:21:51,442 So Plaza Nueva will give a space in the evenings for families to hang out with 319 00:21:51,442 --> 00:21:51,795 evenings for families to hang out with and, 320 00:21:51,795 --> 00:21:54,439 and, um, uh, spend time there. 321 00:21:54,439 --> 00:22:01,844 And then the, um, last one I'll touch upon is, uh, $500,000, which is a private, um, 322 00:22:01,844 --> 00:22:05,017 funding for more affordable housing. 323 00:22:05,017 --> 00:22:11,805 We actually have a lot of affordable housing, but like all Westchester towns, 324 00:22:11,805 --> 00:22:19,033 there's just not enough of affordable or workforce or what we call missing middle. 325 00:22:19,033 --> 00:22:26,349 So we've got a lot of luxury housing now at Edge on Hudson right on the riverfront, 326 00:22:26,349 --> 00:22:33,578 which we're about half done of the 1,177 new homes that are being built at Edge on 327 00:22:33,578 --> 00:22:40,806 Hudson. So hearing a positive update on that person who is going to initiate a new 328 00:22:40,806 --> 00:22:46,712 affordable housing initiative. So administering this grant has been 329 00:22:46,712 --> 00:22:47,770 administering this grant has been challenging. 330 00:22:47,770 --> 00:22:53,588 The planning process and the final approval took a very long time, 331 00:22:53,588 --> 00:23:00,463 and getting the projects to contract is taking even a little longer than that. 332 00:23:00,463 --> 00:23:07,427 But we do expect to kick off our big village streetscape project in the spring. 333 00:23:07,427 --> 00:23:14,832 So that's exciting. And we're just trying to work closely with the 2 private funding 334 00:23:14,832 --> 00:23:19,945 recipients, the Strand Theatre and the affordable housing, 335 00:23:19,945 --> 00:23:27,173 so that we keep those going as well. So that is what we're doing in Sleepy Hollow. 336 00:23:27,173 --> 00:23:33,696 And I'm happy to answer any questions if there are any. But I'll sit down. 337 00:23:33,696 --> 00:23:38,428 Mayor, thank you very much for the excellent presentation. 338 00:23:38,428 --> 00:23:43,975 I just had one general question. You laid out all of these projects. 339 00:23:43,975 --> 00:23:50,338 And as Valerie told us, you know, once you get approved as a New York Forward, 340 00:23:50,338 --> 00:23:54,580 then you begin to work with the state and obviously, 341 00:23:54,580 --> 00:23:57,272 that can be a multi-year process. 342 00:23:57,272 --> 00:24:03,717 How would you describe, since your tenure, how's it been actually working with, 343 00:24:03,717 --> 00:24:08,367 with the state to make some of these projects come alive? 344 00:24:08,367 --> 00:24:15,456 Um, I just took office December 1st. So I haven't been around that long. 345 00:24:15,456 --> 00:24:22,742 So most of the heavy lifting is on our village administrator and his grant 346 00:24:22,742 --> 00:24:27,567 Grant team, so it's been a lot of back and forth. 347 00:24:27,567 --> 00:24:34,656 I think you know the state has been pretty responsive and communicative, 348 00:24:34,656 --> 00:24:38,890 but it was also the very first time, right? 349 00:24:38,890 --> 00:24:45,093 So they were you know kind of engineering the plane mid-flight. 350 00:24:45,093 --> 00:24:49,130 So, but yeah, we're very appreciative of. 351 00:24:49,130 --> 00:24:53,561 the support we've gotten from New York State. 352 00:24:53,561 --> 00:24:58,878 And I think our point of contact has been really good. 353 00:24:58,878 --> 00:25:03,520 We'll just hold all questions until the end after that, 354 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:08,922 just because if we don't have people speaking to the microphone, 355 00:25:08,922 --> 00:25:13,480 anyone watching at home is not able to hear. So, okay. 356 00:25:13,985 --> 00:25:15,253 Okay. 357 00:25:18,253 --> 00:25:21,056 All right. You can go to the next slide. 358 00:25:21,056 --> 00:25:24,771 All right, so we're going to talk a little bit about— 359 00:25:24,771 --> 00:25:29,957 I'm gonna spend a couple of minutes talking about so what Croton-on-Hudson 360 00:25:29,957 --> 00:25:30,308 talking about so what Croton-on-Hudson would 361 00:25:30,308 --> 00:25:34,233 like to put forth as the New York Forward Boundary Area. 362 00:25:34,233 --> 00:25:38,929 And let me just explain again, this New York Forward Boundary Area. 363 00:25:38,929 --> 00:25:42,994 It's supposed to be an area where there are very specific. 364 00:25:42,994 --> 00:25:46,007 It's not supposed to be the entire village. 365 00:25:46,007 --> 00:25:51,334 It's supposed to also cover an area where there is a concentration of either 366 00:25:51,334 --> 00:25:55,259 mixed-use business, can be some multifamily residential. 367 00:25:55,259 --> 00:25:59,744 They also like to see like land uses such as cultural land uses. 368 00:25:59,744 --> 00:26:03,529 They also like to see public transportation land uses. 369 00:26:03,529 --> 00:26:07,664 So There is, you know, looking at, as you can, as you know, 370 00:26:07,664 --> 00:26:12,991 that Croton has about 3 different, I'm going to say, core mixed-use business 371 00:26:12,991 --> 00:26:13,411 going to say, core mixed-use business areas. 372 00:26:13,411 --> 00:26:18,247 And I think in the past, the prior applications focused on, you know, 373 00:26:18,247 --> 00:26:22,102 this area here, basically your, your Grand Street area. 374 00:26:22,102 --> 00:26:24,695 And, um, but looking at the projects, 375 00:26:24,695 --> 00:26:29,812 just when we went through like the eligible projects and you saw from the 376 00:26:29,812 --> 00:26:30,442 eligible projects and you saw from the mayor the 377 00:26:30,442 --> 00:26:33,316 types of projects that they like to fund, 378 00:26:33,316 --> 00:26:36,960 looking at the potential projects in all 3 of, like, 379 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:41,236 the business corridor areas in the Village, it really became— 380 00:26:41,236 --> 00:26:44,810 it came to the forefront that this particular area, 381 00:26:44,810 --> 00:26:47,964 which we're calling the South Riverside area, 382 00:26:47,964 --> 00:26:52,310 would really be a good candidate for New York Forward funding. 383 00:26:52,310 --> 00:26:57,216 And so the proposed area right now includes the Historic Hudson Valley 384 00:26:57,216 --> 00:26:57,846 includes the Historic Hudson Valley property. 385 00:26:57,846 --> 00:26:59,949 It includes the train station. 386 00:26:59,949 --> 00:27:04,084 It includes your commercial center of, like, with ShopRite. 387 00:27:04,084 --> 00:27:09,761 It also includes the commercial corridor along South Riverside Avenue to a little 388 00:27:09,761 --> 00:27:15,228 past Oneida Avenue. The state also likes to see that there is momentum already 389 00:27:15,228 --> 00:27:17,891 taking place within that area as well. 390 00:27:17,891 --> 00:27:22,587 And so you had some recent development that was approved that will— 391 00:27:22,587 --> 00:27:25,320 we're going to begin construction soon, 392 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:28,895 and you also have some development in the pipeline. 393 00:27:28,895 --> 00:27:34,011 And those are also kind of key criteria that the state likes to look for, 394 00:27:34,011 --> 00:27:38,286 because they want to see that there is some sort of momentum, 395 00:27:38,286 --> 00:27:41,510 and it's not just if projects get put forward, 396 00:27:41,510 --> 00:27:46,767 that there is a really high chance that those projects will continue moving 397 00:27:46,767 --> 00:27:47,328 those projects will continue moving forward. 398 00:27:47,328 --> 00:27:51,323 So let's talk a little bit about the projects themselves. 399 00:27:51,323 --> 00:27:57,140 And if you want to talk on the next slide, and then I'm going to turn this over to, 400 00:27:57,140 --> 00:27:59,313 um, to the village manager, um, 401 00:27:59,313 --> 00:28:04,709 who's going to talk a little bit about the projects that we're looking at and 402 00:28:04,709 --> 00:28:10,526 identifying. And you'll see how a lot of them fit those kind of key categories that 403 00:28:10,526 --> 00:28:14,241 we talked about at the beginning of the presentation. 404 00:28:14,241 --> 00:28:16,986 Thank you, Valerie. So our first, uh, 405 00:28:16,986 --> 00:28:22,254 project that's listed here are the Croton Station parking lot upgrades. 406 00:28:22,254 --> 00:28:28,338 I'm sure, as many of you are familiar, our parking lot is susceptible to flooding. 407 00:28:28,338 --> 00:28:32,790 Whenever there is a storm system that is off the East Coast, 408 00:28:32,790 --> 00:28:37,836 it could be hundreds of miles away from us, but the energy from the, 409 00:28:37,836 --> 00:28:43,549 from the storm comes up the Hudson River and the tides flood the parking lot. 410 00:28:43,549 --> 00:28:47,630 And so we have been working with a planning firm, AKRF, 411 00:28:47,630 --> 00:28:53,788 for a number of years now in developing a plan to install a seawall along the shore 412 00:28:53,788 --> 00:28:56,311 of the parking lot. And, you know, 413 00:28:56,311 --> 00:29:02,321 this was after AKRF did some shoreline resiliency studies and analyzed everything 414 00:29:02,321 --> 00:29:02,469 resiliency studies and analyzed everything in 415 00:29:02,469 --> 00:29:07,960 the parking lot that was the best option that was available to protect the 416 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:08,628 that was available to protect the available 417 00:29:08,628 --> 00:29:11,150 parking spaces in the parking lot. 418 00:29:11,150 --> 00:29:13,970 And so, uh, that would be a major, uh, 419 00:29:13,970 --> 00:29:19,164 project that we would seek to have included in this grant application. 420 00:29:19,164 --> 00:29:24,357 Secondly, streetscaping along Riverside Avenue and Benedict Boulevard. 421 00:29:24,357 --> 00:29:29,996 This would be your general replacement of trash cans, streetlights, benches, 422 00:29:29,996 --> 00:29:34,671 redoing tree pits, just basically beautifying all of the street 423 00:29:34,671 --> 00:29:35,932 beautifying all of the street infrastructure in 424 00:29:35,932 --> 00:29:38,974 those areas. You know, there is a desire, 425 00:29:38,974 --> 00:29:45,058 especially among the comprehensive plan and reports done by our advisory board for 426 00:29:45,058 --> 00:29:50,697 the visual environment, that all of our streetscapes kind of complement each 427 00:29:50,697 --> 00:29:51,142 streetscapes kind of complement each other. 428 00:29:51,142 --> 00:29:54,778 And so that would be an idea behind that project. 429 00:29:54,778 --> 00:29:59,527 Uh, third, bike lanes from Oneida Avenue to Croton Point Avenue. 430 00:29:59,527 --> 00:30:05,314 There is an existing bike lane on Croton Point Avenue, as I'm sure many of you 431 00:30:05,314 --> 00:30:05,685 Point Avenue, as I'm sure many of you know, 432 00:30:05,685 --> 00:30:11,621 and there is also an existing bike lane on South Riverside Avenue that begins at 433 00:30:11,621 --> 00:30:14,737 Oneida and continues down to Maple Street. 434 00:30:14,737 --> 00:30:18,076 And so this would basically fill in that, uh, 435 00:30:18,076 --> 00:30:23,567 missing link along South Riverside between Oneida and Croton Point Avenue. 436 00:30:23,567 --> 00:30:29,280 And this would be done in part by reducing the width of the sidewalk on South 437 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,990 Riverside between Clinton Street and Wayne Street. 438 00:30:32,990 --> 00:30:38,629 You know, this is a sidewalk that is much wider than your standard sidewalk, 439 00:30:38,629 --> 00:30:41,819 and by reducing the width of that sidewalk, 440 00:30:41,819 --> 00:30:47,903 we would still be able to keep parking on South Riverside while while still adding 441 00:30:47,903 --> 00:30:51,687 the bike lane. The Historic Hudson Valley upgrades— 442 00:30:51,687 --> 00:30:54,804 this would be one of our private projects, 443 00:30:54,804 --> 00:30:58,143 as Historic Hudson Valley is privately owned. 444 00:30:58,143 --> 00:31:00,368 As I'm sure you have all seen, 445 00:31:00,368 --> 00:31:06,304 Historic Hudson Valley is undergoing a pretty expansive project to upgrade a lot 446 00:31:06,304 --> 00:31:06,453 pretty expansive project to upgrade a lot of 447 00:31:06,453 --> 00:31:12,537 their facilities, involving redoing some electrical conduit, water infrastructure, 448 00:31:12,537 --> 00:31:16,989 sewer infrastructure, Replacing the fire hydrants, you know, 449 00:31:16,989 --> 00:31:23,073 just a lot of infrastructure work that has been needed to take place on the on the 450 00:31:23,073 --> 00:31:25,670 Manor property for many many years. 451 00:31:25,670 --> 00:31:30,344 And so phase one has officially been closed as of August first. 452 00:31:30,344 --> 00:31:34,870 They're now taking a pause and you know for the blaze period, 453 00:31:34,870 --> 00:31:39,174 and then phase two will be starting up sometime next year. 454 00:31:39,174 --> 00:31:45,109 And so depending on what they're going to assess the— their progress on Phase 2, 455 00:31:45,109 --> 00:31:51,194 and depending on that progress will depend on exactly what project they propose to 456 00:31:51,194 --> 00:31:53,642 include in our grant application. 457 00:31:53,642 --> 00:31:59,652 But Historic Hudson Valley has always been willing to be a very good partner with 458 00:31:59,652 --> 00:32:05,143 the village, and I'm sure that the project that they come to us with will, 459 00:32:05,143 --> 00:32:07,517 will continue that, that effort. 460 00:32:07,517 --> 00:32:12,191 Uh, the 425 South Riverside Avenue development As you may know, 461 00:32:12,191 --> 00:32:17,904 this application has just begun the process before the planning board in some 462 00:32:17,904 --> 00:32:18,275 process before the planning board in some form, 463 00:32:18,275 --> 00:32:23,914 whatever, or if any form, whatever that gets approved by the planning board. 464 00:32:23,914 --> 00:32:29,405 We would propose to have that project included in our grant application to 465 00:32:29,405 --> 00:32:29,924 included in our grant application to fulfill 466 00:32:29,924 --> 00:32:35,638 the housing requirement that is included in the, in the list of tasks for the 467 00:32:35,638 --> 00:32:36,083 in the, in the list of tasks for the grant. 468 00:32:36,083 --> 00:32:38,976 Uh, the Save More Pharmacy development— 469 00:32:38,976 --> 00:32:44,615 Save More has purchased the parcel that is at the corner of Oneida and South 470 00:32:44,615 --> 00:32:47,509 Riverside, the former Umami restaurant. 471 00:32:47,509 --> 00:32:52,555 They have knocked down the building, so right now it's a vacant lot. 472 00:32:52,555 --> 00:32:57,674 At some point, they do plan on constructing, um, a pharmacy there and 473 00:32:57,674 --> 00:32:58,490 constructing, um, a pharmacy there and relocating. 474 00:32:58,490 --> 00:33:04,426 Uh, they did come to the Village Board with a special permit application about 3 475 00:33:04,426 --> 00:33:08,952 years ago, 2 and a half, 3 years ago, uh, and that effort is— 476 00:33:08,952 --> 00:33:11,623 has currently stalled at this point. 477 00:33:11,623 --> 00:33:17,411 There was some information that they were requested to present specifically on 478 00:33:17,411 --> 00:33:23,272 traffic that they have not come back to the boards with, um, but, you know, in, 479 00:33:23,272 --> 00:33:28,689 in speaking with them, they are still interested in developing that site. 480 00:33:28,689 --> 00:33:32,769 So we would propose including that project in this, um, 481 00:33:32,769 --> 00:33:35,292 in this grant application as well. 482 00:33:35,292 --> 00:33:40,263 And then finally, the small project fund, as was discussed earlier. 483 00:33:40,263 --> 00:33:45,828 This would be similar to what Sleepy Hollow had done in that there would be 484 00:33:45,828 --> 00:33:46,348 Hollow had done in that there would be funding 485 00:33:46,348 --> 00:33:51,245 available for small businesses to improve their facades, you know, 486 00:33:51,245 --> 00:33:56,735 clean up their windows, replace their awnings, whatever that might, might, 487 00:33:56,735 --> 00:34:01,261 might be for them. So this is our list of potential projects. 488 00:34:01,261 --> 00:34:06,752 You know, there certainly could be additional projects that are put on the 489 00:34:06,752 --> 00:34:07,123 additional projects that are put on the list. 490 00:34:07,123 --> 00:34:08,755 As Valerie was saying, 491 00:34:08,755 --> 00:34:13,949 the state could come in and cross off half of these and tell us, nope, 492 00:34:13,949 --> 00:34:18,326 we don't want to do these half and we're going to do these. 493 00:34:18,326 --> 00:34:22,407 So this is, you know, certainly a list that is in flux, 494 00:34:22,407 --> 00:34:26,043 but this is what we have developed at this point. 495 00:34:26,043 --> 00:34:27,665 Okay. 496 00:34:27,665 --> 00:34:30,153 Yeah, and I think I just want to add, 497 00:34:30,153 --> 00:34:35,329 the purpose of listing the projects as part of the application is to show the 498 00:34:35,329 --> 00:34:35,665 part of the application is to show the state 499 00:34:35,665 --> 00:34:38,960 that you actually have potential projects, right? 500 00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:43,128 So it doesn't even mean— because ultimately, as I said before, 501 00:34:43,128 --> 00:34:47,431 this open call for project process would mean that, for example, 502 00:34:47,431 --> 00:34:52,473 the Save More Pharmacy would have to submit an application saying they want 503 00:34:52,473 --> 00:34:53,011 submit an application saying they want funding. 504 00:34:53,011 --> 00:34:56,776 They might choose never to even submit that application, 505 00:34:56,776 --> 00:35:00,473 and another property owner might submit an application. 506 00:35:00,473 --> 00:35:03,633 But what this does is just demonstrates to the— 507 00:35:03,633 --> 00:35:08,608 to the state that there is potential projects within— the New York Forward 508 00:35:08,608 --> 00:35:08,944 projects within— the New York Forward area. 509 00:35:08,944 --> 00:35:13,180 And then I think with that, we'll open it up for any questions. 510 00:35:13,180 --> 00:35:16,218 So just give me one moment here while I turn this— 511 00:35:16,218 --> 00:35:16,732 Yeah. 512 00:35:16,732 --> 00:35:18,337 Can I see that last slide? 513 00:35:18,337 --> 00:35:22,885 Oh yeah, sure. Can you 514 00:35:22,885 --> 00:35:34,804 read that, Mr. Riley? 515 00:35:37,804 --> 00:35:38,245 Yeah. 516 00:35:38,245 --> 00:35:41,005 Okay, I'm gonna try to get it on the camera here. 517 00:35:43,326 --> 00:35:43,407 Okay. 518 00:35:45,580 --> 00:35:49,008 All right, so whoever would like— if anyone would like to speak, 519 00:35:49,008 --> 00:35:52,543 there is a 5-minute, uh, time limit that we would like to respect, 520 00:35:52,543 --> 00:35:56,934 but anyone who would like to ask comments of myself or Valerie or Mayor Chu Please 521 00:35:56,934 --> 00:35:59,849 feel free to come up. 522 00:36:02,849 --> 00:36:05,071 Start. Do you want me to announce? 523 00:36:05,071 --> 00:36:08,324 Yeah, if you could just say your name and your address, that'd be great. 524 00:36:08,324 --> 00:36:12,544 So my name is Virginia Norton. I actually live in Bramble Bush. 525 00:36:12,544 --> 00:36:14,621 So it's outside of the village, 526 00:36:14,621 --> 00:36:19,377 but I pay a tremendous amount of taxes to the village for school taxes, 527 00:36:19,377 --> 00:36:24,468 and are very interested in developing developing Croton and downtown Croton. 528 00:36:24,468 --> 00:36:26,143 So a couple of questions. 529 00:36:26,143 --> 00:36:31,300 My first one is, who decided on the project area and what input came from the 530 00:36:31,300 --> 00:36:33,712 community as to the particular area? 531 00:36:33,712 --> 00:36:38,870 So I know, Brian, that might be yours as opposed to Valerie's or the mayor's. 532 00:36:38,870 --> 00:36:43,292 Do you want to just ask all your questions at once and then we can answer them? 533 00:36:43,292 --> 00:36:46,231 So that's one question as to who developed that. 534 00:36:46,231 --> 00:36:50,885 And then also the list of projects, because— Sorry, when I think about this, 535 00:36:50,885 --> 00:36:54,804 I think about, for example, like the school system that we have, 536 00:36:54,804 --> 00:36:56,642 the schools that we have here. 537 00:36:56,642 --> 00:36:58,785 And I would be interested, Valerie, 538 00:36:58,785 --> 00:37:03,929 in your thoughts with respect to the state funding and what the state will fund with 539 00:37:03,929 --> 00:37:08,399 respect to the school and the school buildings. To me, it's all about tax 540 00:37:08,399 --> 00:37:08,889 buildings. To me, it's all about tax revenue. 541 00:37:08,889 --> 00:37:11,890 It's all about inviting people to come live here. 542 00:37:11,890 --> 00:37:15,747 Let's put aside the housing, which is a big issue in this town. 543 00:37:15,747 --> 00:37:20,891 But it's also making sure that, you know, we have the infrastructure for to support, 544 00:37:20,891 --> 00:37:23,280 um, children and families that come in. 545 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:27,689 Um, big issue with respect to teachers having ability to meet with kids, 546 00:37:27,689 --> 00:37:31,914 kids having area— like the idea of actually that plaza, um, you know, 547 00:37:31,914 --> 00:37:33,139 something like that. 548 00:37:33,139 --> 00:37:37,364 Like, we have, you know, 3 schools right in this area close together. 549 00:37:37,461 --> 00:37:37,862 Where are they— 550 00:37:37,862 --> 00:37:39,150 where do the kids go? 551 00:37:39,150 --> 00:37:42,032 As opposed to the parking lot, which, you know, 552 00:37:42,032 --> 00:37:46,386 for 65 years of my life has always been flooded and continues to flood. 553 00:37:46,386 --> 00:37:46,547 Thank you. 554 00:37:48,038 --> 00:37:51,603 You know, I think about what does the community really need. 555 00:37:51,603 --> 00:37:53,327 And then a question, Valerie, 556 00:37:53,327 --> 00:37:58,259 probably for you is how does the state and what's the state going to do if a lot of 557 00:37:58,259 --> 00:38:01,824 people go to the state and protest against this application, 558 00:38:01,824 --> 00:38:06,221 specifically if they don't like the projects that are listed or they don't 559 00:38:06,221 --> 00:38:06,696 projects that are listed or they don't like the 560 00:38:06,696 --> 00:38:10,915 project area? I would imagine the state would not be happy if there's a 561 00:38:10,915 --> 00:38:11,569 would not be happy if there's a contingency 562 00:38:11,569 --> 00:38:14,243 that is not in support and is vocal about it. 563 00:38:14,243 --> 00:38:16,145 So you really want to make sure— 564 00:38:16,145 --> 00:38:21,017 we want to make sure that the community is behind this because everybody wants the 565 00:38:21,017 --> 00:38:22,324 community to flourish, 566 00:38:22,324 --> 00:38:26,425 and we want to make sure it flourishes for everybody or the majority. 567 00:38:26,425 --> 00:38:29,871 So maybe you can— I think that's, that's it at this point, 568 00:38:29,871 --> 00:38:34,447 but maybe if you guys don't mind. And I guess another question for the mayor. 569 00:38:34,447 --> 00:38:38,665 I know that you started, you started, you said you started in December. 570 00:38:38,665 --> 00:38:41,815 So in the application process though that took place, 571 00:38:41,815 --> 00:38:45,618 how much was the community involved in that application process, 572 00:38:45,618 --> 00:38:47,816 giving their thoughts as to projects? 573 00:38:47,816 --> 00:38:52,095 I would like that, you know, your thoughts as to, or at least factually, 574 00:38:52,095 --> 00:38:55,006 what actually happened. Was there back and forth? 575 00:38:55,006 --> 00:38:59,760 Were there town halls about the projects, community meetings about the projects, 576 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:04,573 even the project area? Or was just a town board the one that decided all of that? 577 00:39:04,573 --> 00:39:05,643 So I think that's— 578 00:39:05,643 --> 00:39:07,032 Thank you very much. 579 00:39:07,032 --> 00:39:11,201 I'll just start off by answering the first question you had, 580 00:39:11,201 --> 00:39:13,215 and then we can turn it over. 581 00:39:13,215 --> 00:39:19,051 So the project area, as Um, I said at the beginning, uh, we originally were looking— 582 00:39:19,051 --> 00:39:21,621 we originally did this grant in 2024, 583 00:39:21,621 --> 00:39:27,178 and we picked an area that started on North Riverside and went up into the Upper 584 00:39:27,178 --> 00:39:32,667 Village. We were trying to connect our multiple business districts and have one 585 00:39:32,667 --> 00:39:38,294 application. And, um, you know, obviously we were not chosen as part of that, uh, 586 00:39:38,294 --> 00:39:41,142 as part of New York Forward at that time. 587 00:39:41,142 --> 00:39:45,032 And when we had our debriefing with the Mid-Hudson REDC, 588 00:39:45,032 --> 00:39:47,950 the Regional Economic Development Council, 589 00:39:47,950 --> 00:39:53,785 some of the feedback that we got indicated that we needed to choose a really defined 590 00:39:53,785 --> 00:39:59,482 downtown area. And so, you know, once we had that feedback, we started looking at, 591 00:39:59,482 --> 00:40:04,970 all right, where could that potential— where could that potential downtown area 592 00:40:04,970 --> 00:40:05,178 where could that potential downtown area be? 593 00:40:05,178 --> 00:40:10,736 Because, you know, one of the things that makes Croton somewhat unique in a good 594 00:40:10,736 --> 00:40:16,502 way, right, is that we have these areas of the village that have lots of commercial 595 00:40:16,502 --> 00:40:21,434 economic activity, but we don't have really one centralized downtown to 596 00:40:21,434 --> 00:40:22,059 really one centralized downtown to somewhere 597 00:40:22,059 --> 00:40:27,547 like a Sleepy Hollow or a Tarrytown or a Hastings or a Dobbs Ferry have, right? 598 00:40:27,547 --> 00:40:30,396 We don't necessarily have that in Croton. 599 00:40:30,396 --> 00:40:34,772 And so, um, working with Valerie and, uh, members of the board, 600 00:40:34,772 --> 00:40:40,538 we were able to hone in on the Harmon area as meeting the requirements of the grant 601 00:40:40,538 --> 00:40:45,748 program in that it has some economic development already ongoing within it. 602 00:40:45,748 --> 00:40:50,820 And there is the potential for additional economic development, you know, 603 00:40:50,820 --> 00:40:54,432 in the future. So I hope that answers your question. 604 00:40:56,534 --> 00:40:56,992 And question. 605 00:40:57,172 --> 00:40:57,663 Yeah. 606 00:40:57,663 --> 00:40:59,300 So, so part of the— 607 00:40:59,300 --> 00:41:01,695 I'm sorry. Is that— 608 00:41:01,695 --> 00:41:03,219 I'm sorry, could you just go to the mic? 609 00:41:03,379 --> 00:41:06,630 Yeah, I just want to know, follow up to that one. 610 00:41:06,630 --> 00:41:08,952 Is that, is that debrief available? 611 00:41:08,952 --> 00:41:13,663 Is that public information or do we have to FOIL that one for the last— 612 00:41:13,663 --> 00:41:18,369 So that was just, that was just a private meeting that went on between myself and 613 00:41:18,369 --> 00:41:19,937 Trustee Simon and the REDC. 614 00:41:19,937 --> 00:41:24,004 So it wasn't— you're welcome to put in a FOIL for anything you'd like, 615 00:41:24,004 --> 00:41:28,767 but I'm not sure if there were any records that would exist because it was just a— 616 00:41:28,767 --> 00:41:30,336 it was a meeting over Zoom. 617 00:41:30,772 --> 00:41:30,998 Okay. 618 00:41:31,224 --> 00:41:31,466 Yep. 619 00:41:31,466 --> 00:41:35,695 So I think part of the purpose of tonight's meeting is to get additional 620 00:41:35,695 --> 00:41:36,223 tonight's meeting is to get additional ideas and 621 00:41:36,223 --> 00:41:37,751 potential projects, right? 622 00:41:37,751 --> 00:41:41,451 So something like you mentioned with the public park, you know, 623 00:41:41,451 --> 00:41:46,150 that's something that we can go back and speak to the village about, about like, 624 00:41:46,150 --> 00:41:50,848 is there something or a space or something like that that could potentially turn 625 00:41:50,848 --> 00:41:53,609 into like a pocket park or something like that? 626 00:41:53,609 --> 00:41:58,307 We've But also, I think in terms of like the questions you had in terms of like, 627 00:41:58,307 --> 00:42:00,069 for example, like the schools, 628 00:42:00,069 --> 00:42:04,063 I think the technically the school districts or any school district, 629 00:42:04,063 --> 00:42:08,233 if there's a property or something that they want to create new, right? 630 00:42:08,233 --> 00:42:12,051 Because we were talking about can't be operation and maintenance, 631 00:42:12,051 --> 00:42:16,691 but it would have to be something that would be open to like the full public or 632 00:42:16,691 --> 00:42:21,155 something like that. So that's why you have, for example, like the park, you 633 00:42:21,155 --> 00:42:21,449 have, for example, like the park, you know. 634 00:42:21,449 --> 00:42:23,152 So those types of situations, 635 00:42:23,152 --> 00:42:28,086 the school district could potentially move and identify a particular project as part 636 00:42:28,086 --> 00:42:29,906 of that open call for projects. 637 00:42:29,906 --> 00:42:34,605 So this application doesn't preclude any other property owner from putting forth 638 00:42:34,605 --> 00:42:38,775 their own projects themselves as long as they meet that, that criteria. 639 00:42:38,775 --> 00:42:43,650 I think what we're looking for tonight is any other ideas that you have within that 640 00:42:43,650 --> 00:42:48,231 particular New York Forward boundary area, or for some reason you really have, 641 00:42:48,231 --> 00:42:51,990 you know, interest in, like, the boundary is not completely set, 642 00:42:51,990 --> 00:42:56,689 but it just can't be an extremely large area where they'd like to see that there 643 00:42:56,689 --> 00:42:56,807 area where they'd like to see that there is 644 00:42:56,807 --> 00:43:00,800 some sort of synergy between the different projects that get funded. 645 00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:03,091 And so that was part of the reason why, 646 00:43:03,091 --> 00:43:06,086 specifically looking at the South Riverside Avenue, 647 00:43:06,086 --> 00:43:10,609 that there is potential for some synergy from a number of different projects. 648 00:43:10,609 --> 00:43:14,264 I think it's tough to ask people to come up with hot projects. 649 00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:16,139 You need to speak in the microphone. 650 00:43:16,283 --> 00:43:19,423 Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, this is why we're taking the public, right? 651 00:43:19,423 --> 00:43:24,009 You can't have a meeting one night and then ask people to come up with projects 652 00:43:24,009 --> 00:43:28,827 tonight. Like, what you really should do is reach out to people in the village and, 653 00:43:28,827 --> 00:43:33,471 and say to them, hey, listen, you know what, here's a summary of this, you know, 654 00:43:33,471 --> 00:43:34,981 meeting that we had today. 655 00:43:34,981 --> 00:43:39,741 Because everybody talks about transparency in this town, which, you know, village. 656 00:43:39,741 --> 00:43:43,224 So let's be transparent. Let's tell them what happened here. 657 00:43:43,224 --> 00:43:47,520 Let's talk about— let's publish the projects for them and then ask people. 658 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:51,873 Then maybe that was your intent, hopefully, to then ask people, the public, 659 00:43:51,873 --> 00:43:53,035 to submit, you know, 660 00:43:53,035 --> 00:43:57,446 because maybe there are buildings that perhaps are available that within the 661 00:43:57,446 --> 00:43:57,853 perhaps are available that within the school, 662 00:43:57,853 --> 00:44:01,104 near the schools, that perhaps would be great buildings. 663 00:44:01,104 --> 00:44:03,368 And the teachers have some great ideas. 664 00:44:03,368 --> 00:44:07,779 as to, um, you know, having those buildings as part of maybe for the kids to 665 00:44:07,779 --> 00:44:08,128 buildings as part of maybe for the kids to go to, 666 00:44:08,128 --> 00:44:12,540 and maybe they're, you know, great for, you know, those that have, you know, 667 00:44:12,540 --> 00:44:17,068 learning disabilities, or those, you know, you know, maybe that are more arts, 668 00:44:17,068 --> 00:44:21,015 or something that would actually help, um, the community as a whole. 669 00:44:21,015 --> 00:44:25,427 I mean, I think it would be great to actually reach out to the community and 670 00:44:25,427 --> 00:44:25,601 actually reach out to the community and ask 671 00:44:25,601 --> 00:44:28,910 them, give them a timeline, and ask them for these ideas. 672 00:44:28,910 --> 00:44:31,638 That's— this is the beginning of a process, right? 673 00:44:31,734 --> 00:44:32,007 Yeah. 674 00:44:32,103 --> 00:44:35,916 So You know, we're probably 4 months away from submitting this grant. 675 00:44:35,916 --> 00:44:40,504 We really don't know what the timeline is because the state hasn't released it yet. 676 00:44:40,504 --> 00:44:42,438 But I mean, this is being recorded. 677 00:44:42,438 --> 00:44:45,754 The presentation is already available on the website, right? 678 00:44:45,754 --> 00:44:49,733 And this is being recorded, and this is just the beginning of a process. 679 00:44:49,733 --> 00:44:53,823 We put in the email we sent out today reminding people about this meeting, 680 00:44:53,823 --> 00:44:57,857 there was a link for people to fill out the form to share their comments. 681 00:44:57,857 --> 00:44:59,902 You know, people can always email us. 682 00:44:59,902 --> 00:45:04,323 So we will— this is— we will be doing a lot of outreach. This is just the start. 683 00:45:04,323 --> 00:45:06,534 Mayor, sure you want to answer anything? 684 00:45:06,534 --> 00:45:11,332 You might also just talk about how the community should come together and what 685 00:45:11,332 --> 00:45:16,006 happens if it's negative, like the community is negative going to the state. 686 00:45:16,006 --> 00:45:18,774 Because I would think you wouldn't want that. 687 00:45:18,774 --> 00:45:23,720 So I will just mention, when you go through the New York Forward process, 688 00:45:23,720 --> 00:45:28,463 There is another whole public outreach process, and I think, you know, 689 00:45:28,463 --> 00:45:32,122 so there is at least 2 workshops, and there's surveys, 690 00:45:32,122 --> 00:45:37,135 and so there's another outreach process on the actual projects themselves. 691 00:45:37,135 --> 00:45:39,845 So this isn't the only outreach process. 692 00:45:39,845 --> 00:45:45,198 There will be another outreach process if you are awarded the New York Forward. 693 00:45:45,198 --> 00:45:52,755 In terms of our process, We, after 30 years, finally updated our comprehensive 694 00:45:52,755 --> 00:45:53,239 years, finally updated our comprehensive plan. 695 00:45:53,239 --> 00:46:00,215 So the comprehensive plan actually provides a very good kind of roadmap, 696 00:46:00,215 --> 00:46:08,256 prioritization, and kind of North Star as far as what the village's aspirations are 697 00:46:08,256 --> 00:46:10,968 for growing and modernizing. 698 00:46:10,968 --> 00:46:18,525 So I think that helped guide our New York Forward applications over the years. 699 00:46:18,525 --> 00:46:21,141 And so, to Valerie's point, 700 00:46:21,141 --> 00:46:28,020 there were multiple workshops soliciting community input and, you know, 701 00:46:28,020 --> 00:46:31,895 help with the final list of initiatives. 702 00:46:31,895 --> 00:46:39,645 And, you know, we have 2 major private initiatives of the $4.5 $5 million grant. 703 00:46:39,645 --> 00:46:46,330 So it really is a public-private partnership, because as we all know, 704 00:46:46,330 --> 00:46:53,015 $4.5 million doesn't go that far when you're talking about a downtown 705 00:46:53,015 --> 00:46:55,340 revitalization. So yeah, 706 00:46:55,340 --> 00:47:03,381 there's a lot of community input and kind of help with kind of prioritizing what we 707 00:47:03,381 --> 00:47:11,422 want to do. And so these these 4 or 5 that we ended up were definitely supported by 708 00:47:11,422 --> 00:47:18,204 our village. The schools, you know, in terms of capacity and all that, 709 00:47:18,204 --> 00:47:23,242 that's totally separate outside of New York Forward. 710 00:47:23,242 --> 00:47:30,896 We recently hired a new superintendent in the last, I don't know, 4 or 5 years. 711 00:47:30,896 --> 00:47:36,612 And he actually, one of the first achievements he made, uh, 712 00:47:36,612 --> 00:47:40,390 was passing an $86 million school bond. 713 00:47:40,390 --> 00:47:47,269 So everybody, whether you live in Westchester or any other state in the 714 00:47:47,269 --> 00:47:48,044 Westchester or any other state in the country, 715 00:47:48,044 --> 00:47:53,953 the majority of the taxes that we pay all go towards schools. 716 00:47:53,953 --> 00:48:00,735 So Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown, which have a combined school district, 717 00:48:00,735 --> 00:48:06,548 hadn't upgraded their school infrastructure since the 1950s. 718 00:48:06,548 --> 00:48:12,167 So $86 million went to upgrading all the, all the schools, 719 00:48:12,167 --> 00:48:19,530 and then we got additional funding for some green initiatives and, and such. 720 00:48:19,530 --> 00:48:23,696 So there's a lot going on in Sleepy Hollow. 721 00:48:23,696 --> 00:48:28,348 Thank you. Mr. Riley, you want to— 722 00:48:28,348 --> 00:48:32,345 I'd like to make a suggestion, but I'll take my time. 723 00:48:32,345 --> 00:48:37,022 Um, I suggest that you pass the microphone around if it works, 724 00:48:37,022 --> 00:48:41,019 and people can ask a question, maybe follow up on it, 725 00:48:41,019 --> 00:48:46,600 then the next person can ask their question, as opposed to allotting time. 726 00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:51,654 Um, I came here very suspicious because this is a planning session. 727 00:48:51,654 --> 00:48:57,537 Um, we're in a tremendous controversy in Croton over transit-oriented housing. 728 00:48:57,537 --> 00:49:03,118 We have one behemoth that has— which will be taller than the Harmon Shops, 729 00:49:03,118 --> 00:49:05,004 which we had no say over. 730 00:49:05,004 --> 00:49:09,076 Um, and therefore, my basic questions have to do with, 731 00:49:09,076 --> 00:49:11,490 did we have to qualify for this? 732 00:49:11,490 --> 00:49:17,071 In other words, did we have to be a pro-housing community, which I hope we 733 00:49:17,071 --> 00:49:17,524 pro-housing community, which I hope we don't— 734 00:49:17,524 --> 00:49:23,482 I hope we dis— associate ourselves with that operation because it's basically a 735 00:49:23,482 --> 00:49:28,837 dirty political deal between a state senator and a governor to urbanize 736 00:49:28,837 --> 00:49:29,667 senator and a governor to urbanize Westchester 737 00:49:29,667 --> 00:49:35,022 County. So my question is, is do we have to be a pro-housing community? 738 00:49:35,022 --> 00:49:39,396 Did, did Sleepy Hollow have to be a pro-housing community? 739 00:49:39,396 --> 00:49:44,751 Do we have to promise to make certain number of housing units going in? 740 00:49:44,751 --> 00:49:47,995 Um, And what other requirements were there? 741 00:49:47,995 --> 00:49:53,048 Typically with these things associated, these environmental things, 742 00:49:53,048 --> 00:49:57,422 there are things like bike lanes, which I see are in here. 743 00:49:57,422 --> 00:50:00,892 So I would like to know what the minimums are. 744 00:50:00,892 --> 00:50:05,945 I would also like to know who they is. Who, who decides this stuff? 745 00:50:05,945 --> 00:50:09,188 And is this— what criteria they decided by? 746 00:50:09,188 --> 00:50:13,261 And is there an appellate process, a judicial process, 747 00:50:13,261 --> 00:50:16,052 or is it just A bunch of bureaucrats, 748 00:50:16,052 --> 00:50:20,728 but what are the basic foundational things to get in the door? 749 00:50:20,728 --> 00:50:22,387 Because quite frankly, 750 00:50:22,387 --> 00:50:28,119 the entire upstate New York needs this money more than anybody in the Hudson 751 00:50:28,119 --> 00:50:28,647 money more than anybody in the Hudson Valley, 752 00:50:28,647 --> 00:50:31,438 including Elmsford and Sleepy Hollow. 753 00:50:31,438 --> 00:50:37,472 So, but but but Westchester has been very cooperative with this suburban housing 754 00:50:37,472 --> 00:50:40,036 development, and our villages and. 755 00:50:40,036 --> 00:50:42,299 been at the forefront of that, 756 00:50:42,299 --> 00:50:48,107 probably because of a conflict of interest between some of the members of our 757 00:50:48,107 --> 00:50:51,576 boards. So that's— I would like that answered. 758 00:50:51,576 --> 00:50:55,423 There are some questions I'd like to ask the mayor. 759 00:50:55,423 --> 00:50:59,194 I've been dying to ask the mayor of Sleepy Hollow. 760 00:50:59,194 --> 00:51:05,378 We can't tell where Sleepy Hollow, unlike Croton— I believe one has 10,000 people, 761 00:51:05,378 --> 00:51:08,395 2,000 more than we do— and it's married. 762 00:51:08,395 --> 00:51:13,750 It's in the town of Mount Pleasant, married to a village in the town of 763 00:51:13,750 --> 00:51:14,580 married to a village in the town of Greenburgh, 764 00:51:14,580 --> 00:51:17,823 which makes for an interesting combination. 765 00:51:17,823 --> 00:51:23,555 But down the waterfront, where we've seen an entire new village, maybe city, 766 00:51:23,555 --> 00:51:29,438 develop, maybe you can explain how many units are in there, how many belong to 767 00:51:29,438 --> 00:51:29,740 units are in there, how many belong to you, 768 00:51:29,740 --> 00:51:32,757 how many belong to Tarrytown, etc., etc. 769 00:51:32,757 --> 00:51:38,640 Was any of this built as part of a promise to the state about transit-oriented 770 00:51:38,640 --> 00:51:44,070 housing, as, as has been said in architectural magazines? in Westchester 771 00:51:44,070 --> 00:51:44,598 architectural magazines? in Westchester County. 772 00:51:44,598 --> 00:51:48,143 Um, and it would be interesting to me also, um, 773 00:51:48,143 --> 00:51:52,367 how many pot stores you have between the village of, um, 774 00:51:52,367 --> 00:51:57,269 Sleepy Hollow and the village of Tarrytown and surrounding areas. 775 00:51:57,269 --> 00:52:03,379 And perhaps you could tell us the size of your budget so we can compare it to the 776 00:52:03,379 --> 00:52:05,415 village of Croton's budget. 777 00:52:05,415 --> 00:52:09,035 And then, um, Then you can tell us specifically, 778 00:52:09,035 --> 00:52:14,239 both of you can tell us specifically what the housing requirement is. 779 00:52:14,239 --> 00:52:19,670 You know, you, you got a grant in 2022 for $4.3 million, whatever it is. 780 00:52:19,670 --> 00:52:25,930 $500,000 could buy a single-family house. And it certainly couldn't build 2 houses. 781 00:52:25,930 --> 00:52:31,813 Maybe they're for ADCs or something like that. So maybe you could explain that 782 00:52:31,813 --> 00:52:32,190 that. So maybe you could explain that also. 783 00:52:32,190 --> 00:52:35,584 Um, just to acquaint us with your experience. 784 00:52:35,584 --> 00:52:38,224 I think the only thing on the list— 785 00:52:38,224 --> 00:52:41,920 425 Riverside Avenue should never be on the list. 786 00:52:41,920 --> 00:52:45,163 Save More should never be on a Croton list. 787 00:52:45,163 --> 00:52:51,046 A bike lane, maybe a traffic light at Oneida to, uh, to ease with the traffic, 788 00:52:51,046 --> 00:52:54,515 or the Save More traffic might be appropriate. 789 00:52:54,515 --> 00:52:59,719 And, and anything with housing in Croton should not be on this thing. 790 00:52:59,719 --> 00:53:01,605 And the last question is, 791 00:53:01,605 --> 00:53:07,714 is this money part of this big housing compromise from 4 or 5 years ago where the 792 00:53:07,714 --> 00:53:11,335 state wanted to take over zoning at every level? 793 00:53:11,335 --> 00:53:17,444 Was this, this lump sum of money, chump change, actually part of that compromise? 794 00:53:17,444 --> 00:53:21,064 So I have a lot of questions. I have still more. 795 00:53:21,064 --> 00:53:24,986 And once again, I'd recommend if you pass it around, 796 00:53:24,986 --> 00:53:29,436 we could ask one people could ask one at a time. Thank you. 797 00:53:29,436 --> 00:53:33,473 You want me to— you want me to start? 798 00:53:33,473 --> 00:53:35,216 If you want, and then you can pass it on. 799 00:53:35,216 --> 00:53:35,652 Okay. 800 00:53:35,652 --> 00:53:37,441 Explain more about the program. 801 00:53:37,441 --> 00:53:40,428 Okay, so, um, I think your first question was, 802 00:53:40,428 --> 00:53:43,675 do we have to be a pro-housing community for this? 803 00:53:43,675 --> 00:53:46,077 And the answer to that is yes, right? 804 00:53:46,077 --> 00:53:51,012 So there's most— most state programs now are prefaced on being a pro-housing 805 00:53:51,012 --> 00:53:51,921 community. So— 806 00:53:51,921 --> 00:53:56,119 Can you tell us what the minimum For pro-housing, what is the minimum 807 00:53:56,119 --> 00:53:56,788 pro-housing, what is the minimum definition? 808 00:53:56,788 --> 00:54:00,424 Come back to— if you're gonna— if we're gonna have a conversation, 809 00:54:00,424 --> 00:54:02,627 you gotta come back to the podium. Yeah. 810 00:54:02,820 --> 00:54:05,682 So that's why I suggest we pass this around. 811 00:54:05,682 --> 00:54:09,910 Can you tell us what the minimum is for pro-housing 10 out there? 812 00:54:10,199 --> 00:54:14,059 There is— I mean, there was an initial— when you initially applied, 813 00:54:14,059 --> 00:54:18,610 you had to meet certain metrics, which I don't remember off the top of my head. 814 00:54:18,610 --> 00:54:23,045 Um, but since that time we have been recertified and there are no set metrics 815 00:54:23,045 --> 00:54:23,276 recertified and there are no set metrics that 816 00:54:23,276 --> 00:54:25,292 you have to, that you have to meet. 817 00:54:25,292 --> 00:54:29,345 Right. When they, when they, when the program first started, there was, 818 00:54:29,345 --> 00:54:33,683 there was something about a 1% growth over a 3-year period or something like 819 00:54:33,683 --> 00:54:33,968 that. 820 00:54:33,968 --> 00:54:35,924 Or 3% over one, something like that. 821 00:54:36,021 --> 00:54:38,458 Yeah. So, but basically a lot of— 822 00:54:38,458 --> 00:54:40,334 Is that population or housing units? 823 00:54:40,334 --> 00:54:43,181 It was, it was, uh, housing units. 824 00:54:43,181 --> 00:54:49,293 Um, but most or a majority of the communities did not meet that criteria. 825 00:54:49,293 --> 00:54:54,149 And so the state redesigned the program so that, you know, 826 00:54:54,149 --> 00:55:00,596 it required communities just to pass a resolution stating that basically that 827 00:55:00,596 --> 00:55:00,931 resolution stating that basically that they 828 00:55:00,931 --> 00:55:03,359 were in support of, you know, 829 00:55:03,359 --> 00:55:09,220 basically they were in support of residential communities and wouldn't 830 00:55:09,220 --> 00:55:10,141 residential communities and wouldn't necessarily 831 00:55:10,141 --> 00:55:11,732 throw up obstacles. 832 00:55:11,732 --> 00:55:15,538 Got a question on that is, What would— you know this, I don't— 833 00:55:15,538 --> 00:55:17,748 what is 1% of Croton's housing unit? 834 00:55:17,748 --> 00:55:20,511 How many units would have to be built a year? 835 00:55:20,511 --> 00:55:24,570 It was— I want to— I would like to believe— 836 00:55:24,570 --> 00:55:25,516 How many units are there now? 837 00:55:25,516 --> 00:55:29,656 That's why I would want to say we're somewhere around 3,100 or 3,200. 838 00:55:29,656 --> 00:55:33,442 So 10% is 310, right? 1% is 30. 839 00:55:33,987 --> 00:55:34,067 Yeah. 840 00:55:34,148 --> 00:55:37,116 So that's 30 single-family homes, 30 apartments. 841 00:55:37,196 --> 00:55:38,720 Yeah, it's 30 housing units. 842 00:55:38,784 --> 00:55:38,977 Yeah. 843 00:55:39,282 --> 00:55:43,885 And that's why a lot of communities were not, you know, because if you had like, 844 00:55:43,885 --> 00:55:46,878 if a community had a particular development come in, 845 00:55:46,878 --> 00:55:49,582 like let's say it was like multifamily housing, 846 00:55:49,582 --> 00:55:51,769 or let's say it was a new subdivision, 847 00:55:51,769 --> 00:55:55,221 most likely they didn't have that developed year after year, 848 00:55:55,221 --> 00:55:59,652 especially the more denser communities that already, like to a larger extent, 849 00:55:59,652 --> 00:56:01,148 have a lot of development. 850 00:56:01,148 --> 00:56:05,176 So it really was just your big cities that were meeting those targets. 851 00:56:05,176 --> 00:56:09,147 That's why they changed the program just to have a resolution passed. 852 00:56:09,147 --> 00:56:11,679 There's no targets, there's no requirements, 853 00:56:11,679 --> 00:56:16,455 except that you're supposed to submit your statistics every year just to note that, 854 00:56:16,455 --> 00:56:20,195 you know, what has been done in terms of building permits issued. 855 00:56:20,195 --> 00:56:24,929 So what is the likelihood that a village like Sleepy Hollow— 856 00:56:24,929 --> 00:56:29,585 it's probably built 100 or 200 units a year— versus Croton, 857 00:56:29,585 --> 00:56:33,688 who looks like we're going to build 1,000, you know, 858 00:56:33,688 --> 00:56:37,396 500 units or 300 units in the next 2 years, uh, 859 00:56:37,396 --> 00:56:40,473 who may be going at a pace of 30 or 50? 860 00:56:40,473 --> 00:56:44,103 What's the likelihood of us winning this race? 861 00:56:44,103 --> 00:56:46,055 It's not— it's not necessarily so. 862 00:56:46,055 --> 00:56:49,098 So you mean in terms of the New York Forward funding? 863 00:56:49,098 --> 00:56:53,059 So you just have to be a pro-housing community in order to submit the 864 00:56:53,059 --> 00:56:53,748 community in order to submit the application. 865 00:56:53,748 --> 00:56:57,709 Other than that, uh, they Just the same things as I was referring to, 866 00:56:57,709 --> 00:57:02,130 that they'd like to see that things are happening within the area that you've 867 00:57:02,130 --> 00:57:06,780 defined as the New York Forward area in terms of the different types of potential 868 00:57:06,780 --> 00:57:07,297 projects. 869 00:57:07,297 --> 00:57:08,691 And who is the they? 870 00:57:08,691 --> 00:57:10,390 I'm sorry, the they is— 871 00:57:10,390 --> 00:57:10,838 Who is they? 872 00:57:10,838 --> 00:57:14,414 Yeah, so the they is actually the economic regional councils. 873 00:57:14,414 --> 00:57:18,870 There's 10 of them throughout the state, and we're in the Mid-Hudson region. 874 00:57:18,870 --> 00:57:23,267 And then it's also the Department of State and the Empire State Development 875 00:57:23,267 --> 00:57:25,377 Corporation that also gets involved. 876 00:57:25,377 --> 00:57:29,471 I'd like to draw people's attention to projects like this, 877 00:57:29,471 --> 00:57:34,765 one of which the Industrial Development Authority in the state of New York, 878 00:57:34,765 --> 00:57:36,459 in Yonkers and so forth, 879 00:57:36,459 --> 00:57:41,753 what the history and the smell from those organizations has been over time. 880 00:57:41,753 --> 00:57:46,905 I'd like to propose a couple of thoughts that have never been brought up. 881 00:57:46,905 --> 00:57:51,846 One, the village of Croton has a lousy relationship with the railroad. 882 00:57:51,846 --> 00:57:57,776 They don't have a great relationship with Westchester County in terms of pushing the 883 00:57:57,776 --> 00:58:02,575 railroad, pushing Westchester County, and pushing back on the state. 884 00:58:02,575 --> 00:58:07,728 And part of this is because the relationships and jobs of some people are 885 00:58:07,728 --> 00:58:12,810 intertwined with these things, so they can't push back like they should. 886 00:58:12,810 --> 00:58:17,116 And what I'm referring to is, if we had a full map of Croton, 887 00:58:17,116 --> 00:58:19,728 half of Croton would be in the water. 888 00:58:19,728 --> 00:58:25,374 Probably 30 to 35% would be either owned by Westchester County, which are parks, 889 00:58:25,374 --> 00:58:27,210 half of which is not used. 890 00:58:27,210 --> 00:58:31,515 And then our railroad, which runs through the entire village, 891 00:58:31,515 --> 00:58:37,021 including a huge plant, which to my understanding we get zero back, zero back, 892 00:58:37,021 --> 00:58:42,032 and we don't even talk to them except when we send our fire department. 893 00:58:42,032 --> 00:58:45,209 And then— And I'm, I'm scared about this one. 894 00:58:45,209 --> 00:58:50,220 I understand that Historic Hudson Valley is not in good economic shape. 895 00:58:50,220 --> 00:58:55,373 They've lost, I think, 3 or 4 of their properties over the last 10 years. 896 00:58:55,373 --> 00:59:00,808 I really don't know what I'm talking about here, but that's what the word is. 897 00:59:00,808 --> 00:59:03,279 And they've let go a lot of people. 898 00:59:03,279 --> 00:59:04,902 They just lost Kayakut, 899 00:59:04,902 --> 00:59:09,419 and they have a piece of property there above their manor house, 900 00:59:09,419 --> 00:59:14,431 which I'm afraid someday will look like the Dyckman House in the Bronx. 901 00:59:14,431 --> 00:59:19,372 It'll be a half a, a half an acre surrounded by cityscape and pigeons. 902 00:59:19,372 --> 00:59:21,700 Um, Mr. Riley, if you could just— 903 00:59:21,700 --> 00:59:27,912 And lastly, we have the state of New York, which owns a huge road corridor. 904 00:59:27,912 --> 00:59:34,124 And, and in addition to that, we have railroad properties at the north end, 905 00:59:34,124 --> 00:59:40,501 a CSX freight yard, and an old, uh, passenger yard with an abandoned station, 906 00:59:40,501 --> 00:59:42,406 it looks like now, etc. 907 00:59:42,406 --> 00:59:46,961 And then lastly, no one's ever proposed looking at the— 908 00:59:46,961 --> 00:59:53,256 then this is ecological environmental impact of what happened down below Van 909 00:59:53,256 --> 00:59:57,646 Cortlandt Manor when they put that first road across. 910 00:59:57,646 --> 01:00:03,526 And then ever since then, we've been encroaching upon a bird sanctuary, 911 01:00:03,526 --> 01:00:06,922 a sanctuary for fish and everything else. 912 01:00:06,922 --> 01:00:13,051 And we've never advanced— with all our claims to be environmentally sound— 913 01:00:13,051 --> 01:00:19,097 never advanced any ideas to improve that area in terms of wildlife, etc., 914 01:00:19,097 --> 01:00:24,729 as opposed to putting like 50 kayaks on the Croton River. Thank you. 915 01:00:24,729 --> 01:00:30,433 Okay, do we have further 916 01:00:30,433 --> 01:00:34,235 speakers for our 917 01:00:34,235 --> 01:00:36,849 Commenters? 918 01:00:36,849 --> 01:00:40,131 Okay, I'm Connie Warren. I live at 1 Young Avenue. 919 01:00:40,131 --> 01:00:45,055 For the most part, this seems like something that would be good for Harmon, 920 01:00:45,055 --> 01:00:47,615 where I've lived for the last 13 years. 921 01:00:47,615 --> 01:00:51,686 It's one of the 3 neighborhoods in Croton that we've lived in. 922 01:00:51,686 --> 01:00:56,478 The one exception is the 425 South Riverside development, which is highly 923 01:00:56,478 --> 01:00:57,134 Riverside development, which is highly contested. 924 01:00:57,134 --> 01:01:02,058 So I have a question about community engagement and what that really means. 925 01:01:02,058 --> 01:01:03,699 From what it sounds like, 926 01:01:03,699 --> 01:01:09,082 community input is come suggest projects to us or tell us if you like our projects 927 01:01:09,082 --> 01:01:11,905 or not, or add some frills to our projects. 928 01:01:11,905 --> 01:01:15,779 But I'm not sure that community input of a broader kind is, 929 01:01:15,779 --> 01:01:18,470 is actually being invited in the process. 930 01:01:18,470 --> 01:01:22,672 I mean, how much is it a symbolic process versus a real process? 931 01:01:22,672 --> 01:01:25,101 So I want to know, are any residents, 932 01:01:25,101 --> 01:01:30,156 and particularly residents who would be immediately affected by the 425 South 933 01:01:30,156 --> 01:01:34,817 Riverside development, anticipated becoming part of a planning process? 934 01:01:34,817 --> 01:01:38,296 Who's in— who gets involved in that planning process? 935 01:01:38,296 --> 01:01:42,432 Is it only business people, or are residents actually involved? 936 01:01:42,432 --> 01:01:43,861 Do you want to— 937 01:01:43,861 --> 01:01:44,503 Yeah, sure. 938 01:01:44,600 --> 01:01:48,455 So there's 2 different processes kind of taking place, right? 939 01:01:48,455 --> 01:01:53,195 So this is the grant application where we're just identifying trying, like, 940 01:01:53,195 --> 01:01:57,050 as part of the grant application, the state likes to see, um, 941 01:01:57,050 --> 01:02:01,726 what types of potential housing developments are potentially in that area, 942 01:02:01,726 --> 01:02:02,106 developments are potentially in that area, right? 943 01:02:02,106 --> 01:02:06,845 That is separate from the land use approval process that the planning board 944 01:02:06,845 --> 01:02:07,288 approval process that the planning board is just 945 01:02:07,288 --> 01:02:08,804 starting. So ultimately, 946 01:02:08,804 --> 01:02:13,607 the village will still have full control over what ends up getting built and 947 01:02:13,607 --> 01:02:15,061 developed at that site. 948 01:02:15,061 --> 01:02:18,979 That has nothing to do with this New York Forward application. 949 01:02:18,979 --> 01:02:23,845 All it is is identifying that there's a potential housing project within that 950 01:02:23,845 --> 01:02:24,161 potential housing project within that area, 951 01:02:24,161 --> 01:02:28,143 but it doesn't necessarily mean that that project is finalized, 952 01:02:28,143 --> 01:02:33,262 settled on a particular, like, number of residential units or anything like that. 953 01:02:33,262 --> 01:02:37,053 That's all through the planning process that has just begun. 954 01:02:37,053 --> 01:02:39,012 So they are, they are separate. 955 01:02:39,012 --> 01:02:43,879 The purpose of today's and also the public outreach that's taking place is to 956 01:02:43,879 --> 01:02:48,934 identify if there's any other types of projects that we could potentially add to 957 01:02:48,934 --> 01:02:53,169 that list to identify what's potentially taking place in that area. 958 01:02:53,169 --> 01:02:57,908 And then also just to receive public feedback like yourselves on, you know, 959 01:02:57,908 --> 01:03:02,269 types of projects that you're— that you like, don't like necessarily, 960 01:03:02,269 --> 01:03:07,261 and so that we could potentially emphasize certain projects over other projects 961 01:03:07,261 --> 01:03:08,715 within the application. 962 01:03:09,149 --> 01:03:13,286 So when— once the local planning committee is formed, will residents be part— 963 01:03:13,286 --> 01:03:17,046 will there be any residents that will be asked to be part of the local 964 01:03:17,046 --> 01:03:17,530 planning? 965 01:03:17,530 --> 01:03:20,549 So the local planning committee, ultimately, if awarded, 966 01:03:20,549 --> 01:03:23,676 there is the local planning committee that gets developed. 967 01:03:23,676 --> 01:03:27,935 They usually like to see representatives from many facets within the community. 968 01:03:27,935 --> 01:03:32,086 And that'll be up to the village to identify who potentially would be on that 969 01:03:32,086 --> 01:03:32,355 identify who potentially would be on that local 970 01:03:32,355 --> 01:03:36,507 planning committee. But and you could probably talk about your local planning 971 01:03:36,507 --> 01:03:40,766 committee, but I think for the most part there are usually representatives from 972 01:03:40,766 --> 01:03:45,186 residents, you know, or somebody that's involved in like the chamber or, you know, 973 01:03:45,186 --> 01:03:48,367 business owner or property owners or people that, you know— 974 01:03:48,367 --> 01:03:52,093 Business and property owners seems for granted, you know. 975 01:03:52,093 --> 01:03:57,453 I mean, Harmon is the lowest income area of Croton. It has the most modest houses. 976 01:03:57,453 --> 01:04:00,264 It has people with the most modest incomes. 977 01:04:00,264 --> 01:04:05,232 And it has the people who are not likely to be in the decision-making rooms. 978 01:04:05,232 --> 01:04:10,396 So the question is, will people from Harmon be involved in the decision-making? 979 01:04:10,396 --> 01:04:14,404 Typically, it's people— there are people, there are representatives from, 980 01:04:14,404 --> 01:04:17,204 I'm going to say properties, it could be residents, 981 01:04:17,204 --> 01:04:21,431 it could be organizations within that New York Forward area that are on that. 982 01:04:21,431 --> 01:04:24,980 I guess the feedback that I'm giving you is that, you know, 983 01:04:24,980 --> 01:04:29,672 getting a notice last Friday afternoon for a meeting with almost no supporting 984 01:04:29,672 --> 01:04:33,882 materials with the exception of being able to see the state guidebook. 985 01:04:33,882 --> 01:04:38,574 It feels like a very one-way kind of community engagement, and it doesn't feel 986 01:04:38,574 --> 01:04:38,875 community engagement, and it doesn't feel like, 987 01:04:38,875 --> 01:04:43,807 you know, it feels like we come into this room being asked for input when we don't 988 01:04:43,807 --> 01:04:47,116 even really know what we're being asked for input into. 989 01:04:47,116 --> 01:04:51,748 I would hope that in the future that it's a much more two-way and substantive 990 01:04:51,748 --> 01:04:56,680 process and a much less symbolic process that fulfills state requirements that you 991 01:04:56,680 --> 01:05:00,830 have a certain number of community engagement meetings on a potential 992 01:05:00,830 --> 01:05:01,312 engagement meetings on a potential project. 993 01:05:01,312 --> 01:05:06,304 I don't know whether— where the boundary lines are for the Croton Railroad Station, 994 01:05:06,304 --> 01:05:10,455 how much is Metro-North controlled and how much is Croton controlled, 995 01:05:10,455 --> 01:05:15,267 but someday somebody's going to fall down the stairs at that station because the 996 01:05:15,267 --> 01:05:16,711 stairways are crumbling. 997 01:05:16,711 --> 01:05:21,643 So if it is possible within the range of projects to renovate the stairways at the 998 01:05:21,643 --> 01:05:25,613 Croton station. I think that you should put that in your proposal. 999 01:05:25,613 --> 01:05:28,642 Thank you. And as, as I said, um, previously, 1000 01:05:28,642 --> 01:05:31,468 this is just the beginning of the process. 1001 01:05:31,468 --> 01:05:35,910 So, you know, there will be many more opportunities for people to, 1002 01:05:35,910 --> 01:05:37,256 to give their input. 1003 01:05:37,256 --> 01:05:42,511 I want to thank the mayor of Sleepy Hollow for coming out 1004 01:05:42,511 --> 01:05:47,766 to speak with us tonight. Um, I, I, I do have— I do have— 1005 01:05:47,766 --> 01:05:49,410 John, could you just introduce yourself? 1006 01:05:49,410 --> 01:05:49,768 John McKeehan. 1007 01:05:50,326 --> 01:05:50,604 Thank you. 1008 01:05:50,604 --> 01:05:53,013 Um, I do have a question. 1009 01:05:53,013 --> 01:06:00,145 Do you, do you control the tax assessment process in the village of Sleepy 1010 01:06:00,145 --> 01:06:07,372 Hollow? Or is that part of a greater entity that makes determinations as to 1011 01:06:07,372 --> 01:06:09,781 valuations of properties? 1012 01:06:09,781 --> 01:06:16,816 Because what I'm trying to get to and trying to understand Is that in the 1013 01:06:16,816 --> 01:06:19,900 state of New York, structurally, 1014 01:06:19,900 --> 01:06:27,417 probably because of the presence of New York City as a political entity in our 1015 01:06:27,417 --> 01:06:34,837 state, multifamily residential units and apartment complexes pay about 40% of 1016 01:06:34,837 --> 01:06:42,065 what individual homeowners pay in terms of the valuation of their property. 1017 01:06:42,602 --> 01:06:42,972 for the— 1018 01:06:43,040 --> 01:06:45,192 to pay their tax bill. 1019 01:06:45,192 --> 01:06:50,671 And what we pay on average for the 3,000-odd residences, 1020 01:06:50,671 --> 01:06:54,976 both individual apartments and condominiums, 1021 01:06:54,976 --> 01:07:02,118 towards our schools and towards the operation of our village, on average, 1022 01:07:02,118 --> 01:07:05,347 is probably about $12,000 a year. 1023 01:07:05,347 --> 01:07:13,467 We are in the process of bringing online a 100-unit structure down in a parking lot 1024 01:07:13,467 --> 01:07:20,805 by our train station that will, will net about $4,000 a year per occupancy. 1025 01:07:20,805 --> 01:07:24,131 And we have already built and are, 1026 01:07:24,131 --> 01:07:31,469 are operating another unit at Maple Commons That's generating $2,000 a year 1027 01:07:31,469 --> 01:07:31,762 Commons That's generating $2,000 a year per 1028 01:07:31,762 --> 01:07:39,491 unit, while we are being asked to pay property tax and school tax in individual 1029 01:07:39,491 --> 01:07:45,068 residences at a level on average of about $12,000 a year. 1030 01:07:45,068 --> 01:07:50,938 A lot of villages have faced the same dynamic in our county, 1031 01:07:50,938 --> 01:07:58,080 and as a result they've gone to a fee simple structure for tax assessment 1032 01:07:58,080 --> 01:07:58,863 simple structure for tax assessment purposes 1033 01:07:58,863 --> 01:08:06,201 so that there is an equalization between the condominium value property tax 1034 01:08:06,201 --> 01:08:12,169 payments with the individual homeowner property tax payments. 1035 01:08:12,169 --> 01:08:19,702 Our village made a determination just a year ago to preclude that capability. 1036 01:08:19,702 --> 01:08:27,627 Because they voted to save half an FTE to have the control of our taxation in the 1037 01:08:27,627 --> 01:08:34,769 town of Cortland. There are other mechanisms that we could use to try and 1038 01:08:34,769 --> 01:08:35,258 mechanisms that we could use to try and right 1039 01:08:35,258 --> 01:08:41,617 that wrong. But my question is to you, in, in your village, this— 1040 01:08:41,617 --> 01:08:45,726 these units that are being brought online, 1041 01:08:45,726 --> 01:08:53,358 these luxury units that are being brought online, How are they being assessed? 1042 01:08:53,358 --> 01:08:55,412 Who's assessing them? 1043 01:08:55,412 --> 01:09:02,554 And are they paying property taxes comparable to single individual family 1044 01:09:02,554 --> 01:09:05,978 residences that are in the village? 1045 01:09:05,978 --> 01:09:13,414 And, and do you see that as a problem, or is that a solution that you found? 1046 01:09:13,414 --> 01:09:16,670 So we have our own tax assessor, 1047 01:09:16,670 --> 01:09:23,895 and I would like to do a tax reevaluation with the entire town of Mount 1048 01:09:23,895 --> 01:09:31,730 Pleasant, as this gentleman has pointed out that the village of Sleepy Hollow 1049 01:09:31,730 --> 01:09:34,579 is a part of Mount Pleasant. 1050 01:09:34,579 --> 01:09:40,074 Mount Pleasant is not interested in doing a tax revow. 1051 01:09:40,074 --> 01:09:46,892 We haven't done one in 30 years. They haven't done one in 50 years. 1052 01:09:46,892 --> 01:09:54,320 So we're kind of We have, as our village administrator likes to describe, 1053 01:09:54,320 --> 01:10:02,257 we have the poorest of the poor because we have a lot of low-income housing in 1054 01:10:02,257 --> 01:10:05,615 the southern part of the village, 1055 01:10:05,615 --> 01:10:11,618 all the way up to the Rockefellers live in Pocantico Hills. 1056 01:10:11,618 --> 01:10:17,825 And then the Edge on Hudson, to answer your earlier question, 1057 01:10:17,825 --> 01:10:25,661 it was approved for 1,177 units. new housing units. We're about halfway done. 1058 01:10:25,661 --> 01:10:32,376 We just issued the first, the like 600th certificate of occupancy. 1059 01:10:32,376 --> 01:10:39,601 I'm told that one of the units at Edge on Hudson sold for $6.7 million. 1060 01:10:39,601 --> 01:10:43,875 So we have the wide range of market value. 1061 01:10:43,875 --> 01:10:51,608 Sleepy Hollow is also unique We're one of the few municipalities that have a 1062 01:10:51,608 --> 01:10:55,475 homestead/non-homestead tax structure. 1063 01:10:55,475 --> 01:10:55,780 Okay. 1064 01:10:55,780 --> 01:10:58,655 So we're different than Croton. 1065 01:10:58,655 --> 01:11:04,777 But the way I look at it is if the person who's lucky enough to be 1066 01:11:04,777 --> 01:11:09,601 able to afford a $6.7 million home in Sleepy Hollow, 1067 01:11:09,601 --> 01:11:15,073 he should pay the commensurate property taxes to, you know, 1068 01:11:15,073 --> 01:11:20,175 because he can afford it. And everyone in between will— 1069 01:11:20,175 --> 01:11:22,108 We have similar— 1070 01:11:22,526 --> 01:11:27,474 we have people in what I call— I came from Long Island— 1071 01:11:27,474 --> 01:11:34,222 a Levitt house in Harmon that are paying $11,000 to $12,000 a year in taxes 1072 01:11:34,222 --> 01:11:38,720 towards the school and maintenance of the village. 1073 01:11:38,720 --> 01:11:45,827 And, and they are holding on to their houses with their fingernails because the 1074 01:11:45,827 --> 01:11:52,665 value of these houses has geometrically increased in the last several years. 1075 01:11:52,665 --> 01:11:57,883 They really have no other place to go in this marketplace, 1076 01:11:57,883 --> 01:12:04,450 and the expense associated with maintaining their house and paying school 1077 01:12:04,450 --> 01:12:05,080 maintaining their house and paying school tax and 1078 01:12:05,080 --> 01:12:07,959 property tax is very burdensome. 1079 01:12:07,959 --> 01:12:15,156 And my concern is that bringing in these additional units at de facto subsidized 1080 01:12:15,156 --> 01:12:20,284 tax rates on top of federal incentives, state incentives. 1081 01:12:20,284 --> 01:12:27,212 And now you're talking about additional incentives of $500,000 for subsidized 1082 01:12:27,212 --> 01:12:31,170 housing associated with another grant level. 1083 01:12:31,170 --> 01:12:34,589 It's, it's just a little scary for me. 1084 01:12:34,589 --> 01:12:40,789 I, I will say, um, That we have high tax burden in 1085 01:12:40,789 --> 01:12:48,229 Westchester, and it's not the fault of little village mayors 1086 01:12:48,229 --> 01:12:51,577 or whoever you wanna blame, 1087 01:12:51,577 --> 01:12:57,777 but it's a systemic issue in that in the county of 1088 01:12:57,777 --> 01:13:02,860 Westchester, There are 40 municipalities, 1089 01:13:02,860 --> 01:13:07,324 each with their own school district. 1090 01:13:07,324 --> 01:13:10,424 In the state of New York, 1091 01:13:10,424 --> 01:13:16,624 there are 686 school districts and municipalities. 1092 01:13:16,624 --> 01:13:19,724 In the state of Maryland, 1093 01:13:19,724 --> 01:13:26,544 guess how many counties and school districts there are? 1094 01:13:26,544 --> 01:13:27,478 50. 1095 01:13:29,570 --> 01:13:31,190 On my— 1096 01:13:31,190 --> 01:13:34,030 my— They're all county school districts down there. 1097 01:13:34,030 --> 01:13:34,150 Yeah. 1098 01:13:34,150 --> 01:13:36,470 Virginia, Maryland, all county. Yeah. 1099 01:13:36,470 --> 01:13:36,490 County— 1100 01:13:36,490 --> 01:13:38,350 terrible, but county school districts. 1101 01:13:38,350 --> 01:13:40,530 So I don't know how many counties there are in Maryland, but— 1102 01:13:40,530 --> 01:13:44,790 Montgomery County, population 1 million, 1 school district. 1103 01:13:44,790 --> 01:13:44,970 Right. 1104 01:13:44,970 --> 01:13:48,964 Exactly. So in the state of Maryland, you know, 1105 01:13:48,964 --> 01:13:54,998 Maryland and New York are very different places. There are 24 counties. 1106 01:13:54,998 --> 01:14:01,967 school districts. So when you compare 24 school districts to 686 school districts, 1107 01:14:01,967 --> 01:14:06,981 and we all know the majority of our taxes go to pay school. 1108 01:14:07,881 --> 01:14:11,983 Yeah. That's why we're at over $40,000 per 1109 01:14:11,983 --> 01:14:16,182 student in the village of Croton-on-Hudson. 1110 01:14:16,712 --> 01:14:22,763 Okay, if we could, Mr. So my point is, No, answer your question. 1111 01:14:23,070 --> 01:14:23,798 He gave you— 1112 01:14:23,878 --> 01:14:25,899 no, Mr. Riley, no, no. 1113 01:14:26,238 --> 01:14:27,984 You asked— will you ask her to answer your question? 1114 01:14:27,984 --> 01:14:31,435 No, I don't need to get into a debate. 1115 01:14:31,435 --> 01:14:38,790 I just want to bring home the point that if we're going to have development here, 1116 01:14:38,790 --> 01:14:40,879 and I'm not against it, 1117 01:14:40,879 --> 01:14:48,053 that that development pays for its fair share of the tax burden that we face as 1118 01:14:48,053 --> 01:14:51,231 incumbent residents in our village. 1119 01:14:51,231 --> 01:14:57,884 Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to share 1120 01:14:57,884 --> 01:15:04,416 their thoughts on New York Forward? You're next, John. 1121 01:15:04,416 --> 01:15:07,918 Hi, Adam Shapiro. Adam Shapiro, 37 Wells Avenue. 1122 01:15:07,918 --> 01:15:12,661 So as you know, I've moved here 4 years ago, I have 2 young kids. 1123 01:15:12,661 --> 01:15:17,842 So I'm— when I see, you know, this type of, you know, application being 1124 01:15:17,842 --> 01:15:18,644 of, you know, application being considered, 1125 01:15:18,644 --> 01:15:24,117 like, I, I find it, you know, very like, I'm very— I feel encouraged by it. 1126 01:15:24,117 --> 01:15:29,151 I think it's a good thing to be considering, to be considering these, 1127 01:15:29,151 --> 01:15:31,121 these projects. I'm just I— 1128 01:15:31,121 --> 01:15:37,104 my input is that it's more about within some of these projects to, to think about, 1129 01:15:37,104 --> 01:15:42,723 you know, I see— I go to a lot of, um, events here in the Village with my, my 1130 01:15:42,723 --> 01:15:43,015 events here in the Village with my, my two— 1131 01:15:43,015 --> 01:15:48,122 my son who's 4, my daughter who's almost a year old, and they're like, 1132 01:15:48,122 --> 01:15:51,844 the summer programming was like a great thing here. 1133 01:15:51,844 --> 01:15:57,608 And, you know, I just wonder, or, you know, for, for Village to think about how 1134 01:15:57,608 --> 01:15:57,827 know, for, for Village to think about how we— 1135 01:15:57,827 --> 01:16:03,445 some of these projects could, you know, could incorporate like the young, you 1136 01:16:03,445 --> 01:16:03,810 could incorporate like the young, you know, 1137 01:16:03,810 --> 01:16:06,364 things that attract young families. 1138 01:16:06,364 --> 01:16:08,917 Like, because I think revitalizing— 1139 01:16:08,917 --> 01:16:14,463 because I think invigorating the downtown is like a lot of that will involve 1140 01:16:14,463 --> 01:16:19,060 pulling— bringing young families into, you know, that district. 1141 01:16:19,060 --> 01:16:22,854 Um, because I know there's— I see so many, you know, 1142 01:16:22,854 --> 01:16:28,764 families who have kids in daycare around here who are just like itching to go out 1143 01:16:28,764 --> 01:16:33,726 and like do things. Especially, you know, because the kid, you know, 1144 01:16:33,726 --> 01:16:37,228 just to give the kids, our kids something to do. 1145 01:16:37,228 --> 01:16:40,876 And just that I think with historic Hudson Valley, 1146 01:16:40,876 --> 01:16:43,430 I do think there's promise in that. 1147 01:16:43,430 --> 01:16:47,735 Like I, I go there, you know, for the Blaze with my family. 1148 01:16:47,735 --> 01:16:53,353 And I do wonder that just with that area, like how it could be utilized more, 1149 01:16:53,353 --> 01:16:56,856 because I just think it's like a great activity. 1150 01:16:56,856 --> 01:17:01,234 And I know people from out of You know, from out of town go, 1151 01:17:01,234 --> 01:17:05,247 I've had friends from Connecticut tell me they're here. 1152 01:17:05,247 --> 01:17:10,573 I've had friends from Lappingers Falls who didn't tell me they were here, 1153 01:17:10,573 --> 01:17:15,170 but they apparently came to it. And I was very annoyed by that. 1154 01:17:15,170 --> 01:17:18,745 And I'm still a little kind of bitter about that. 1155 01:17:18,745 --> 01:17:24,291 But so, yeah, so I just, you know, just wanted to offer my thoughts on that. 1156 01:17:24,291 --> 01:17:25,677 And I look forward— 1157 01:17:25,677 --> 01:17:26,319 Thank you. 1158 01:17:26,919 --> 01:17:32,745 you know, to seeing, seeing this process, um, you know, begin. So thank you. 1159 01:17:33,828 --> 01:17:35,176 Thank you. 1160 01:17:38,176 --> 01:17:40,930 Thanks. 1161 01:17:40,930 --> 01:17:46,989 John Sassoe, Morningside Drive. First of all, sounds great, a lot of it. 1162 01:17:46,989 --> 01:17:53,216 There isn't a person in Groton who wouldn't love to see things paid for by 1163 01:17:53,216 --> 01:17:53,973 wouldn't love to see things paid for by the state 1164 01:17:53,973 --> 01:17:56,834 that they decide needs to be done. 1165 01:17:56,834 --> 01:18:01,042 I have an idea about one I can just put out there. 1166 01:18:01,042 --> 01:18:07,437 There's a park at the duck pond that's got benches that no one would sit on, 1167 01:18:07,437 --> 01:18:11,981 but they still have been there for years in disrepair. 1168 01:18:11,981 --> 01:18:18,545 And there's no access for the ice skaters to go in and out of the— on the ice. 1169 01:18:18,545 --> 01:18:22,163 I'm not a skater. People have told me this. 1170 01:18:22,163 --> 01:18:28,727 They have to walk on rocks with their skates rather than just get a big mat to 1171 01:18:28,727 --> 01:18:29,063 skates rather than just get a big mat to give 1172 01:18:29,063 --> 01:18:34,617 access. Simple. My bigger question is, is this what's listed here? 1173 01:18:34,617 --> 01:18:39,161 Is this part of the application that's going to go in? 1174 01:18:39,161 --> 01:18:43,115 Yes. So ultimately, they usually ask for you to— they ask for— 1175 01:18:43,115 --> 01:18:48,472 there's a section of the application that says what are like past investments within 1176 01:18:48,472 --> 01:18:51,278 that area, and what are current investments, 1177 01:18:51,278 --> 01:18:54,275 and then what are potential future investments. 1178 01:18:54,275 --> 01:18:56,840 And so there is where I get stuck. 1179 01:18:57,177 --> 01:18:57,273 Okay. 1180 01:18:57,883 --> 01:19:04,991 Because 425 South Riverside— I've lived in Croton 45 years. I know a lot of people. 1181 01:19:04,991 --> 01:19:10,558 There isn't one person, not one, that's in favor of this project. 1182 01:19:10,558 --> 01:19:12,614 And, you know, I wish I— 1183 01:19:12,614 --> 01:19:19,808 if this were notified in the Gazette with an announcement that this is to talk about 1184 01:19:19,808 --> 01:19:26,402 425, you would have had the room filled 3 times over because there's a lot of 1185 01:19:26,402 --> 01:19:27,858 opposition to it. 1186 01:19:27,858 --> 01:19:28,715 Yes. 1187 01:19:28,715 --> 01:19:35,403 Not only is the builder somebody with not a great reputation in Croton of some 1188 01:19:35,403 --> 01:19:40,291 project he's tried to get done, But the whole idea of it— 1189 01:19:40,291 --> 01:19:46,893 so now it seems like this goes in and you say it doesn't have to have housing 1190 01:19:46,893 --> 01:19:51,266 as part of the whole project, but that's what it's— 1191 01:19:51,266 --> 01:19:55,468 the umbrella is about housing, right? Isn't this— 1192 01:19:55,468 --> 01:20:01,430 No, the umbrella is really about revitalization of your downtown area. 1193 01:20:01,430 --> 01:20:08,073 So it's supposed to be It's not only— it's not just the sole focus on housing. 1194 01:20:08,073 --> 01:20:09,862 It's public upgrades. 1195 01:20:09,862 --> 01:20:13,908 But there's a favorability toward people who want to— 1196 01:20:13,908 --> 01:20:17,710 What they— what the state would like to see is, 1197 01:20:17,710 --> 01:20:23,211 as part of the application process, that you are dealing with— wait, 1198 01:20:23,211 --> 01:20:24,748 let me finish this. 1199 01:20:24,748 --> 01:20:26,964 Go ahead. 1200 01:20:26,964 --> 01:20:30,883 That you do have the ability to have housing in the area. 1201 01:20:30,883 --> 01:20:36,245 area, that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a lot of housing development. 1202 01:20:36,245 --> 01:20:40,371 You can also utilize housing that has occurred in that area, 1203 01:20:40,371 --> 01:20:45,871 which you have some housing development that has been recently approved for that 1204 01:20:45,871 --> 01:20:50,821 area, and that just demonstrates that there is housing within that area. 1205 01:20:50,821 --> 01:20:52,677 But, you know, for example, 1206 01:20:52,677 --> 01:20:57,696 Dobbs Ferry just was awarded their $4.5 million in projects, and I don't— 1207 01:20:57,792 --> 01:20:57,840 I— 1208 01:20:58,113 --> 01:21:02,909 there were— I think there might have been one project that had a little bit of 1209 01:21:02,909 --> 01:21:08,012 housing associated with it, but the rest of them were not housing-related projects. 1210 01:21:08,012 --> 01:21:11,886 So, and I think you had only one thing there that said housing. 1211 01:21:12,239 --> 01:21:14,743 They're gonna— their eyes are open a little wider, maybe. 1212 01:21:14,743 --> 01:21:15,578 Right. 1213 01:21:15,691 --> 01:21:17,472 They don't— they don't want an area— 1214 01:21:17,472 --> 01:21:21,181 they don't want an area that doesn't have residents in it, that's for sure. 1215 01:21:21,181 --> 01:21:25,408 So my point is, it's almost like the tail wagging the dog. 1216 01:21:25,408 --> 01:21:31,239 Because if this goes through and there's an approval for this project to improve 1217 01:21:31,239 --> 01:21:31,457 an approval for this project to improve the 1218 01:21:31,457 --> 01:21:35,757 water, sewage, whatever the project is involved with, well, 1219 01:21:35,757 --> 01:21:41,078 now it comes back to the village. Well, we've approved this, let's do it. 1220 01:21:41,078 --> 01:21:45,232 It's a one-time opportunity. You follow my thinking here? 1221 01:21:45,232 --> 01:21:47,978 Yeah, I understand. I understand what your concern is. 1222 01:21:47,978 --> 01:21:51,334 But we've got— okay, we— well, there's no problem. 1223 01:21:51,334 --> 01:21:54,622 We've got sewers, we've got water. We went ahead. 1224 01:21:54,897 --> 01:21:55,107 Right. 1225 01:21:55,447 --> 01:21:59,211 And so it's, it's got the people in this 1226 01:21:59,211 --> 01:22:03,352 village very leery about seeing that on this 1227 01:22:03,352 --> 01:22:03,823 list. 1228 01:22:04,725 --> 01:22:04,902 Right. 1229 01:22:05,208 --> 01:22:06,238 And that's my opinion. 1230 01:22:07,244 --> 01:22:07,616 So, okay. 1231 01:22:07,616 --> 01:22:10,154 No, I understand. I understand your concern. 1232 01:22:10,154 --> 01:22:12,691 And I just want to emphasize again that the, 1233 01:22:12,691 --> 01:22:15,344 the actual planning board approval process is— 1234 01:22:15,522 --> 01:22:18,822 yeah, I understand how things work too. I get it. 1235 01:22:18,822 --> 01:22:21,584 But if there were a meeting held on that, 1236 01:22:21,584 --> 01:22:26,029 you'd see a much bigger turnout and a lot of disapproval about it. 1237 01:22:26,383 --> 01:22:26,625 I know. 1238 01:22:26,866 --> 01:22:34,324 Thank you. 1239 01:22:34,324 --> 01:22:36,969 How are you? Yeah, I'm Cynthia Eldridge. 1240 01:22:36,969 --> 01:22:41,533 I own one of the properties in that section there. I had 2 questions. 1241 01:22:41,533 --> 01:22:46,163 One is, I was here for the first Gateway proposals made, I don't know, 1242 01:22:46,163 --> 01:22:48,147 20-something years ago, maybe. 1243 01:22:48,147 --> 01:22:53,372 And they talked a lot about sidewalks and improving the sidewalks in that area. 1244 01:22:53,372 --> 01:22:56,877 And there are still people who walk past my building. 1245 01:22:56,877 --> 01:22:59,919 The new sidewalk that kind of goes between Dr. 1246 01:22:59,919 --> 01:23:03,887 Fields and the Straddles complex is great. That was helpful. 1247 01:23:03,887 --> 01:23:05,673 But it's still really hard. 1248 01:23:05,673 --> 01:23:09,840 People are trying to get into that ShopRite plaza area on foot. 1249 01:23:09,840 --> 01:23:11,626 And that's super difficult. 1250 01:23:11,626 --> 01:23:15,858 So something I could suggest is, you know, can that be improved? 1251 01:23:15,858 --> 01:23:18,041 So people have access down there. 1252 01:23:18,041 --> 01:23:23,398 There's a lot of young people using the gym, there's older people trying to shop. 1253 01:23:24,646 --> 01:23:25,242 It's— 1254 01:23:25,290 --> 01:23:26,322 that's a thing. 1255 01:23:26,322 --> 01:23:28,975 And that's— I think that's a really great project. 1256 01:23:28,975 --> 01:23:33,325 And I think the village manager is trying to work with the property owner as maybe 1257 01:23:33,325 --> 01:23:36,827 potentially identifying that as a project as part The application. 1258 01:23:37,666 --> 01:23:43,492 The other thing I wanted to say was, I agree, my whole life that lot floods, 1259 01:23:43,492 --> 01:23:46,482 it floods, it's been redone, it floods. 1260 01:23:46,482 --> 01:23:52,307 Do you have an estimate from the people working on the plan of how much that 1261 01:23:52,307 --> 01:23:52,767 working on the plan of how much that costs? 1262 01:23:52,767 --> 01:23:58,133 Because as the mayor pointed out, $4.5 million isn't that much, sadly. 1263 01:23:58,133 --> 01:24:01,353 So what does the— what does the wall cost? 1264 01:24:01,353 --> 01:24:03,144 You want to sit down? 1265 01:24:03,144 --> 01:24:09,711 No, no, the, the estimate from our engineer is about $7 million for the wall, 1266 01:24:09,711 --> 01:24:16,278 but obviously only a small portion of this grant would be going towards that. 1267 01:24:16,278 --> 01:24:22,675 We are seeking out multiple sources of funding for that particular project. 1268 01:24:22,675 --> 01:24:26,657 Do you have a projection of how much of this grant you're looking for for the 1269 01:24:26,657 --> 01:24:26,916 this grant you're looking for for the wall? 1270 01:24:26,916 --> 01:24:29,096 No, that's not going to be decided by us. 1271 01:24:29,096 --> 01:24:33,349 That's going to be decided by the state Right, they're gonna, they're gonna tell 1272 01:24:33,349 --> 01:24:33,509 Right, they're gonna, they're gonna tell us. 1273 01:24:33,509 --> 01:24:36,167 So, but I mean, I don't— I wouldn't think— I mean, 1274 01:24:36,167 --> 01:24:38,666 Valerie may be able to share a little bit more, 1275 01:24:38,666 --> 01:24:42,707 but I don't think that they would put a lot of it towards it, right? I mean— 1276 01:24:42,707 --> 01:24:48,215 No, I mean, I, I would, I would, I would think that the state's going to want to, 1277 01:24:48,215 --> 01:24:52,363 um, if they're going to— like, as you saw with Sleepy Hollow, 1278 01:24:52,363 --> 01:24:56,715 there was a couple $1.5 million projects, $1.4 million projects, 1279 01:24:56,715 --> 01:25:01,067 and you saw a lot of those happen to really involve like public, 1280 01:25:01,067 --> 01:25:04,739 like parks and those types of projects, streetscaping, 1281 01:25:04,739 --> 01:25:10,043 they'd like to spend bigger amounts of funding towards those types of projects 1282 01:25:10,043 --> 01:25:13,783 versus something that would be like, like, for example, 1283 01:25:13,783 --> 01:25:15,823 with the Croton train station. 1284 01:25:15,823 --> 01:25:16,273 Yeah. 1285 01:25:16,337 --> 01:25:19,773 So maybe like $500,000 towards something like that. 1286 01:25:19,773 --> 01:25:20,994 Okay. 1287 01:25:21,235 --> 01:25:21,395 Yeah. 1288 01:25:21,716 --> 01:25:22,519 Thank you. You're welcome. 1289 01:25:25,461 --> 01:25:26,983 Any other comments, please? 1290 01:25:26,983 --> 01:25:30,142 Michael Adlin, 55 Van Wyck. 1291 01:25:30,142 --> 01:25:32,833 Um, I was just curious, 1292 01:25:32,833 --> 01:25:38,098 does the boundary area have to be contiguous? 1293 01:25:38,098 --> 01:25:40,187 It's— 1294 01:25:40,204 --> 01:25:41,983 yes, it does need to be. 1295 01:25:41,983 --> 01:25:46,877 I know that's the challenge with this, with, uh, yeah, and that's— 1296 01:25:46,877 --> 01:25:51,076 and that was what we were trying to do originally in 2024 is we tried to be a 1297 01:25:51,076 --> 01:25:53,747 little, you know, yeah, a little loose with that. 1298 01:25:53,747 --> 01:25:56,801 And we had, we had a little bit down on North Riverside, 1299 01:25:56,801 --> 01:26:00,945 and then we came up Brook Street, and then we had some in the Upper Village. 1300 01:26:00,945 --> 01:26:05,470 And they were like, you know, they told us that they appreciated the effort, right? 1301 01:26:05,470 --> 01:26:08,742 But it was not, it was not what they were looking for. Okay. 1302 01:26:08,790 --> 01:26:12,160 Yeah, I'm tempted in that same way. So thanks for clarifying. 1303 01:26:12,160 --> 01:26:16,525 And then I appreciate all the work you're doing. I lived on Beekman for a year. 1304 01:26:16,525 --> 01:26:20,503 So it's gonna be very exciting to see all these developments take place. 1305 01:26:21,177 --> 01:26:21,417 Great. 1306 01:26:21,658 --> 01:26:22,123 Thanks for your work. 1307 01:26:22,123 --> 01:26:22,749 Come back and visit. 1308 01:26:22,749 --> 01:26:24,910 Yeah, I will do. Um, and yeah, just, 1309 01:26:24,910 --> 01:26:29,411 I guess I'll plant the seeds even though it's outside of the boundary area, 1310 01:26:29,411 --> 01:26:33,912 since you may be applying year after year, uh, for this among other grants. 1311 01:26:33,912 --> 01:26:37,633 But, um, there's a little bend in the river along Elliott Way. 1312 01:26:37,633 --> 01:26:39,254 It's like Croton Riverwalk, 1313 01:26:39,254 --> 01:26:42,795 and it's right kind of between Senosqua and the Yacht Club. 1314 01:26:42,795 --> 01:26:47,657 And it's, um, it's an area that's kind of like dead space in the water because of 1315 01:26:47,657 --> 01:26:50,357 old pilings. And it's kind of out of the way. 1316 01:26:50,357 --> 01:26:53,898 It doesn't really get in the way of the sunset or anything, 1317 01:26:53,898 --> 01:26:58,760 but like my sort of dream would be that you can encourage sort of a connection to 1318 01:26:58,760 --> 01:27:02,961 the Hudson River by having like a kind of a restaurant platform there, 1319 01:27:02,961 --> 01:27:07,763 like a modest one, but just have one place to eat on the river to encourage like 1320 01:27:07,763 --> 01:27:12,804 reverie, and then have like a grab-and-go commissary to encourage those parents that 1321 01:27:12,804 --> 01:27:15,865 are just itching to have something Something to do, 1322 01:27:15,865 --> 01:27:20,726 and it would kind of just having one kind of feature restaurant right there would 1323 01:27:20,726 --> 01:27:24,087 tie into lots of development along the waterfront there. 1324 01:27:24,087 --> 01:27:27,328 But it would also just tie other communities together, 1325 01:27:27,328 --> 01:27:30,930 and we have the recent development in housing and yada yada. 1326 01:27:30,930 --> 01:27:34,531 But anyway, just there's like kind of one little sweet spot, 1327 01:27:34,531 --> 01:27:38,672 which if it could go through all of the stakeholders with respect to. 1328 01:27:38,672 --> 01:27:41,613 All the things. Um, it would be just so cool, uh, 1329 01:27:41,613 --> 01:27:45,454 to have one little restaurant on the river because we're at the, 1330 01:27:45,454 --> 01:27:50,375 the widest span of one of the great rivers in the world without a place to eat and 1331 01:27:50,375 --> 01:27:52,356 appreciate it. So that'd be cool. 1332 01:27:52,356 --> 01:27:54,732 Yeah, that's great. Thank you. 1333 01:27:54,732 --> 01:28:00,019 Yeah, and that's, that's something that's been identified in our comp plan for a 1334 01:28:00,019 --> 01:28:05,307 little while now is trying to do that. So something that we continue to look at. 1335 01:28:05,307 --> 01:28:07,025 Any, any further comments? 1336 01:28:07,025 --> 01:28:11,719 Though I'm on the board, I just wanted to share, um, 1337 01:28:11,719 --> 01:28:16,503 that we did have a neighbor that, um— Nora Nicholson. 1338 01:28:16,503 --> 01:28:20,926 Um, so we did have a neighbor that sent an email. 1339 01:28:20,926 --> 01:28:27,244 He wasn't able to make it tonight, but his idea is to run a trail, um, 1340 01:28:27,244 --> 01:28:33,743 sort of to connect the neighborhoods there. So if of the pointer, Brian. 1341 01:28:33,743 --> 01:28:34,272 Yep. 1342 01:28:34,272 --> 01:28:36,388 Uh, so sort of a connector trail. 1343 01:28:36,388 --> 01:28:41,198 I think using that Van Cortlandt Manor property, someone made a point that, 1344 01:28:41,198 --> 01:28:44,340 you know, maybe they would want to sell that off. 1345 01:28:44,340 --> 01:28:49,342 Like, does that become an opportunity for trail network along the river there? 1346 01:28:49,342 --> 01:28:54,344 Um, not necessarily, you know, sort of parkland improvement back there versus, 1347 01:28:54,344 --> 01:28:54,536 parkland improvement back there versus, um, 1348 01:28:54,536 --> 01:28:58,255 you know, what it is right now. Right now it's just woods. 1349 01:28:58,255 --> 01:29:03,514 I have an idea, uh, at Echo canoe launch of really developing that space into more 1350 01:29:03,514 --> 01:29:06,592 of a park. So Beacon, if anyone's been up there, 1351 01:29:06,592 --> 01:29:10,503 they've just recently done a canoe launch with canoe storage, 1352 01:29:10,503 --> 01:29:12,491 which is really quite fabulous. 1353 01:29:12,491 --> 01:29:16,531 But using that space down there, I think would be really great. 1354 01:29:16,531 --> 01:29:18,711 And I just want to like, you know, 1355 01:29:18,711 --> 01:29:23,200 I've been listening to this meeting and just thinking about, you know, 1356 01:29:23,200 --> 01:29:26,663 the ideas that sort of happened along the way. Um, Mr. 1357 01:29:26,663 --> 01:29:31,793 Riley, you pointed out marshlands around the Croton River and enhancement there, 1358 01:29:31,793 --> 01:29:36,282 protecting those. I mean, that is something that we can include in the 1359 01:29:36,282 --> 01:29:36,667 something that we can include in the grant. 1360 01:29:36,667 --> 01:29:41,925 I think beautification of the station and repairing the staircase would absolutely 1361 01:29:41,925 --> 01:29:45,067 be something that we could work with Metro-North. 1362 01:29:45,067 --> 01:29:49,813 And the opportunity at the station— I mean, right now it is, um, you know, 1363 01:29:49,813 --> 01:29:53,981 we haven't seen a renovation to that station in a very long time. 1364 01:29:53,981 --> 01:29:57,059 So you kind of come into Croton, it's like, ugh. 1365 01:29:57,059 --> 01:30:00,907 Um, so that could be an opportunity for some beautification. 1366 01:30:00,907 --> 01:30:05,395 And absolutely, the walkability in that area is much, much needed, um, 1367 01:30:05,395 --> 01:30:08,025 to ShopRite Plaza and getting down there. 1368 01:30:08,025 --> 01:30:09,884 And even making this— I mean, 1369 01:30:09,884 --> 01:30:14,758 I think what's hard about this particular grant is we're saying it's a down— 1370 01:30:14,758 --> 01:30:20,016 you know, we're saying it's an improvement to a business area downtown improvement 1371 01:30:20,016 --> 01:30:23,351 kind of thing, but it's really not. downtown, right? 1372 01:30:23,351 --> 01:30:28,288 So we're gonna need to try to spin it so it seems like it is more of an area, 1373 01:30:28,288 --> 01:30:32,008 but we have so many people coming into the station, right? 1374 01:30:32,008 --> 01:30:36,881 And we have so many people kind of going up and over to Van Cortlandt Manor. 1375 01:30:36,881 --> 01:30:39,895 Hopefully with Phase 2 for Van Cortlandt Manor, 1376 01:30:39,895 --> 01:30:43,679 that property will be open more than just the Blaze, right? 1377 01:30:43,679 --> 01:30:48,488 I mean, that's sort of the dream that when I was growing up here in Croton, 1378 01:30:48,488 --> 01:30:53,105 that that was open all year round. There were school groups going there. 1379 01:30:53,105 --> 01:30:54,773 There were visitors there. 1380 01:30:54,773 --> 01:30:59,069 That would bring more commerce to the village and more tax revenue. 1381 01:30:59,069 --> 01:31:01,698 So, you know, those are some of my ideas. 1382 01:31:01,698 --> 01:31:05,225 But, you know, I think it is— it's a challenging pitch. 1383 01:31:05,225 --> 01:31:10,035 And we, you know, I think we're going to learn along the way with this one, 1384 01:31:10,035 --> 01:31:13,433 just like we learned the long way with the other one, 1385 01:31:13,433 --> 01:31:16,704 just in terms of just so people kind of understand. 1386 01:31:16,704 --> 01:31:20,872 When we pick this area, when we look at sort of the Grand Street, 1387 01:31:20,872 --> 01:31:25,297 Upper Village area, which is really the true downtown of the Village, 1388 01:31:25,297 --> 01:31:27,413 why isn't that a great candidate? 1389 01:31:27,413 --> 01:31:30,683 Like, if we just circled sort of the Upper Village, 1390 01:31:30,683 --> 01:31:34,146 why wouldn't that be a great candidate for this grant? 1391 01:31:34,146 --> 01:31:38,083 So, I mean, I can think— I mean, I don't know if you want to weigh in, 1392 01:31:38,083 --> 01:31:40,670 and then I can talk a little bit about it too. 1393 01:31:40,670 --> 01:31:46,024 Yeah, sure. Yeah, it really— it has to do with the types of projects, right, 1394 01:31:46,024 --> 01:31:50,744 that the state is looking for in this particular grant application. 1395 01:31:50,744 --> 01:31:55,675 Um, yeah, there is not really an opportunity to build out in the Upper 1396 01:31:55,675 --> 01:31:56,239 opportunity to build out in the Upper Village, 1397 01:31:56,239 --> 01:32:01,241 right? I mean, there's, um, very few properties that are available, um, 1398 01:32:01,241 --> 01:32:06,595 or property owners who are interested in, uh, building out their properties. 1399 01:32:06,595 --> 01:32:11,808 And, um, you know, we had a couple of projects in the Upper Village in our 1400 01:32:11,808 --> 01:32:12,372 projects in the Upper Village in our previous 1401 01:32:12,372 --> 01:32:17,303 round, right, which involved Vassallo Park specifically and doing some 1402 01:32:17,303 --> 01:32:22,235 streetscaping. But as Valerie has said earlier this evening, you know, 1403 01:32:22,235 --> 01:32:27,659 the state is really looking for as much private investment as they are public 1404 01:32:27,659 --> 01:32:32,943 investment. So unless, you know, and these are totally hypothetical, right, 1405 01:32:32,943 --> 01:32:35,690 unless somebody was to come in and say, 1406 01:32:35,690 --> 01:32:41,537 I want to put another story on the Black Cow, or if I want to, you know, build a 3, 1407 01:32:41,537 --> 01:32:47,032 you know, multiple 3-story, you know, mixed-use building, something like that, 1408 01:32:47,032 --> 01:32:52,527 right? I mean, unless there was projects like that that had interest that were 1409 01:32:52,527 --> 01:32:52,880 like that that had interest that were going 1410 01:32:52,880 --> 01:32:54,852 to potentially move forward, 1411 01:32:54,852 --> 01:32:59,079 there's just not the investment needed in the Upper Village. 1412 01:32:59,079 --> 01:33:02,259 I think you wanted to say something. 1413 01:33:02,259 --> 01:33:07,333 Yeah, what I was going to say is, I think for Sleepy Hollow, 1414 01:33:07,333 --> 01:33:10,715 we have a smaller geography than you do, 1415 01:33:10,715 --> 01:33:16,550 but we really leaned into the connectivity between our neighborhoods. 1416 01:33:16,550 --> 01:33:22,892 And as we were building this, you know, very affluent enclave on the river, 1417 01:33:22,892 --> 01:33:28,811 we wanted to make sure that all these different neighborhoods had good 1418 01:33:28,811 --> 01:33:29,910 different neighborhoods had good connectivity. 1419 01:33:29,910 --> 01:33:32,955 And so walkability, we're, you know, 1420 01:33:32,955 --> 01:33:37,352 partners in the Project Mover as far as bikeability. 1421 01:33:37,352 --> 01:33:44,117 And being that we have 2 train stations on the Hudson Line between Tarrytown and 1422 01:33:44,117 --> 01:33:47,584 Phillips Manor, it's all about, you know, 1423 01:33:47,584 --> 01:33:52,995 how do we get around Sleepy Hollow without a car would be ideal. 1424 01:33:52,995 --> 01:33:59,253 So I think, you know, You're onto something as far as like trails and, you 1425 01:33:59,253 --> 01:33:59,676 something as far as like trails and, you know, 1426 01:33:59,676 --> 01:34:03,143 access to the train by foot or sidewalks. 1427 01:34:03,143 --> 01:34:08,216 You know, I think that that's important to the state, right? 1428 01:34:08,216 --> 01:34:14,136 So like our Cortland streetscape project that we got $1.2 million for, 1429 01:34:14,136 --> 01:34:20,647 that is basically the corridor from the Tarrytown train station right up into 1430 01:34:20,647 --> 01:34:23,014 Beekman Avenue. as you know. 1431 01:34:23,014 --> 01:34:28,934 So that's just a very important thoroughfare for all the tourists that 1432 01:34:28,934 --> 01:34:29,948 thoroughfare for all the tourists that we're trying 1433 01:34:29,948 --> 01:34:35,868 to encourage to come to Sleepy Hollow via train come this fall season. 1434 01:34:35,868 --> 01:34:39,842 So we really want to beautify Cortlandt Street. 1435 01:34:39,842 --> 01:34:44,155 And we actually have a conversation with Tarrytown, 1436 01:34:44,155 --> 01:34:50,243 because the train station's in their village, but— We want to, you know, 1437 01:34:50,243 --> 01:34:56,247 make it seamless so that as we're doing our rezoning project right now, 1438 01:34:56,247 --> 01:35:03,265 we actually asked our zoning consultant to include that Cortland Street all the way 1439 01:35:03,265 --> 01:35:09,607 to Tarrytown within the scope of our rezoning so that it's more integrated. 1440 01:35:09,607 --> 01:35:15,949 And to the extent that after we do our visioning exercise for Sleepy Hollow 1441 01:35:15,949 --> 01:35:16,626 visioning exercise for Sleepy Hollow downtown 1442 01:35:16,626 --> 01:35:22,799 rezoning. Cherrytown at least has kind of a head start if they decide to, 1443 01:35:22,799 --> 01:35:27,788 to address that part of their village as well for rezoning. 1444 01:35:30,458 --> 01:35:32,419 Yeah. Before we break up, 1445 01:35:32,419 --> 01:35:37,281 I just wanted to just personally thank the mayor for her time. 1446 01:35:37,281 --> 01:35:42,144 I mentioned to her before we got started, I said, My goodness, 1447 01:35:42,144 --> 01:35:46,065 you have enough evening meetings in Sleepy Hollow. 1448 01:35:46,065 --> 01:35:51,555 You don't need to add one more to Croton. But it was awfully generous. 1449 01:35:51,555 --> 01:35:57,750 One of the great things about the 45 municipalities that we have in Westchester 1450 01:35:57,750 --> 01:36:03,789 County is we all try to work together a lot. And this is a wonderful example. 1451 01:36:03,789 --> 01:36:10,377 And I think our application ultimately has profited greatly from you being here this 1452 01:36:10,377 --> 01:36:12,573 evening. So I appreciate it. 1453 01:36:12,573 --> 01:36:13,118 My pleasure. 1454 01:36:14,032 --> 01:36:16,918 I should have ordered the drink. 1455 01:36:16,918 --> 01:36:19,824 Brian, yeah, that's right. To be continued. 1456 01:36:19,824 --> 01:36:22,392 And again, I just wanted to emphasize, 1457 01:36:22,392 --> 01:36:27,392 just on behalf of the board and all of us here, is my expectation is that— 1458 01:36:27,392 --> 01:36:29,690 and I could be off by a few weeks— 1459 01:36:29,690 --> 01:36:35,096 but my expectation is that we'll probably get the notice from the state that the 1460 01:36:35,096 --> 01:36:38,677 application period is open Maybe sometime in October, 1461 01:36:38,677 --> 01:36:42,799 and we'll have until January to to to submit our application. 1462 01:36:42,799 --> 01:36:46,246 The this is a list, and that's all it is right now. 1463 01:36:46,246 --> 01:36:49,016 We've we've talked a little bit about it, 1464 01:36:49,016 --> 01:36:54,152 but as you can see from some of the conversations that we've had tonight and 1465 01:36:54,152 --> 01:36:54,625 conversations that we've had tonight and some of 1466 01:36:54,625 --> 01:36:59,017 the some of the good ideas that have come forth from many of you, 1467 01:36:59,017 --> 01:37:02,058 you know we're we're open. To lots of things. 1468 01:37:02,058 --> 01:37:07,464 We have some basic guidelines about, you know, as Valerie said, contiguous, and, 1469 01:37:07,464 --> 01:37:12,397 you know, we'll try to figure those out. But we want a great application. 1470 01:37:12,397 --> 01:37:17,803 And when we didn't get it in 2024, in our region, who did get it was, was Nyack. 1471 01:37:17,803 --> 01:37:22,601 And I happened to bump into the mayor of Nyack a couple of weeks later. 1472 01:37:22,601 --> 01:37:27,602 And I said, Mayor, what was your secret sauce in getting New York forward? 1473 01:37:27,602 --> 01:37:31,724 And he said, well, we got it— it was the 4th time we applied, 1474 01:37:31,724 --> 01:37:36,251 and each time that we applied, we tried to improve our application, 1475 01:37:36,251 --> 01:37:41,522 get more good ideas, get more people involved, and so that's what we're doing. 1476 01:37:41,522 --> 01:37:45,171 I said, well, we're going to try to do the same thing, 1477 01:37:45,171 --> 01:37:47,536 but do it in 2 tries rather than 4. 1478 01:37:47,536 --> 01:37:51,793 So this is an important part of the process, and as Brian said, 1479 01:37:51,793 --> 01:37:56,253 this is the beginning of the process, not in any way a conclusion. 1480 01:37:56,253 --> 01:37:57,740 So to all of you that— 1481 01:37:57,740 --> 01:37:57,885 Thank you. 1482 01:37:58,110 --> 01:38:00,990 you know, suggested that, uh, that you need more time. 1483 01:38:00,990 --> 01:38:04,297 We need more time too, and we need, we need all of you to, uh, 1484 01:38:04,297 --> 01:38:08,298 to be involved in this. So I just wanted to say that as we, as we conclude. 1485 01:38:08,298 --> 01:38:08,912 Thank you. 1486 01:38:08,912 --> 01:38:13,433 Okay, any other— 1487 01:38:13,433 --> 01:38:17,380 Are you going to put something out to the community so that now 1488 01:38:17,380 --> 01:38:21,263 that they know that they have more time for projects that they 1489 01:38:21,263 --> 01:38:21,514 can— 1490 01:38:21,514 --> 01:38:26,549 There, there will be, there will be a lot of community output. Outreach, yes. 1491 01:38:26,549 --> 01:38:28,994 Okay. 1492 01:38:31,748 --> 01:38:35,302 All right, well, thank you everyone for coming this evening. 1493 01:38:35,302 --> 01:38:37,731 This video will be posted on the website. 1494 01:38:37,731 --> 01:38:40,871 It will be available tomorrow on the Village website, 1495 01:38:40,871 --> 01:38:43,537 and stay tuned for the next outreach session.