[0:00] Yeah, yeah.

[0:01] Good evening, everyone.

[0:02] Thank you all for joining us tonight, and for those who are watching at home,

[0:08] thank you for tuning in. I'm Brian Healy.

[0:10] I'm the village manager here in Croton-on-Hudson,

[0:14] and I'm very happy to be here tonight to talk about the New York Forward grant

[0:19] opportunity that the village has, uh, to be able to apply for once again this year.

[0:24] We've previously applied for this program in 2024 And we've spent the time since

[0:30] that submission reviewing our application, working to make it better.

[0:34] And we're going to hear tonight from Valerie Monastra,

[0:38] who is our planning consultant from Nelson Pope Voorhis,

[0:41] on what our application looks like.

[0:44] And she's also going to give a little more detail on the program itself.

[0:48] And we're also going to hear tonight from Mayor Marjorie Chu of the Village of

[0:54] Sleepy Hollow. And Sleepy Hollow has successfully received the New York Forward

[0:59] grant award. And so we're going to hear about how that process has been going so

[1:04] about how that process has been going so far

[1:04] in Sleepy Hollow. So I'm going to turn it over now to Valerie.

[1:09] All right, great. Thank you very much. My name is Valerie Menastro.

[1:13] I'm a principal planner at Nelson Pope and Voorhees,

[1:16] and I also have a history of working— I actually We are the consultants for the,

[1:21] actually We are the consultants for the, um,

[1:22] the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, which is a $10 million, um, process.

[1:27] We work in the Mid-Hudson communities,

[1:29] and right now we're currently working in the city of Yonkers.

[1:33] And I also worked with other communities dealing with their New York Forward

[1:38] programs, especially like the village of Sleepy Hollow— excuse me,

[1:42] the village of Dobbs Ferry.

[1:44] So I'm familiar with the process, the programs, and stuff like that.

[1:48] So, um, I think first slide. Okay, perfect.

[1:51] Um, so basically, what is the New York Forward program?

[1:55] So the New York Forward program is a kind of a mini of the Downtown Revitalization

[2:00] Initiative. That Downtown Revitalization Initiative is in its 9th round now,

[2:05] and that was developed originally to give $10 million to communities to really

[2:10] revitalize their downtowns.

[2:12] But at some point in time along the process, The state realized that, okay,

[2:17] so maybe, like, larger cities could use the— now, not that we all—

[2:21] all communities can use $10 million, but in all reality,

[2:25] the types of projects they're looking for,

[2:27] they realized they really wanted to be able to give smaller communities the

[2:32] able to give smaller communities the chance

[2:33] to be able to capitalize on the same type of program.

[2:36] And that's when they came up with the New York Forward program.

[2:40] So the idea of the New York Forward program is now this is going to be its 4th

[2:45] round. Um, it's— it was launched in 2022, and it's $4.5 million that are given—

[2:50] that is given to a community.

[2:52] And it's specifically focused on you plan the projects and then you act,

[2:57] as opposed to identifying very specific— um, you,

[3:00] you identify specific projects from the outset,

[3:03] and then you work with a planning consultant to develop the strategic

[3:08] consultant to develop the strategic investment

[3:08] plan, and then from there— you send those projects up to the state,

[3:13] and the state will identify certain projects to give the $4.5 million to.

[3:17] And I'll explain that a little bit more in detail.

[3:21] But the first round, the Village of Sleepy Hollow received funding,

[3:25] and then rounds 4 right now are taking place in the Village of Ellenville and

[3:30] place in the Village of Ellenville and Hamlet

[3:30] of Livingston Manor. Next slide. All right.

[3:33] So in general, New York Forward Communities,

[3:36] this is what's typically The characteristics that distinguish a New

[3:40] characteristics that distinguish a New York Forward

[3:41] community versus some of the larger cities that would get the Downtown Realization

[3:46] Initiative. It's really the New York Forward communities provide—

[3:51] the areas provide important services to local communities,

[3:54] so it's usually a mixed-use neighborhood, walkable setting.

[3:58] It also features a distinct place of— due to the presence of, like, either cultural,

[4:04] historic, or natural resources, agricultural assets.

[4:07] Certain assets that are unique to that community.

[4:10] It also has— typically have, like,

[4:13] less dense development than your $10 million DRI communities,

[4:16] but the New York Forward communities still have what I'm going to call your downtown

[4:22] or commercial areas where they're really focusing on—

[4:25] where the funding would be focused on.

[4:28] And this also includes, you know,

[4:30] New York Forward communities typically tend to include Villages, hamlets,

[4:35] it could even just be a particular neighborhood.

[4:38] So it really varies depending upon the application process,

[4:42] because with throughout New York State, there's 10 regions.

[4:46] So we can— we're talking about, you know,

[4:48] right now we're talking about Westchester communities,

[4:52] but they vary very much so then when you look at like the counties, I mean,

[4:57] like counties like Ulster County,

[4:59] and communities up in the upper and the lower tier.

[5:02] So, the New York Forward program specifically,

[5:05] its goals is to really activate a downtown.

[5:08] They want you to— they want to be able to provide, like,

[5:11] seed money to attract new businesses, new development, enhance public spaces,

[5:16] encourage public art, cultivate, like,

[5:19] if there's a variety of housing opportunities,

[5:22] and sometimes that's just really getting that impetus of that housing start being

[5:27] developed. Also identify potential projects to grow local tax revenue.

[5:32] They're very much focused on a lot of their projects and dealing with—

[5:36] they call this decarbonization.

[5:38] So they really want some sustainability and different types of initiatives worked

[5:44] into those particular projects.

[5:46] And then also specifically dealing with—

[5:48] they like projects that focus on amenities that support, like,

[5:52] the ability for walkable communities like bike lanes or pedestrian thoroughfares and

[5:58] new trails or pedestrian connections. Next slide.

[6:01] So let's just talk about eligible activities.

[6:04] So the way the New York Forward process would work is that if the Village of

[6:09] Croton-on-Hudson were awarded the $4.5 million,

[6:12] it doesn't mean that the village actually gets $4.5 million in says, here,

[6:17] you decide what to do with it.

[6:18] And there's a whole other process involved where they call this open call for

[6:23] projects. So basically, it's a process, and it's usually about 6 weeks or so,

[6:28] where the state will come in with their consultant team and then advertise for

[6:34] potential projects that fall within the New York Forward area.

[6:38] And those projects, any private property owner Or you can also be an owner of a

[6:43] business and you get permission from your landlord.

[6:46] Or it could be the village themselves can submit for projects.

[6:50] And those projects fall into 4 different types of categories.

[6:54] The first category is new development or rehabilitation of existing downtown

[6:59] buildings. So this would be like any sort of mixed-use or commercial buildings.

[7:04] It would also allow for development of housing as well,

[7:08] but it's usually multifamily housing.

[7:10] And so a couple examples, you know, I provided some examples of projects like,

[7:15] for example, in the Village of Montgomery,

[7:18] they had a mixed-use development that ended up ultimately getting funded.

[7:23] And then I know the mayor will talk about her projects later on, but, you know,

[7:28] the Strand Theater is one of those types of projects.

[7:31] Public improvement projects are another example where you can apply for like

[7:36] broadband, green infrastructure,

[7:38] specifically streetscape They love funding streetscapes.

[7:42] They do— will do new park upgrades, plazas.

[7:45] They will also work on other sort of public infrastructure,

[7:48] especially if it's important improvements that really would catapult that particular

[7:54] area. Small Project Fund is another bucket of projects,

[7:57] and this is really if you have a lot of smaller businesses that potentially could

[8:03] smaller businesses that potentially could do

[8:03] facade improvements or maybe need some additional funding to activate some

[8:08] additional funding to activate some internal

[8:08] space for new commercial or new residential development.

[8:12] You can also provide— you can put together what they call— they can—

[8:16] the village can submit a project called the Small Project Fund, which basically,

[8:21] if awarded that, the village would have $300,000 to create a grant program locally

[8:27] for individual business owners or merchants to be able to obtain funding to

[8:32] merchants to be able to obtain funding to upgrade

[8:32] their businesses or facades improvements.

[8:35] So it's a project of itself,

[8:37] but ultimately that project would end up going to the local community in terms of a

[8:42] small grants program.

[8:43] And then the 4th category is branding and marketing,

[8:47] and this is really for materials and signage or wayfinding or other types of,

[8:52] signage or wayfinding or other types of, like,

[8:52] branding that really specifically speaks to that New York Forward area and sort of

[8:57] provides like a little bit of a landing of, here you are,

[9:01] this is what we have to offer, that a lot of communities, some, you know,

[9:06] it's an expense to be able to incorporate branding and marketing,

[9:10] and this allows them to be able to undertake that work. The ineligible

[9:15] undertake that work. The ineligible activities.

[9:15] So, projects that will not get funded as part of the New York Forward are

[9:20] part of the New York Forward are standalone

[9:21] planning activities.

[9:22] So, if for some reason the Village decides they wanted to undertake a new

[9:27] comprehensive plan process,

[9:28] that would not get funded as part of the New York Forward program.

[9:33] Operations and maintenance.

[9:35] So at times, and I've experienced this in a number of different rounds,

[9:39] where a property owner will say, I really need a new roof, or I really need, like,

[9:44] a new HVAC system, they consider that to be, like, operation and maintenance.

[9:49] If for some reason somebody comes in and says,

[9:52] I need a new HVAC system because there's 20,000 square feet of space that I can't

[9:58] use right now because it's not heated or air-conditioned,

[10:01] they would consider that project because that's really kind of expanding it and now

[10:07] catalyzing that particular space to become new commercial or residential

[10:11] development. Pre-award costs,

[10:13] so if for some reason somebody spent money ahead of time,

[10:17] you cannot get to develop designs or maybe to do certain types of investigations,

[10:22] those would not get funded through the New York Forward program.

[10:26] Property acquisition, so the assumption is that you, property owner,

[10:31] or whoever's what they call a project sponsor,

[10:34] whoever is submitting for that particular project,

[10:37] they either own the property or they would own the property by the time that,

[10:42] you know, the grant would be awarded.

[10:45] And then the last is training and other program expenses.

[10:48] So if somebody wants to train their employees,

[10:51] that would not count as towards eligibility for this funding.

[10:57] Next.

[10:57] All right.

[10:59] So with that, let me just—

[11:01] I want to just give you one more little bit about the process.

[11:05] So once those projects are submitted,

[11:08] you have local planning committee that reviews all the projects that get

[11:13] reviews all the projects that get submitted

[11:13] from the public as well as the village.

[11:16] And they would identify which projects most align with the New York Forward

[11:21] most align with the New York Forward goals.

[11:21] Also ones that are— look like they're ready to go and ready to be easily

[11:26] implementable and would be able to be implemented within a 2-year timeframe.

[11:31] And that they have their finances together as well.

[11:35] So there's a lot of information that does get asked from the project sponsors.

[11:40] And then the local planning committee will select which projects they feel

[11:45] potentially could get funded.

[11:47] And for New York Forward, they typically like a slate of projects somewhere—

[11:52] if it's $4.5 million, they like to see DRI— I mean, excuse me,

[11:57] New York Forward requests for somewhere between, like,

[12:00] $6 million to $8 million because some projects will potentially fall,

[12:05] fall apart as you go through the process.

[12:08] But also that slate of projects goes to the state and then the state vets those

[12:13] projects again and then they will ultimately assign the $4.5 million to

[12:18] ultimately assign the $4.5 million to projects

[12:19] within that slate of projects that was submitted by the local planning committee.

[12:24] So it is a little bit of a process, but it moves very,

[12:28] very quickly and it usually moves through a 9-month period.

[12:32] And so I'm going to turn this over now to the mayor of Sleepy Hollow so she can talk

[12:37] a little bit about her experience with it and the projects that they received.

[12:43] Thanks, Valerie.

[12:56] I'm—

[12:56] I can move that. I should have worn heels.

[12:59] But—

[13:00] here, I can move that.

[13:02] That's fine, I can— Okay.

[13:04] So first of all, thank you, Len and Brian,

[13:08] for inviting me to join your town hall this evening.

[13:13] I'm Marjorie Hsu, and I think that, you know, for DRI and now New York Forward,

[13:20] the 2 keywords are persistence and and patience,

[13:24] because when I was planning board chair,

[13:28] I actually participated in the first application for DRI, which was back in

[13:35] application for DRI, which was back in 2016,

[13:35] 2 mayors ago. So nothing happens very quickly in local government.

[13:41] But we were very happy that New York Forward got created for smaller

[13:47] Forward got created for smaller municipalities

[13:49] because all those $10 million grants were going to the bigger places like New

[13:56] Rochelle and Kingston.

[13:58] And so the little villages and hamlets were kind of getting left in the dust.

[14:05] So we were thrilled because we were applying every year.

[14:10] I do think you need to be persistent and it does help you refine your application

[14:17] year over year. So we were happy to be in the first tranche of funding in 2022.

[14:24] And, um, you know, for those of you that aren't as familiar with Sleepy Hollow,

[14:31] we're a 2-square-mile village and we're, um, an economic justice community.

[14:38] We have a lot of, uh, low-income residents. We have a lot of low-income

[14:45] residents. We have a lot of low-income housing.

[14:46] Uh, we're also very diverse.

[14:48] We're a majority Latino community, um, uh,

[14:52] so probably just over half of our residents are of Hispanic descent,

[14:58] and in our school systems it's probably 2/3 Hispanic.

[15:03] So we, um, were excited to get the, the $4.5 million back in 2022.

[15:09] And now, fast forward, we're in 2026.

[15:12] And of all the funds that have been granted to the 4.5,

[15:17] as Valerie has kindly created a slide on,

[15:21] the only one that's really made any progress is the facade program.

[15:27] So that's been kicked off.

[15:29] We've found an excellent program manager,

[15:33] one of our local residents who is also an architect.

[15:38] And we formed a 3-person committee that took applications from, I wanna say,

[15:45] 20 to 30 local small businesses that wanted to improve their facades.

[15:51] And so this 3-person committee reviewed all the applications and selected 12 small

[15:59] businesses to get some sort of funding for the—

[16:03] That's great.

[16:05] to improve their facades.

[16:07] So that is kind of a public-private partnership since, as Valerie described,

[16:14] we the village are administering the $300,000,

[16:18] but it's going toward small business owners.

[16:22] And then the other initiatives, one that we're extremely excited about,

[16:28] is the Strand Theater,

[16:30] which is like smack in the downtown very central on Beekman Avenue,

[16:36] which is our main downtown.

[16:38] And, um, that building has been vacant the whole time I've lived in Sleepy Hollow,

[16:45] which is about 12 years.

[16:47] And I've toured it a couple times as planning board chair,

[16:53] and there's a lot of renovation that is required,

[16:57] but it's such a historic building for us.

[17:00] And so there's a gentleman that has purchased it as of last December.

[17:07] So that $1.5 million grant is actually going to him. And he— it's 2 levels.

[17:13] If you go upstairs, you actually see the big kind of reel-to-reel film projectors

[17:20] from back in the day with the old bulbs. And so very historic, but a lot of work.

[17:27] And so So his vision is to have retail storefronts in the first level facing

[17:34] storefronts in the first level facing right

[17:35] on Beekman Avenue, and then to have some sort of performance space,

[17:41] and then also upstairs to have kind of maker space.

[17:45] So for artisanal projects, et cetera, et cetera.

[17:49] I actually have a meeting with him tomorrow. So that's the Strand Theater.

[17:56] Totally separate from New York Forward,

[17:59] we have another nonprofit that recently formed called Sleepy Hollow Cinema,

[18:06] which is for Sleepy Hollow.

[18:08] They're interested in sharing and showing primarily horror films.

[18:14] So, you know, we're a spooky town.

[18:17] So— I'm trying to get Sleepy Hollow Cinema which is a 501,

[18:22] and Strand Theatre to kind of get together since it's, I think, entirely symbiotic.

[18:29] The one that is entirely on the Village that we're looking to start in the spring—

[18:37] again, it's taken a long time to get the funding and to get the approvals—

[18:43] is our Cortland Streetscape project.

[18:46] So that is right off of Beekman Avenue and is very desperately in need of a

[18:53] facelift. So new sidewalks, there's going to be a new pocket park,

[18:59] there's going to be—

[19:00] we're going to take advantage of this New York Forward funding and incorporate a

[19:08] bioswale because we do have some drainage and infrastructure issues.

[19:14] We also have a developer that has come in and purchased some properties on Cortland

[19:21] and on DePeyster. And so we're hoping that we can kind of kill multiple birds with

[19:28] one stone as we're doing the streetscape improvement,

[19:33] to take into account his development of new housing there and,

[19:38] and try to get some maybe community benefit funding from him as far as

[19:44] benefit funding from him as far as improving the

[19:46] sewer and water infrastructure to improve capacity as well as some modernization.

[19:53] The next is Plaza Nueva, which is— it's all village,

[19:57] but it's really a school district initiative because it's the playground of

[20:04] initiative because it's the playground of our

[20:04] Morse School, which is again right on Beekman Avenue.

[20:09] So it's all about Beekman Avenue and Cortland Avenue.

[20:13] And so this will create a new playground,

[20:17] but really new park space for Sleepy Hollow right downtown.

[20:22] One of the things we're lacking is placemaking.

[20:26] Like, we don't have places for people to hang out downtown.

[20:32] We created this little tiny pocket park on the intersection of Cortland and Beekman,

[20:39] but it's a little kludgy and it's not beautiful.

[20:43] So we need to create some beautiful spaces that people want to spend time in.

[20:50] Because, you know, all of our downtown on Upper Beekman is mostly multifamily.

[20:57] And so you've got people, especially with the hot summers we've been having,

[21:04] they're hanging out on their front stoop.

[21:07] And, you know, other people complain about sidewalk access and noise.

[21:13] And, um, but, you know, these people don't have backyard to hang out in.

[21:20] So we have some cultural differences.

[21:23] You know, we have some cultures that, you know,

[21:27] liked their big families to come together and, um, play music, and, um,

[21:33] other people don't necessarily embrace that.

[21:37] So, um, we, we have some blending of, of cultural norms to, to manage as well.

[21:44] So Plaza Nueva will give a space in the evenings for families to hang out with

[21:51] evenings for families to hang out with and,

[21:51] and, um, uh, spend time there.

[21:54] And then the, um, last one I'll touch upon is, uh, $500,000, which is a private, um,

[22:01] funding for more affordable housing.

[22:05] We actually have a lot of affordable housing, but like all Westchester towns,

[22:11] there's just not enough of affordable or workforce or what we call missing middle.

[22:19] So we've got a lot of luxury housing now at Edge on Hudson right on the riverfront,

[22:26] which we're about half done of the 1,177 new homes that are being built at Edge on

[22:33] Hudson. So hearing a positive update on that person who is going to initiate a new

[22:40] affordable housing initiative. So administering this grant has been

[22:46] administering this grant has been challenging.

[22:47] The planning process and the final approval took a very long time,

[22:53] and getting the projects to contract is taking even a little longer than that.

[23:00] But we do expect to kick off our big village streetscape project in the spring.

[23:07] So that's exciting. And we're just trying to work closely with the 2 private funding

[23:14] recipients, the Strand Theatre and the affordable housing,

[23:19] so that we keep those going as well. So that is what we're doing in Sleepy Hollow.

[23:27] And I'm happy to answer any questions if there are any. But I'll sit down.

[23:33] Mayor, thank you very much for the excellent presentation.

[23:38] I just had one general question. You laid out all of these projects.

[23:43] And as Valerie told us, you know, once you get approved as a New York Forward,

[23:50] then you begin to work with the state and obviously,

[23:54] that can be a multi-year process.

[23:57] How would you describe, since your tenure, how's it been actually working with,

[24:03] with the state to make some of these projects come alive?

[24:08] Um, I just took office December 1st. So I haven't been around that long.

[24:15] So most of the heavy lifting is on our village administrator and his grant

[24:22] Grant team, so it's been a lot of back and forth.

[24:27] I think you know the state has been pretty responsive and communicative,

[24:34] but it was also the very first time, right?

[24:38] So they were you know kind of engineering the plane mid-flight.

[24:45] So, but yeah, we're very appreciative of.

[24:49] the support we've gotten from New York State.

[24:53] And I think our point of contact has been really good.

[24:58] We'll just hold all questions until the end after that,

[25:03] just because if we don't have people speaking to the microphone,

[25:08] anyone watching at home is not able to hear. So, okay.

[25:13] Okay.

[25:18] All right. You can go to the next slide.

[25:21] All right, so we're going to talk a little bit about—

[25:24] I'm gonna spend a couple of minutes talking about so what Croton-on-Hudson

[25:29] talking about so what Croton-on-Hudson would

[25:30] like to put forth as the New York Forward Boundary Area.

[25:34] And let me just explain again, this New York Forward Boundary Area.

[25:38] It's supposed to be an area where there are very specific.

[25:42] It's not supposed to be the entire village.

[25:46] It's supposed to also cover an area where there is a concentration of either

[25:51] mixed-use business, can be some multifamily residential.

[25:55] They also like to see like land uses such as cultural land uses.

[25:59] They also like to see public transportation land uses.

[26:03] So There is, you know, looking at, as you can, as you know,

[26:07] that Croton has about 3 different, I'm going to say, core mixed-use business

[26:12] going to say, core mixed-use business areas.

[26:13] And I think in the past, the prior applications focused on, you know,

[26:18] this area here, basically your, your Grand Street area.

[26:22] And, um, but looking at the projects,

[26:24] just when we went through like the eligible projects and you saw from the

[26:29] eligible projects and you saw from the mayor the

[26:30] types of projects that they like to fund,

[26:33] looking at the potential projects in all 3 of, like,

[26:36] the business corridor areas in the Village, it really became—

[26:41] it came to the forefront that this particular area,

[26:44] which we're calling the South Riverside area,

[26:47] would really be a good candidate for New York Forward funding.

[26:52] And so the proposed area right now includes the Historic Hudson Valley

[26:57] includes the Historic Hudson Valley property.

[26:57] It includes the train station.

[26:59] It includes your commercial center of, like, with ShopRite.

[27:04] It also includes the commercial corridor along South Riverside Avenue to a little

[27:09] past Oneida Avenue. The state also likes to see that there is momentum already

[27:15] taking place within that area as well.

[27:17] And so you had some recent development that was approved that will—

[27:22] we're going to begin construction soon,

[27:25] and you also have some development in the pipeline.

[27:28] And those are also kind of key criteria that the state likes to look for,

[27:34] because they want to see that there is some sort of momentum,

[27:38] and it's not just if projects get put forward,

[27:41] that there is a really high chance that those projects will continue moving

[27:46] those projects will continue moving forward.

[27:47] So let's talk a little bit about the projects themselves.

[27:51] And if you want to talk on the next slide, and then I'm going to turn this over to,

[27:57] um, to the village manager, um,

[27:59] who's going to talk a little bit about the projects that we're looking at and

[28:04] identifying. And you'll see how a lot of them fit those kind of key categories that

[28:10] we talked about at the beginning of the presentation.

[28:14] Thank you, Valerie. So our first, uh,

[28:16] project that's listed here are the Croton Station parking lot upgrades.

[28:22] I'm sure, as many of you are familiar, our parking lot is susceptible to flooding.

[28:28] Whenever there is a storm system that is off the East Coast,

[28:32] it could be hundreds of miles away from us, but the energy from the,

[28:37] from the storm comes up the Hudson River and the tides flood the parking lot.

[28:43] And so we have been working with a planning firm, AKRF,

[28:47] for a number of years now in developing a plan to install a seawall along the shore

[28:53] of the parking lot. And, you know,

[28:56] this was after AKRF did some shoreline resiliency studies and analyzed everything

[29:02] resiliency studies and analyzed everything in

[29:02] the parking lot that was the best option that was available to protect the

[29:07] that was available to protect the available

[29:08] parking spaces in the parking lot.

[29:11] And so, uh, that would be a major, uh,

[29:13] project that we would seek to have included in this grant application.

[29:19] Secondly, streetscaping along Riverside Avenue and Benedict Boulevard.

[29:24] This would be your general replacement of trash cans, streetlights, benches,

[29:29] redoing tree pits, just basically beautifying all of the street

[29:34] beautifying all of the street infrastructure in

[29:35] those areas. You know, there is a desire,

[29:38] especially among the comprehensive plan and reports done by our advisory board for

[29:45] the visual environment, that all of our streetscapes kind of complement each

[29:50] streetscapes kind of complement each other.

[29:51] And so that would be an idea behind that project.

[29:54] Uh, third, bike lanes from Oneida Avenue to Croton Point Avenue.

[29:59] There is an existing bike lane on Croton Point Avenue, as I'm sure many of you

[30:05] Point Avenue, as I'm sure many of you know,

[30:05] and there is also an existing bike lane on South Riverside Avenue that begins at

[30:11] Oneida and continues down to Maple Street.

[30:14] And so this would basically fill in that, uh,

[30:18] missing link along South Riverside between Oneida and Croton Point Avenue.

[30:23] And this would be done in part by reducing the width of the sidewalk on South

[30:29] Riverside between Clinton Street and Wayne Street.

[30:32] You know, this is a sidewalk that is much wider than your standard sidewalk,

[30:38] and by reducing the width of that sidewalk,

[30:41] we would still be able to keep parking on South Riverside while while still adding

[30:47] the bike lane. The Historic Hudson Valley upgrades—

[30:51] this would be one of our private projects,

[30:54] as Historic Hudson Valley is privately owned.

[30:58] As I'm sure you have all seen,

[31:00] Historic Hudson Valley is undergoing a pretty expansive project to upgrade a lot

[31:06] pretty expansive project to upgrade a lot of

[31:06] their facilities, involving redoing some electrical conduit, water infrastructure,

[31:12] sewer infrastructure, Replacing the fire hydrants, you know,

[31:16] just a lot of infrastructure work that has been needed to take place on the on the

[31:23] Manor property for many many years.

[31:25] And so phase one has officially been closed as of August first.

[31:30] They're now taking a pause and you know for the blaze period,

[31:34] and then phase two will be starting up sometime next year.

[31:39] And so depending on what they're going to assess the— their progress on Phase 2,

[31:45] and depending on that progress will depend on exactly what project they propose to

[31:51] include in our grant application.

[31:53] But Historic Hudson Valley has always been willing to be a very good partner with

[31:59] the village, and I'm sure that the project that they come to us with will,

[32:05] will continue that, that effort.

[32:07] Uh, the 425 South Riverside Avenue development As you may know,

[32:12] this application has just begun the process before the planning board in some

[32:17] process before the planning board in some form,

[32:18] whatever, or if any form, whatever that gets approved by the planning board.

[32:23] We would propose to have that project included in our grant application to

[32:29] included in our grant application to fulfill

[32:29] the housing requirement that is included in the, in the list of tasks for the

[32:35] in the, in the list of tasks for the grant.

[32:36] Uh, the Save More Pharmacy development—

[32:38] Save More has purchased the parcel that is at the corner of Oneida and South

[32:44] Riverside, the former Umami restaurant.

[32:47] They have knocked down the building, so right now it's a vacant lot.

[32:52] At some point, they do plan on constructing, um, a pharmacy there and

[32:57] constructing, um, a pharmacy there and relocating.

[32:58] Uh, they did come to the Village Board with a special permit application about 3

[33:04] years ago, 2 and a half, 3 years ago, uh, and that effort is—

[33:08] has currently stalled at this point.

[33:11] There was some information that they were requested to present specifically on

[33:17] traffic that they have not come back to the boards with, um, but, you know, in,

[33:23] in speaking with them, they are still interested in developing that site.

[33:28] So we would propose including that project in this, um,

[33:32] in this grant application as well.

[33:35] And then finally, the small project fund, as was discussed earlier.

[33:40] This would be similar to what Sleepy Hollow had done in that there would be

[33:45] Hollow had done in that there would be funding

[33:46] available for small businesses to improve their facades, you know,

[33:51] clean up their windows, replace their awnings, whatever that might, might,

[33:56] might be for them. So this is our list of potential projects.

[34:01] You know, there certainly could be additional projects that are put on the

[34:06] additional projects that are put on the list.

[34:07] As Valerie was saying,

[34:08] the state could come in and cross off half of these and tell us, nope,

[34:13] we don't want to do these half and we're going to do these.

[34:18] So this is, you know, certainly a list that is in flux,

[34:22] but this is what we have developed at this point.

[34:26] Okay.

[34:27] Yeah, and I think I just want to add,

[34:30] the purpose of listing the projects as part of the application is to show the

[34:35] part of the application is to show the state

[34:35] that you actually have potential projects, right?

[34:38] So it doesn't even mean— because ultimately, as I said before,

[34:43] this open call for project process would mean that, for example,

[34:47] the Save More Pharmacy would have to submit an application saying they want

[34:52] submit an application saying they want funding.

[34:53] They might choose never to even submit that application,

[34:56] and another property owner might submit an application.

[35:00] But what this does is just demonstrates to the—

[35:03] to the state that there is potential projects within— the New York Forward

[35:08] projects within— the New York Forward area.

[35:08] And then I think with that, we'll open it up for any questions.

[35:13] So just give me one moment here while I turn this—

[35:16] Yeah.

[35:16] Can I see that last slide?

[35:18] Oh yeah, sure. Can you

[35:22] read that, Mr. Riley?

[35:37] Yeah.

[35:38] Okay, I'm gonna try to get it on the camera here.

[35:43] Okay.

[35:45] All right, so whoever would like— if anyone would like to speak,

[35:49] there is a 5-minute, uh, time limit that we would like to respect,

[35:52] but anyone who would like to ask comments of myself or Valerie or Mayor Chu Please

[35:56] feel free to come up.

[36:02] Start. Do you want me to announce?

[36:05] Yeah, if you could just say your name and your address, that'd be great.

[36:08] So my name is Virginia Norton. I actually live in Bramble Bush.

[36:12] So it's outside of the village,

[36:14] but I pay a tremendous amount of taxes to the village for school taxes,

[36:19] and are very interested in developing developing Croton and downtown Croton.

[36:24] So a couple of questions.

[36:26] My first one is, who decided on the project area and what input came from the

[36:31] community as to the particular area?

[36:33] So I know, Brian, that might be yours as opposed to Valerie's or the mayor's.

[36:38] Do you want to just ask all your questions at once and then we can answer them?

[36:43] So that's one question as to who developed that.

[36:46] And then also the list of projects, because— Sorry, when I think about this,

[36:50] I think about, for example, like the school system that we have,

[36:54] the schools that we have here.

[36:56] And I would be interested, Valerie,

[36:58] in your thoughts with respect to the state funding and what the state will fund with

[37:03] respect to the school and the school buildings. To me, it's all about tax

[37:08] buildings. To me, it's all about tax revenue.

[37:08] It's all about inviting people to come live here.

[37:11] Let's put aside the housing, which is a big issue in this town.

[37:15] But it's also making sure that, you know, we have the infrastructure for to support,

[37:20] um, children and families that come in.

[37:23] Um, big issue with respect to teachers having ability to meet with kids,

[37:27] kids having area— like the idea of actually that plaza, um, you know,

[37:31] something like that.

[37:33] Like, we have, you know, 3 schools right in this area close together.

[37:37] Where are they—

[37:37] where do the kids go?

[37:39] As opposed to the parking lot, which, you know,

[37:42] for 65 years of my life has always been flooded and continues to flood.

[37:46] Thank you.

[37:48] You know, I think about what does the community really need.

[37:51] And then a question, Valerie,

[37:53] probably for you is how does the state and what's the state going to do if a lot of

[37:58] people go to the state and protest against this application,

[38:01] specifically if they don't like the projects that are listed or they don't

[38:06] projects that are listed or they don't like the

[38:06] project area? I would imagine the state would not be happy if there's a

[38:10] would not be happy if there's a contingency

[38:11] that is not in support and is vocal about it.

[38:14] So you really want to make sure—

[38:16] we want to make sure that the community is behind this because everybody wants the

[38:21] community to flourish,

[38:22] and we want to make sure it flourishes for everybody or the majority.

[38:26] So maybe you can— I think that's, that's it at this point,

[38:29] but maybe if you guys don't mind. And I guess another question for the mayor.

[38:34] I know that you started, you started, you said you started in December.

[38:38] So in the application process though that took place,

[38:41] how much was the community involved in that application process,

[38:45] giving their thoughts as to projects?

[38:47] I would like that, you know, your thoughts as to, or at least factually,

[38:52] what actually happened. Was there back and forth?

[38:55] Were there town halls about the projects, community meetings about the projects,

[38:59] even the project area? Or was just a town board the one that decided all of that?

[39:04] So I think that's—

[39:05] Thank you very much.

[39:07] I'll just start off by answering the first question you had,

[39:11] and then we can turn it over.

[39:13] So the project area, as Um, I said at the beginning, uh, we originally were looking—

[39:19] we originally did this grant in 2024,

[39:21] and we picked an area that started on North Riverside and went up into the Upper

[39:27] Village. We were trying to connect our multiple business districts and have one

[39:32] application. And, um, you know, obviously we were not chosen as part of that, uh,

[39:38] as part of New York Forward at that time.

[39:41] And when we had our debriefing with the Mid-Hudson REDC,

[39:45] the Regional Economic Development Council,

[39:47] some of the feedback that we got indicated that we needed to choose a really defined

[39:53] downtown area. And so, you know, once we had that feedback, we started looking at,

[39:59] all right, where could that potential— where could that potential downtown area

[40:04] where could that potential downtown area be?

[40:05] Because, you know, one of the things that makes Croton somewhat unique in a good

[40:10] way, right, is that we have these areas of the village that have lots of commercial

[40:16] economic activity, but we don't have really one centralized downtown to

[40:21] really one centralized downtown to somewhere

[40:22] like a Sleepy Hollow or a Tarrytown or a Hastings or a Dobbs Ferry have, right?

[40:27] We don't necessarily have that in Croton.

[40:30] And so, um, working with Valerie and, uh, members of the board,

[40:34] we were able to hone in on the Harmon area as meeting the requirements of the grant

[40:40] program in that it has some economic development already ongoing within it.

[40:45] And there is the potential for additional economic development, you know,

[40:50] in the future. So I hope that answers your question.

[40:56] And question.

[40:57] Yeah.

[40:57] So, so part of the—

[40:59] I'm sorry. Is that—

[41:01] I'm sorry, could you just go to the mic?

[41:03] Yeah, I just want to know, follow up to that one.

[41:06] Is that, is that debrief available?

[41:08] Is that public information or do we have to FOIL that one for the last—

[41:13] So that was just, that was just a private meeting that went on between myself and

[41:18] Trustee Simon and the REDC.

[41:19] So it wasn't— you're welcome to put in a FOIL for anything you'd like,

[41:24] but I'm not sure if there were any records that would exist because it was just a—

[41:28] it was a meeting over Zoom.

[41:30] Okay.

[41:31] Yep.

[41:31] So I think part of the purpose of tonight's meeting is to get additional

[41:35] tonight's meeting is to get additional ideas and

[41:36] potential projects, right?

[41:37] So something like you mentioned with the public park, you know,

[41:41] that's something that we can go back and speak to the village about, about like,

[41:46] is there something or a space or something like that that could potentially turn

[41:50] into like a pocket park or something like that?

[41:53] We've But also, I think in terms of like the questions you had in terms of like,

[41:58] for example, like the schools,

[42:00] I think the technically the school districts or any school district,

[42:04] if there's a property or something that they want to create new, right?

[42:08] Because we were talking about can't be operation and maintenance,

[42:12] but it would have to be something that would be open to like the full public or

[42:16] something like that. So that's why you have, for example, like the park, you

[42:21] have, for example, like the park, you know.

[42:21] So those types of situations,

[42:23] the school district could potentially move and identify a particular project as part

[42:28] of that open call for projects.

[42:29] So this application doesn't preclude any other property owner from putting forth

[42:34] their own projects themselves as long as they meet that, that criteria.

[42:38] I think what we're looking for tonight is any other ideas that you have within that

[42:43] particular New York Forward boundary area, or for some reason you really have,

[42:48] you know, interest in, like, the boundary is not completely set,

[42:51] but it just can't be an extremely large area where they'd like to see that there

[42:56] area where they'd like to see that there is

[42:56] some sort of synergy between the different projects that get funded.

[43:00] And so that was part of the reason why,

[43:03] specifically looking at the South Riverside Avenue,

[43:06] that there is potential for some synergy from a number of different projects.

[43:10] I think it's tough to ask people to come up with hot projects.

[43:14] You need to speak in the microphone.

[43:16] Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, this is why we're taking the public, right?

[43:19] You can't have a meeting one night and then ask people to come up with projects

[43:24] tonight. Like, what you really should do is reach out to people in the village and,

[43:28] and say to them, hey, listen, you know what, here's a summary of this, you know,

[43:33] meeting that we had today.

[43:34] Because everybody talks about transparency in this town, which, you know, village.

[43:39] So let's be transparent. Let's tell them what happened here.

[43:43] Let's talk about— let's publish the projects for them and then ask people.

[43:47] Then maybe that was your intent, hopefully, to then ask people, the public,

[43:51] to submit, you know,

[43:53] because maybe there are buildings that perhaps are available that within the

[43:57] perhaps are available that within the school,

[43:57] near the schools, that perhaps would be great buildings.

[44:01] And the teachers have some great ideas.

[44:03] as to, um, you know, having those buildings as part of maybe for the kids to

[44:07] buildings as part of maybe for the kids to go to,

[44:08] and maybe they're, you know, great for, you know, those that have, you know,

[44:12] learning disabilities, or those, you know, you know, maybe that are more arts,

[44:17] or something that would actually help, um, the community as a whole.

[44:21] I mean, I think it would be great to actually reach out to the community and

[44:25] actually reach out to the community and ask

[44:25] them, give them a timeline, and ask them for these ideas.

[44:28] That's— this is the beginning of a process, right?

[44:31] Yeah.

[44:32] So You know, we're probably 4 months away from submitting this grant.

[44:35] We really don't know what the timeline is because the state hasn't released it yet.

[44:40] But I mean, this is being recorded.

[44:42] The presentation is already available on the website, right?

[44:45] And this is being recorded, and this is just the beginning of a process.

[44:49] We put in the email we sent out today reminding people about this meeting,

[44:53] there was a link for people to fill out the form to share their comments.

[44:57] You know, people can always email us.

[44:59] So we will— this is— we will be doing a lot of outreach. This is just the start.

[45:04] Mayor, sure you want to answer anything?

[45:06] You might also just talk about how the community should come together and what

[45:11] happens if it's negative, like the community is negative going to the state.

[45:16] Because I would think you wouldn't want that.

[45:18] So I will just mention, when you go through the New York Forward process,

[45:23] There is another whole public outreach process, and I think, you know,

[45:28] so there is at least 2 workshops, and there's surveys,

[45:32] and so there's another outreach process on the actual projects themselves.

[45:37] So this isn't the only outreach process.

[45:39] There will be another outreach process if you are awarded the New York Forward.

[45:45] In terms of our process, We, after 30 years, finally updated our comprehensive

[45:52] years, finally updated our comprehensive plan.

[45:53] So the comprehensive plan actually provides a very good kind of roadmap,

[46:00] prioritization, and kind of North Star as far as what the village's aspirations are

[46:08] for growing and modernizing.

[46:10] So I think that helped guide our New York Forward applications over the years.

[46:18] And so, to Valerie's point,

[46:21] there were multiple workshops soliciting community input and, you know,

[46:28] help with the final list of initiatives.

[46:31] And, you know, we have 2 major private initiatives of the $4.5 $5 million grant.

[46:39] So it really is a public-private partnership, because as we all know,

[46:46] $4.5 million doesn't go that far when you're talking about a downtown

[46:53] revitalization. So yeah,

[46:55] there's a lot of community input and kind of help with kind of prioritizing what we

[47:03] want to do. And so these these 4 or 5 that we ended up were definitely supported by

[47:11] our village. The schools, you know, in terms of capacity and all that,

[47:18] that's totally separate outside of New York Forward.

[47:23] We recently hired a new superintendent in the last, I don't know, 4 or 5 years.

[47:30] And he actually, one of the first achievements he made, uh,

[47:36] was passing an $86 million school bond.

[47:40] So everybody, whether you live in Westchester or any other state in the

[47:47] Westchester or any other state in the country,

[47:48] the majority of the taxes that we pay all go towards schools.

[47:53] So Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown, which have a combined school district,

[48:00] hadn't upgraded their school infrastructure since the 1950s.

[48:06] So $86 million went to upgrading all the, all the schools,

[48:12] and then we got additional funding for some green initiatives and, and such.

[48:19] So there's a lot going on in Sleepy Hollow.

[48:23] Thank you. Mr. Riley, you want to—

[48:28] I'd like to make a suggestion, but I'll take my time.

[48:32] Um, I suggest that you pass the microphone around if it works,

[48:37] and people can ask a question, maybe follow up on it,

[48:41] then the next person can ask their question, as opposed to allotting time.

[48:46] Um, I came here very suspicious because this is a planning session.

[48:51] Um, we're in a tremendous controversy in Croton over transit-oriented housing.

[48:57] We have one behemoth that has— which will be taller than the Harmon Shops,

[49:03] which we had no say over.

[49:05] Um, and therefore, my basic questions have to do with,

[49:09] did we have to qualify for this?

[49:11] In other words, did we have to be a pro-housing community, which I hope we

[49:17] pro-housing community, which I hope we don't—

[49:17] I hope we dis— associate ourselves with that operation because it's basically a

[49:23] dirty political deal between a state senator and a governor to urbanize

[49:28] senator and a governor to urbanize Westchester

[49:29] County. So my question is, is do we have to be a pro-housing community?

[49:35] Did, did Sleepy Hollow have to be a pro-housing community?

[49:39] Do we have to promise to make certain number of housing units going in?

[49:44] Um, And what other requirements were there?

[49:47] Typically with these things associated, these environmental things,

[49:53] there are things like bike lanes, which I see are in here.

[49:57] So I would like to know what the minimums are.

[50:00] I would also like to know who they is. Who, who decides this stuff?

[50:05] And is this— what criteria they decided by?

[50:09] And is there an appellate process, a judicial process,

[50:13] or is it just A bunch of bureaucrats,

[50:16] but what are the basic foundational things to get in the door?

[50:20] Because quite frankly,

[50:22] the entire upstate New York needs this money more than anybody in the Hudson

[50:28] money more than anybody in the Hudson Valley,

[50:28] including Elmsford and Sleepy Hollow.

[50:31] So, but but but Westchester has been very cooperative with this suburban housing

[50:37] development, and our villages and.

[50:40] been at the forefront of that,

[50:42] probably because of a conflict of interest between some of the members of our

[50:48] boards. So that's— I would like that answered.

[50:51] There are some questions I'd like to ask the mayor.

[50:55] I've been dying to ask the mayor of Sleepy Hollow.

[50:59] We can't tell where Sleepy Hollow, unlike Croton— I believe one has 10,000 people,

[51:05] 2,000 more than we do— and it's married.

[51:08] It's in the town of Mount Pleasant, married to a village in the town of

[51:13] married to a village in the town of Greenburgh,

[51:14] which makes for an interesting combination.

[51:17] But down the waterfront, where we've seen an entire new village, maybe city,

[51:23] develop, maybe you can explain how many units are in there, how many belong to

[51:29] units are in there, how many belong to you,

[51:29] how many belong to Tarrytown, etc., etc.

[51:32] Was any of this built as part of a promise to the state about transit-oriented

[51:38] housing, as, as has been said in architectural magazines? in Westchester

[51:44] architectural magazines? in Westchester County.

[51:44] Um, and it would be interesting to me also, um,

[51:48] how many pot stores you have between the village of, um,

[51:52] Sleepy Hollow and the village of Tarrytown and surrounding areas.

[51:57] And perhaps you could tell us the size of your budget so we can compare it to the

[52:03] village of Croton's budget.

[52:05] And then, um, Then you can tell us specifically,

[52:09] both of you can tell us specifically what the housing requirement is.

[52:14] You know, you, you got a grant in 2022 for $4.3 million, whatever it is.

[52:19] $500,000 could buy a single-family house. And it certainly couldn't build 2 houses.

[52:25] Maybe they're for ADCs or something like that. So maybe you could explain that

[52:31] that. So maybe you could explain that also.

[52:32] Um, just to acquaint us with your experience.

[52:35] I think the only thing on the list—

[52:38] 425 Riverside Avenue should never be on the list.

[52:41] Save More should never be on a Croton list.

[52:45] A bike lane, maybe a traffic light at Oneida to, uh, to ease with the traffic,

[52:51] or the Save More traffic might be appropriate.

[52:54] And, and anything with housing in Croton should not be on this thing.

[52:59] And the last question is,

[53:01] is this money part of this big housing compromise from 4 or 5 years ago where the

[53:07] state wanted to take over zoning at every level?

[53:11] Was this, this lump sum of money, chump change, actually part of that compromise?

[53:17] So I have a lot of questions. I have still more.

[53:21] And once again, I'd recommend if you pass it around,

[53:24] we could ask one people could ask one at a time. Thank you.

[53:29] You want me to— you want me to start?

[53:33] If you want, and then you can pass it on.

[53:35] Okay.

[53:35] Explain more about the program.

[53:37] Okay, so, um, I think your first question was,

[53:40] do we have to be a pro-housing community for this?

[53:43] And the answer to that is yes, right?

[53:46] So there's most— most state programs now are prefaced on being a pro-housing

[53:51] community. So—

[53:51] Can you tell us what the minimum For pro-housing, what is the minimum

[53:56] pro-housing, what is the minimum definition?

[53:56] Come back to— if you're gonna— if we're gonna have a conversation,

[54:00] you gotta come back to the podium. Yeah.

[54:02] So that's why I suggest we pass this around.

[54:05] Can you tell us what the minimum is for pro-housing 10 out there?

[54:10] There is— I mean, there was an initial— when you initially applied,

[54:14] you had to meet certain metrics, which I don't remember off the top of my head.

[54:18] Um, but since that time we have been recertified and there are no set metrics

[54:23] recertified and there are no set metrics that

[54:23] you have to, that you have to meet.

[54:25] Right. When they, when they, when the program first started, there was,

[54:29] there was something about a 1% growth over a 3-year period or something like

[54:33] that.

[54:33] Or 3% over one, something like that.

[54:36] Yeah. So, but basically a lot of—

[54:38] Is that population or housing units?

[54:40] It was, it was, uh, housing units.

[54:43] Um, but most or a majority of the communities did not meet that criteria.

[54:49] And so the state redesigned the program so that, you know,

[54:54] it required communities just to pass a resolution stating that basically that

[55:00] resolution stating that basically that they

[55:00] were in support of, you know,

[55:03] basically they were in support of residential communities and wouldn't

[55:09] residential communities and wouldn't necessarily

[55:10] throw up obstacles.

[55:11] Got a question on that is, What would— you know this, I don't—

[55:15] what is 1% of Croton's housing unit?

[55:17] How many units would have to be built a year?

[55:20] It was— I want to— I would like to believe—

[55:24] How many units are there now?

[55:25] That's why I would want to say we're somewhere around 3,100 or 3,200.

[55:29] So 10% is 310, right? 1% is 30.

[55:33] Yeah.

[55:34] So that's 30 single-family homes, 30 apartments.

[55:37] Yeah, it's 30 housing units.

[55:38] Yeah.

[55:39] And that's why a lot of communities were not, you know, because if you had like,

[55:43] if a community had a particular development come in,

[55:46] like let's say it was like multifamily housing,

[55:49] or let's say it was a new subdivision,

[55:51] most likely they didn't have that developed year after year,

[55:55] especially the more denser communities that already, like to a larger extent,

[55:59] have a lot of development.

[56:01] So it really was just your big cities that were meeting those targets.

[56:05] That's why they changed the program just to have a resolution passed.

[56:09] There's no targets, there's no requirements,

[56:11] except that you're supposed to submit your statistics every year just to note that,

[56:16] you know, what has been done in terms of building permits issued.

[56:20] So what is the likelihood that a village like Sleepy Hollow—

[56:24] it's probably built 100 or 200 units a year— versus Croton,

[56:29] who looks like we're going to build 1,000, you know,

[56:33] 500 units or 300 units in the next 2 years, uh,

[56:37] who may be going at a pace of 30 or 50?

[56:40] What's the likelihood of us winning this race?

[56:44] It's not— it's not necessarily so.

[56:46] So you mean in terms of the New York Forward funding?

[56:49] So you just have to be a pro-housing community in order to submit the

[56:53] community in order to submit the application.

[56:53] Other than that, uh, they Just the same things as I was referring to,

[56:57] that they'd like to see that things are happening within the area that you've

[57:02] defined as the New York Forward area in terms of the different types of potential

[57:06] projects.

[57:07] And who is the they?

[57:08] I'm sorry, the they is—

[57:10] Who is they?

[57:10] Yeah, so the they is actually the economic regional councils.

[57:14] There's 10 of them throughout the state, and we're in the Mid-Hudson region.

[57:18] And then it's also the Department of State and the Empire State Development

[57:23] Corporation that also gets involved.

[57:25] I'd like to draw people's attention to projects like this,

[57:29] one of which the Industrial Development Authority in the state of New York,

[57:34] in Yonkers and so forth,

[57:36] what the history and the smell from those organizations has been over time.

[57:41] I'd like to propose a couple of thoughts that have never been brought up.

[57:46] One, the village of Croton has a lousy relationship with the railroad.

[57:51] They don't have a great relationship with Westchester County in terms of pushing the

[57:57] railroad, pushing Westchester County, and pushing back on the state.

[58:02] And part of this is because the relationships and jobs of some people are

[58:07] intertwined with these things, so they can't push back like they should.

[58:12] And what I'm referring to is, if we had a full map of Croton,

[58:17] half of Croton would be in the water.

[58:19] Probably 30 to 35% would be either owned by Westchester County, which are parks,

[58:25] half of which is not used.

[58:27] And then our railroad, which runs through the entire village,

[58:31] including a huge plant, which to my understanding we get zero back, zero back,

[58:37] and we don't even talk to them except when we send our fire department.

[58:42] And then— And I'm, I'm scared about this one.

[58:45] I understand that Historic Hudson Valley is not in good economic shape.

[58:50] They've lost, I think, 3 or 4 of their properties over the last 10 years.

[58:55] I really don't know what I'm talking about here, but that's what the word is.

[59:00] And they've let go a lot of people.

[59:03] They just lost Kayakut,

[59:04] and they have a piece of property there above their manor house,

[59:09] which I'm afraid someday will look like the Dyckman House in the Bronx.

[59:14] It'll be a half a, a half an acre surrounded by cityscape and pigeons.

[59:19] Um, Mr. Riley, if you could just—

[59:21] And lastly, we have the state of New York, which owns a huge road corridor.

[59:27] And, and in addition to that, we have railroad properties at the north end,

[59:34] a CSX freight yard, and an old, uh, passenger yard with an abandoned station,

[59:40] it looks like now, etc.

[59:42] And then lastly, no one's ever proposed looking at the—

[59:46] then this is ecological environmental impact of what happened down below Van

[59:53] Cortlandt Manor when they put that first road across.

[59:57] And then ever since then, we've been encroaching upon a bird sanctuary,

[1:00:03] a sanctuary for fish and everything else.

[1:00:06] And we've never advanced— with all our claims to be environmentally sound—

[1:00:13] never advanced any ideas to improve that area in terms of wildlife, etc.,

[1:00:19] as opposed to putting like 50 kayaks on the Croton River. Thank you.

[1:00:24] Okay, do we have further

[1:00:30] speakers for our

[1:00:34] Commenters?

[1:00:36] Okay, I'm Connie Warren. I live at 1 Young Avenue.

[1:00:40] For the most part, this seems like something that would be good for Harmon,

[1:00:45] where I've lived for the last 13 years.

[1:00:47] It's one of the 3 neighborhoods in Croton that we've lived in.

[1:00:51] The one exception is the 425 South Riverside development, which is highly

[1:00:56] Riverside development, which is highly contested.

[1:00:57] So I have a question about community engagement and what that really means.

[1:01:02] From what it sounds like,

[1:01:03] community input is come suggest projects to us or tell us if you like our projects

[1:01:09] or not, or add some frills to our projects.

[1:01:11] But I'm not sure that community input of a broader kind is,

[1:01:15] is actually being invited in the process.

[1:01:18] I mean, how much is it a symbolic process versus a real process?

[1:01:22] So I want to know, are any residents,

[1:01:25] and particularly residents who would be immediately affected by the 425 South

[1:01:30] Riverside development, anticipated becoming part of a planning process?

[1:01:34] Who's in— who gets involved in that planning process?

[1:01:38] Is it only business people, or are residents actually involved?

[1:01:42] Do you want to—

[1:01:43] Yeah, sure.

[1:01:44] So there's 2 different processes kind of taking place, right?

[1:01:48] So this is the grant application where we're just identifying trying, like,

[1:01:53] as part of the grant application, the state likes to see, um,

[1:01:57] what types of potential housing developments are potentially in that area,

[1:02:01] developments are potentially in that area, right?

[1:02:02] That is separate from the land use approval process that the planning board

[1:02:06] approval process that the planning board is just

[1:02:07] starting. So ultimately,

[1:02:08] the village will still have full control over what ends up getting built and

[1:02:13] developed at that site.

[1:02:15] That has nothing to do with this New York Forward application.

[1:02:18] All it is is identifying that there's a potential housing project within that

[1:02:23] potential housing project within that area,

[1:02:24] but it doesn't necessarily mean that that project is finalized,

[1:02:28] settled on a particular, like, number of residential units or anything like that.

[1:02:33] That's all through the planning process that has just begun.

[1:02:37] So they are, they are separate.

[1:02:39] The purpose of today's and also the public outreach that's taking place is to

[1:02:43] identify if there's any other types of projects that we could potentially add to

[1:02:48] that list to identify what's potentially taking place in that area.

[1:02:53] And then also just to receive public feedback like yourselves on, you know,

[1:02:57] types of projects that you're— that you like, don't like necessarily,

[1:03:02] and so that we could potentially emphasize certain projects over other projects

[1:03:07] within the application.

[1:03:09] So when— once the local planning committee is formed, will residents be part—

[1:03:13] will there be any residents that will be asked to be part of the local

[1:03:17] planning?

[1:03:17] So the local planning committee, ultimately, if awarded,

[1:03:20] there is the local planning committee that gets developed.

[1:03:23] They usually like to see representatives from many facets within the community.

[1:03:27] And that'll be up to the village to identify who potentially would be on that

[1:03:32] identify who potentially would be on that local

[1:03:32] planning committee. But and you could probably talk about your local planning

[1:03:36] committee, but I think for the most part there are usually representatives from

[1:03:40] residents, you know, or somebody that's involved in like the chamber or, you know,

[1:03:45] business owner or property owners or people that, you know—

[1:03:48] Business and property owners seems for granted, you know.

[1:03:52] I mean, Harmon is the lowest income area of Croton. It has the most modest houses.

[1:03:57] It has people with the most modest incomes.

[1:04:00] And it has the people who are not likely to be in the decision-making rooms.

[1:04:05] So the question is, will people from Harmon be involved in the decision-making?

[1:04:10] Typically, it's people— there are people, there are representatives from,

[1:04:14] I'm going to say properties, it could be residents,

[1:04:17] it could be organizations within that New York Forward area that are on that.

[1:04:21] I guess the feedback that I'm giving you is that, you know,

[1:04:24] getting a notice last Friday afternoon for a meeting with almost no supporting

[1:04:29] materials with the exception of being able to see the state guidebook.

[1:04:33] It feels like a very one-way kind of community engagement, and it doesn't feel

[1:04:38] community engagement, and it doesn't feel like,

[1:04:38] you know, it feels like we come into this room being asked for input when we don't

[1:04:43] even really know what we're being asked for input into.

[1:04:47] I would hope that in the future that it's a much more two-way and substantive

[1:04:51] process and a much less symbolic process that fulfills state requirements that you

[1:04:56] have a certain number of community engagement meetings on a potential

[1:05:00] engagement meetings on a potential project.

[1:05:01] I don't know whether— where the boundary lines are for the Croton Railroad Station,

[1:05:06] how much is Metro-North controlled and how much is Croton controlled,

[1:05:10] but someday somebody's going to fall down the stairs at that station because the

[1:05:15] stairways are crumbling.

[1:05:16] So if it is possible within the range of projects to renovate the stairways at the

[1:05:21] Croton station. I think that you should put that in your proposal.

[1:05:25] Thank you. And as, as I said, um, previously,

[1:05:28] this is just the beginning of the process.

[1:05:31] So, you know, there will be many more opportunities for people to,

[1:05:35] to give their input.

[1:05:37] I want to thank the mayor of Sleepy Hollow for coming out

[1:05:42] to speak with us tonight. Um, I, I, I do have— I do have—

[1:05:47] John, could you just introduce yourself?

[1:05:49] John McKeehan.

[1:05:50] Thank you.

[1:05:50] Um, I do have a question.

[1:05:53] Do you, do you control the tax assessment process in the village of Sleepy

[1:06:00] Hollow? Or is that part of a greater entity that makes determinations as to

[1:06:07] valuations of properties?

[1:06:09] Because what I'm trying to get to and trying to understand Is that in the

[1:06:16] state of New York, structurally,

[1:06:19] probably because of the presence of New York City as a political entity in our

[1:06:27] state, multifamily residential units and apartment complexes pay about 40% of

[1:06:34] what individual homeowners pay in terms of the valuation of their property.

[1:06:42] for the—

[1:06:43] to pay their tax bill.

[1:06:45] And what we pay on average for the 3,000-odd residences,

[1:06:50] both individual apartments and condominiums,

[1:06:54] towards our schools and towards the operation of our village, on average,

[1:07:02] is probably about $12,000 a year.

[1:07:05] We are in the process of bringing online a 100-unit structure down in a parking lot

[1:07:13] by our train station that will, will net about $4,000 a year per occupancy.

[1:07:20] And we have already built and are,

[1:07:24] are operating another unit at Maple Commons That's generating $2,000 a year

[1:07:31] Commons That's generating $2,000 a year per

[1:07:31] unit, while we are being asked to pay property tax and school tax in individual

[1:07:39] residences at a level on average of about $12,000 a year.

[1:07:45] A lot of villages have faced the same dynamic in our county,

[1:07:50] and as a result they've gone to a fee simple structure for tax assessment

[1:07:58] simple structure for tax assessment purposes

[1:07:58] so that there is an equalization between the condominium value property tax

[1:08:06] payments with the individual homeowner property tax payments.

[1:08:12] Our village made a determination just a year ago to preclude that capability.

[1:08:19] Because they voted to save half an FTE to have the control of our taxation in the

[1:08:27] town of Cortland. There are other mechanisms that we could use to try and

[1:08:34] mechanisms that we could use to try and right

[1:08:35] that wrong. But my question is to you, in, in your village, this—

[1:08:41] these units that are being brought online,

[1:08:45] these luxury units that are being brought online, How are they being assessed?

[1:08:53] Who's assessing them?

[1:08:55] And are they paying property taxes comparable to single individual family

[1:09:02] residences that are in the village?

[1:09:05] And, and do you see that as a problem, or is that a solution that you found?

[1:09:13] So we have our own tax assessor,

[1:09:16] and I would like to do a tax reevaluation with the entire town of Mount

[1:09:23] Pleasant, as this gentleman has pointed out that the village of Sleepy Hollow

[1:09:31] is a part of Mount Pleasant.

[1:09:34] Mount Pleasant is not interested in doing a tax revow.

[1:09:40] We haven't done one in 30 years. They haven't done one in 50 years.

[1:09:46] So we're kind of We have, as our village administrator likes to describe,

[1:09:54] we have the poorest of the poor because we have a lot of low-income housing in

[1:10:02] the southern part of the village,

[1:10:05] all the way up to the Rockefellers live in Pocantico Hills.

[1:10:11] And then the Edge on Hudson, to answer your earlier question,

[1:10:17] it was approved for 1,177 units. new housing units. We're about halfway done.

[1:10:25] We just issued the first, the like 600th certificate of occupancy.

[1:10:32] I'm told that one of the units at Edge on Hudson sold for $6.7 million.

[1:10:39] So we have the wide range of market value.

[1:10:43] Sleepy Hollow is also unique We're one of the few municipalities that have a

[1:10:51] homestead/non-homestead tax structure.

[1:10:55] Okay.

[1:10:55] So we're different than Croton.

[1:10:58] But the way I look at it is if the person who's lucky enough to be

[1:11:04] able to afford a $6.7 million home in Sleepy Hollow,

[1:11:09] he should pay the commensurate property taxes to, you know,

[1:11:15] because he can afford it. And everyone in between will—

[1:11:20] We have similar—

[1:11:22] we have people in what I call— I came from Long Island—

[1:11:27] a Levitt house in Harmon that are paying $11,000 to $12,000 a year in taxes

[1:11:34] towards the school and maintenance of the village.

[1:11:38] And, and they are holding on to their houses with their fingernails because the

[1:11:45] value of these houses has geometrically increased in the last several years.

[1:11:52] They really have no other place to go in this marketplace,

[1:11:57] and the expense associated with maintaining their house and paying school

[1:12:04] maintaining their house and paying school tax and

[1:12:05] property tax is very burdensome.

[1:12:07] And my concern is that bringing in these additional units at de facto subsidized

[1:12:15] tax rates on top of federal incentives, state incentives.

[1:12:20] And now you're talking about additional incentives of $500,000 for subsidized

[1:12:27] housing associated with another grant level.

[1:12:31] It's, it's just a little scary for me.

[1:12:34] I, I will say, um, That we have high tax burden in

[1:12:40] Westchester, and it's not the fault of little village mayors

[1:12:48] or whoever you wanna blame,

[1:12:51] but it's a systemic issue in that in the county of

[1:12:57] Westchester, There are 40 municipalities,

[1:13:02] each with their own school district.

[1:13:07] In the state of New York,

[1:13:10] there are 686 school districts and municipalities.

[1:13:16] In the state of Maryland,

[1:13:19] guess how many counties and school districts there are?

[1:13:26] 50.

[1:13:29] On my—

[1:13:31] my— They're all county school districts down there.

[1:13:34] Yeah.

[1:13:34] Virginia, Maryland, all county. Yeah.

[1:13:36] County—

[1:13:36] terrible, but county school districts.

[1:13:38] So I don't know how many counties there are in Maryland, but—

[1:13:40] Montgomery County, population 1 million, 1 school district.

[1:13:44] Right.

[1:13:44] Exactly. So in the state of Maryland, you know,

[1:13:48] Maryland and New York are very different places. There are 24 counties.

[1:13:54] school districts. So when you compare 24 school districts to 686 school districts,

[1:14:01] and we all know the majority of our taxes go to pay school.

[1:14:07] Yeah. That's why we're at over $40,000 per

[1:14:11] student in the village of Croton-on-Hudson.

[1:14:16] Okay, if we could, Mr. So my point is, No, answer your question.

[1:14:23] He gave you—

[1:14:23] no, Mr. Riley, no, no.

[1:14:26] You asked— will you ask her to answer your question?

[1:14:27] No, I don't need to get into a debate.

[1:14:31] I just want to bring home the point that if we're going to have development here,

[1:14:38] and I'm not against it,

[1:14:40] that that development pays for its fair share of the tax burden that we face as

[1:14:48] incumbent residents in our village.

[1:14:51] Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to share

[1:14:57] their thoughts on New York Forward? You're next, John.

[1:15:04] Hi, Adam Shapiro. Adam Shapiro, 37 Wells Avenue.

[1:15:07] So as you know, I've moved here 4 years ago, I have 2 young kids.

[1:15:12] So I'm— when I see, you know, this type of, you know, application being

[1:15:17] of, you know, application being considered,

[1:15:18] like, I, I find it, you know, very like, I'm very— I feel encouraged by it.

[1:15:24] I think it's a good thing to be considering, to be considering these,

[1:15:29] these projects. I'm just I—

[1:15:31] my input is that it's more about within some of these projects to, to think about,

[1:15:37] you know, I see— I go to a lot of, um, events here in the Village with my, my

[1:15:42] events here in the Village with my, my two—

[1:15:43] my son who's 4, my daughter who's almost a year old, and they're like,

[1:15:48] the summer programming was like a great thing here.

[1:15:51] And, you know, I just wonder, or, you know, for, for Village to think about how

[1:15:57] know, for, for Village to think about how we—

[1:15:57] some of these projects could, you know, could incorporate like the young, you

[1:16:03] could incorporate like the young, you know,

[1:16:03] things that attract young families.

[1:16:06] Like, because I think revitalizing—

[1:16:08] because I think invigorating the downtown is like a lot of that will involve

[1:16:14] pulling— bringing young families into, you know, that district.

[1:16:19] Um, because I know there's— I see so many, you know,

[1:16:22] families who have kids in daycare around here who are just like itching to go out

[1:16:28] and like do things. Especially, you know, because the kid, you know,

[1:16:33] just to give the kids, our kids something to do.

[1:16:37] And just that I think with historic Hudson Valley,

[1:16:40] I do think there's promise in that.

[1:16:43] Like I, I go there, you know, for the Blaze with my family.

[1:16:47] And I do wonder that just with that area, like how it could be utilized more,

[1:16:53] because I just think it's like a great activity.

[1:16:56] And I know people from out of You know, from out of town go,

[1:17:01] I've had friends from Connecticut tell me they're here.

[1:17:05] I've had friends from Lappingers Falls who didn't tell me they were here,

[1:17:10] but they apparently came to it. And I was very annoyed by that.

[1:17:15] And I'm still a little kind of bitter about that.

[1:17:18] But so, yeah, so I just, you know, just wanted to offer my thoughts on that.

[1:17:24] And I look forward—

[1:17:25] Thank you.

[1:17:26] you know, to seeing, seeing this process, um, you know, begin. So thank you.

[1:17:33] Thank you.

[1:17:38] Thanks.

[1:17:40] John Sassoe, Morningside Drive. First of all, sounds great, a lot of it.

[1:17:46] There isn't a person in Groton who wouldn't love to see things paid for by

[1:17:53] wouldn't love to see things paid for by the state

[1:17:53] that they decide needs to be done.

[1:17:56] I have an idea about one I can just put out there.

[1:18:01] There's a park at the duck pond that's got benches that no one would sit on,

[1:18:07] but they still have been there for years in disrepair.

[1:18:11] And there's no access for the ice skaters to go in and out of the— on the ice.

[1:18:18] I'm not a skater. People have told me this.

[1:18:22] They have to walk on rocks with their skates rather than just get a big mat to

[1:18:28] skates rather than just get a big mat to give

[1:18:29] access. Simple. My bigger question is, is this what's listed here?

[1:18:34] Is this part of the application that's going to go in?

[1:18:39] Yes. So ultimately, they usually ask for you to— they ask for—

[1:18:43] there's a section of the application that says what are like past investments within

[1:18:48] that area, and what are current investments,

[1:18:51] and then what are potential future investments.

[1:18:54] And so there is where I get stuck.

[1:18:57] Okay.

[1:18:57] Because 425 South Riverside— I've lived in Croton 45 years. I know a lot of people.

[1:19:04] There isn't one person, not one, that's in favor of this project.

[1:19:10] And, you know, I wish I—

[1:19:12] if this were notified in the Gazette with an announcement that this is to talk about

[1:19:19] 425, you would have had the room filled 3 times over because there's a lot of

[1:19:26] opposition to it.

[1:19:27] Yes.

[1:19:28] Not only is the builder somebody with not a great reputation in Croton of some

[1:19:35] project he's tried to get done, But the whole idea of it—

[1:19:40] so now it seems like this goes in and you say it doesn't have to have housing

[1:19:46] as part of the whole project, but that's what it's—

[1:19:51] the umbrella is about housing, right? Isn't this—

[1:19:55] No, the umbrella is really about revitalization of your downtown area.

[1:20:01] So it's supposed to be It's not only— it's not just the sole focus on housing.

[1:20:08] It's public upgrades.

[1:20:09] But there's a favorability toward people who want to—

[1:20:13] What they— what the state would like to see is,

[1:20:17] as part of the application process, that you are dealing with— wait,

[1:20:23] let me finish this.

[1:20:24] Go ahead.

[1:20:26] That you do have the ability to have housing in the area.

[1:20:30] area, that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a lot of housing development.

[1:20:36] You can also utilize housing that has occurred in that area,

[1:20:40] which you have some housing development that has been recently approved for that

[1:20:45] area, and that just demonstrates that there is housing within that area.

[1:20:50] But, you know, for example,

[1:20:52] Dobbs Ferry just was awarded their $4.5 million in projects, and I don't—

[1:20:57] I—

[1:20:58] there were— I think there might have been one project that had a little bit of

[1:21:02] housing associated with it, but the rest of them were not housing-related projects.

[1:21:08] So, and I think you had only one thing there that said housing.

[1:21:12] They're gonna— their eyes are open a little wider, maybe.

[1:21:14] Right.

[1:21:15] They don't— they don't want an area—

[1:21:17] they don't want an area that doesn't have residents in it, that's for sure.

[1:21:21] So my point is, it's almost like the tail wagging the dog.

[1:21:25] Because if this goes through and there's an approval for this project to improve

[1:21:31] an approval for this project to improve the

[1:21:31] water, sewage, whatever the project is involved with, well,

[1:21:35] now it comes back to the village. Well, we've approved this, let's do it.

[1:21:41] It's a one-time opportunity. You follow my thinking here?

[1:21:45] Yeah, I understand. I understand what your concern is.

[1:21:47] But we've got— okay, we— well, there's no problem.

[1:21:51] We've got sewers, we've got water. We went ahead.

[1:21:54] Right.

[1:21:55] And so it's, it's got the people in this

[1:21:59] village very leery about seeing that on this

[1:22:03] list.

[1:22:04] Right.

[1:22:05] And that's my opinion.

[1:22:07] So, okay.

[1:22:07] No, I understand. I understand your concern.

[1:22:10] And I just want to emphasize again that the,

[1:22:12] the actual planning board approval process is—

[1:22:15] yeah, I understand how things work too. I get it.

[1:22:18] But if there were a meeting held on that,

[1:22:21] you'd see a much bigger turnout and a lot of disapproval about it.

[1:22:26] I know.

[1:22:26] Thank you.

[1:22:34] How are you? Yeah, I'm Cynthia Eldridge.

[1:22:36] I own one of the properties in that section there. I had 2 questions.

[1:22:41] One is, I was here for the first Gateway proposals made, I don't know,

[1:22:46] 20-something years ago, maybe.

[1:22:48] And they talked a lot about sidewalks and improving the sidewalks in that area.

[1:22:53] And there are still people who walk past my building.

[1:22:56] The new sidewalk that kind of goes between Dr.

[1:22:59] Fields and the Straddles complex is great. That was helpful.

[1:23:03] But it's still really hard.

[1:23:05] People are trying to get into that ShopRite plaza area on foot.

[1:23:09] And that's super difficult.

[1:23:11] So something I could suggest is, you know, can that be improved?

[1:23:15] So people have access down there.

[1:23:18] There's a lot of young people using the gym, there's older people trying to shop.

[1:23:24] It's—

[1:23:25] that's a thing.

[1:23:26] And that's— I think that's a really great project.

[1:23:28] And I think the village manager is trying to work with the property owner as maybe

[1:23:33] potentially identifying that as a project as part The application.

[1:23:37] The other thing I wanted to say was, I agree, my whole life that lot floods,

[1:23:43] it floods, it's been redone, it floods.

[1:23:46] Do you have an estimate from the people working on the plan of how much that

[1:23:52] working on the plan of how much that costs?

[1:23:52] Because as the mayor pointed out, $4.5 million isn't that much, sadly.

[1:23:58] So what does the— what does the wall cost?

[1:24:01] You want to sit down?

[1:24:03] No, no, the, the estimate from our engineer is about $7 million for the wall,

[1:24:09] but obviously only a small portion of this grant would be going towards that.

[1:24:16] We are seeking out multiple sources of funding for that particular project.

[1:24:22] Do you have a projection of how much of this grant you're looking for for the

[1:24:26] this grant you're looking for for the wall?

[1:24:26] No, that's not going to be decided by us.

[1:24:29] That's going to be decided by the state Right, they're gonna, they're gonna tell

[1:24:33] Right, they're gonna, they're gonna tell us.

[1:24:33] So, but I mean, I don't— I wouldn't think— I mean,

[1:24:36] Valerie may be able to share a little bit more,

[1:24:38] but I don't think that they would put a lot of it towards it, right? I mean—

[1:24:42] No, I mean, I, I would, I would, I would think that the state's going to want to,

[1:24:48] um, if they're going to— like, as you saw with Sleepy Hollow,

[1:24:52] there was a couple $1.5 million projects, $1.4 million projects,

[1:24:56] and you saw a lot of those happen to really involve like public,

[1:25:01] like parks and those types of projects, streetscaping,

[1:25:04] they'd like to spend bigger amounts of funding towards those types of projects

[1:25:10] versus something that would be like, like, for example,

[1:25:13] with the Croton train station.

[1:25:15] Yeah.

[1:25:16] So maybe like $500,000 towards something like that.

[1:25:19] Okay.

[1:25:21] Yeah.

[1:25:21] Thank you. You're welcome.

[1:25:25] Any other comments, please?

[1:25:26] Michael Adlin, 55 Van Wyck.

[1:25:30] Um, I was just curious,

[1:25:32] does the boundary area have to be contiguous?

[1:25:38] It's—

[1:25:40] yes, it does need to be.

[1:25:41] I know that's the challenge with this, with, uh, yeah, and that's—

[1:25:46] and that was what we were trying to do originally in 2024 is we tried to be a

[1:25:51] little, you know, yeah, a little loose with that.

[1:25:53] And we had, we had a little bit down on North Riverside,

[1:25:56] and then we came up Brook Street, and then we had some in the Upper Village.

[1:26:00] And they were like, you know, they told us that they appreciated the effort, right?

[1:26:05] But it was not, it was not what they were looking for. Okay.

[1:26:08] Yeah, I'm tempted in that same way. So thanks for clarifying.

[1:26:12] And then I appreciate all the work you're doing. I lived on Beekman for a year.

[1:26:16] So it's gonna be very exciting to see all these developments take place.

[1:26:21] Great.

[1:26:21] Thanks for your work.

[1:26:22] Come back and visit.

[1:26:22] Yeah, I will do. Um, and yeah, just,

[1:26:24] I guess I'll plant the seeds even though it's outside of the boundary area,

[1:26:29] since you may be applying year after year, uh, for this among other grants.

[1:26:33] But, um, there's a little bend in the river along Elliott Way.

[1:26:37] It's like Croton Riverwalk,

[1:26:39] and it's right kind of between Senosqua and the Yacht Club.

[1:26:42] And it's, um, it's an area that's kind of like dead space in the water because of

[1:26:47] old pilings. And it's kind of out of the way.

[1:26:50] It doesn't really get in the way of the sunset or anything,

[1:26:53] but like my sort of dream would be that you can encourage sort of a connection to

[1:26:58] the Hudson River by having like a kind of a restaurant platform there,

[1:27:02] like a modest one, but just have one place to eat on the river to encourage like

[1:27:07] reverie, and then have like a grab-and-go commissary to encourage those parents that

[1:27:12] are just itching to have something Something to do,

[1:27:15] and it would kind of just having one kind of feature restaurant right there would

[1:27:20] tie into lots of development along the waterfront there.

[1:27:24] But it would also just tie other communities together,

[1:27:27] and we have the recent development in housing and yada yada.

[1:27:30] But anyway, just there's like kind of one little sweet spot,

[1:27:34] which if it could go through all of the stakeholders with respect to.

[1:27:38] All the things. Um, it would be just so cool, uh,

[1:27:41] to have one little restaurant on the river because we're at the,

[1:27:45] the widest span of one of the great rivers in the world without a place to eat and

[1:27:50] appreciate it. So that'd be cool.

[1:27:52] Yeah, that's great. Thank you.

[1:27:54] Yeah, and that's, that's something that's been identified in our comp plan for a

[1:28:00] little while now is trying to do that. So something that we continue to look at.

[1:28:05] Any, any further comments?

[1:28:07] Though I'm on the board, I just wanted to share, um,

[1:28:11] that we did have a neighbor that, um— Nora Nicholson.

[1:28:16] Um, so we did have a neighbor that sent an email.

[1:28:20] He wasn't able to make it tonight, but his idea is to run a trail, um,

[1:28:27] sort of to connect the neighborhoods there. So if of the pointer, Brian.

[1:28:33] Yep.

[1:28:34] Uh, so sort of a connector trail.

[1:28:36] I think using that Van Cortlandt Manor property, someone made a point that,

[1:28:41] you know, maybe they would want to sell that off.

[1:28:44] Like, does that become an opportunity for trail network along the river there?

[1:28:49] Um, not necessarily, you know, sort of parkland improvement back there versus,

[1:28:54] parkland improvement back there versus, um,

[1:28:54] you know, what it is right now. Right now it's just woods.

[1:28:58] I have an idea, uh, at Echo canoe launch of really developing that space into more

[1:29:03] of a park. So Beacon, if anyone's been up there,

[1:29:06] they've just recently done a canoe launch with canoe storage,

[1:29:10] which is really quite fabulous.

[1:29:12] But using that space down there, I think would be really great.

[1:29:16] And I just want to like, you know,

[1:29:18] I've been listening to this meeting and just thinking about, you know,

[1:29:23] the ideas that sort of happened along the way. Um, Mr.

[1:29:26] Riley, you pointed out marshlands around the Croton River and enhancement there,

[1:29:31] protecting those. I mean, that is something that we can include in the

[1:29:36] something that we can include in the grant.

[1:29:36] I think beautification of the station and repairing the staircase would absolutely

[1:29:41] be something that we could work with Metro-North.

[1:29:45] And the opportunity at the station— I mean, right now it is, um, you know,

[1:29:49] we haven't seen a renovation to that station in a very long time.

[1:29:53] So you kind of come into Croton, it's like, ugh.

[1:29:57] Um, so that could be an opportunity for some beautification.

[1:30:00] And absolutely, the walkability in that area is much, much needed, um,

[1:30:05] to ShopRite Plaza and getting down there.

[1:30:08] And even making this— I mean,

[1:30:09] I think what's hard about this particular grant is we're saying it's a down—

[1:30:14] you know, we're saying it's an improvement to a business area downtown improvement

[1:30:20] kind of thing, but it's really not. downtown, right?

[1:30:23] So we're gonna need to try to spin it so it seems like it is more of an area,

[1:30:28] but we have so many people coming into the station, right?

[1:30:32] And we have so many people kind of going up and over to Van Cortlandt Manor.

[1:30:36] Hopefully with Phase 2 for Van Cortlandt Manor,

[1:30:39] that property will be open more than just the Blaze, right?

[1:30:43] I mean, that's sort of the dream that when I was growing up here in Croton,

[1:30:48] that that was open all year round. There were school groups going there.

[1:30:53] There were visitors there.

[1:30:54] That would bring more commerce to the village and more tax revenue.

[1:30:59] So, you know, those are some of my ideas.

[1:31:01] But, you know, I think it is— it's a challenging pitch.

[1:31:05] And we, you know, I think we're going to learn along the way with this one,

[1:31:10] just like we learned the long way with the other one,

[1:31:13] just in terms of just so people kind of understand.

[1:31:16] When we pick this area, when we look at sort of the Grand Street,

[1:31:20] Upper Village area, which is really the true downtown of the Village,

[1:31:25] why isn't that a great candidate?

[1:31:27] Like, if we just circled sort of the Upper Village,

[1:31:30] why wouldn't that be a great candidate for this grant?

[1:31:34] So, I mean, I can think— I mean, I don't know if you want to weigh in,

[1:31:38] and then I can talk a little bit about it too.

[1:31:40] Yeah, sure. Yeah, it really— it has to do with the types of projects, right,

[1:31:46] that the state is looking for in this particular grant application.

[1:31:50] Um, yeah, there is not really an opportunity to build out in the Upper

[1:31:55] opportunity to build out in the Upper Village,

[1:31:56] right? I mean, there's, um, very few properties that are available, um,

[1:32:01] or property owners who are interested in, uh, building out their properties.

[1:32:06] And, um, you know, we had a couple of projects in the Upper Village in our

[1:32:11] projects in the Upper Village in our previous

[1:32:12] round, right, which involved Vassallo Park specifically and doing some

[1:32:17] streetscaping. But as Valerie has said earlier this evening, you know,

[1:32:22] the state is really looking for as much private investment as they are public

[1:32:27] investment. So unless, you know, and these are totally hypothetical, right,

[1:32:32] unless somebody was to come in and say,

[1:32:35] I want to put another story on the Black Cow, or if I want to, you know, build a 3,

[1:32:41] you know, multiple 3-story, you know, mixed-use building, something like that,

[1:32:47] right? I mean, unless there was projects like that that had interest that were

[1:32:52] like that that had interest that were going

[1:32:52] to potentially move forward,

[1:32:54] there's just not the investment needed in the Upper Village.

[1:32:59] I think you wanted to say something.

[1:33:02] Yeah, what I was going to say is, I think for Sleepy Hollow,

[1:33:07] we have a smaller geography than you do,

[1:33:10] but we really leaned into the connectivity between our neighborhoods.

[1:33:16] And as we were building this, you know, very affluent enclave on the river,

[1:33:22] we wanted to make sure that all these different neighborhoods had good

[1:33:28] different neighborhoods had good connectivity.

[1:33:29] And so walkability, we're, you know,

[1:33:32] partners in the Project Mover as far as bikeability.

[1:33:37] And being that we have 2 train stations on the Hudson Line between Tarrytown and

[1:33:44] Phillips Manor, it's all about, you know,

[1:33:47] how do we get around Sleepy Hollow without a car would be ideal.

[1:33:52] So I think, you know, You're onto something as far as like trails and, you

[1:33:59] something as far as like trails and, you know,

[1:33:59] access to the train by foot or sidewalks.

[1:34:03] You know, I think that that's important to the state, right?

[1:34:08] So like our Cortland streetscape project that we got $1.2 million for,

[1:34:14] that is basically the corridor from the Tarrytown train station right up into

[1:34:20] Beekman Avenue. as you know.

[1:34:23] So that's just a very important thoroughfare for all the tourists that

[1:34:28] thoroughfare for all the tourists that we're trying

[1:34:29] to encourage to come to Sleepy Hollow via train come this fall season.

[1:34:35] So we really want to beautify Cortlandt Street.

[1:34:39] And we actually have a conversation with Tarrytown,

[1:34:44] because the train station's in their village, but— We want to, you know,

[1:34:50] make it seamless so that as we're doing our rezoning project right now,

[1:34:56] we actually asked our zoning consultant to include that Cortland Street all the way

[1:35:03] to Tarrytown within the scope of our rezoning so that it's more integrated.

[1:35:09] And to the extent that after we do our visioning exercise for Sleepy Hollow

[1:35:15] visioning exercise for Sleepy Hollow downtown

[1:35:16] rezoning. Cherrytown at least has kind of a head start if they decide to,

[1:35:22] to address that part of their village as well for rezoning.

[1:35:30] Yeah. Before we break up,

[1:35:32] I just wanted to just personally thank the mayor for her time.

[1:35:37] I mentioned to her before we got started, I said, My goodness,

[1:35:42] you have enough evening meetings in Sleepy Hollow.

[1:35:46] You don't need to add one more to Croton. But it was awfully generous.

[1:35:51] One of the great things about the 45 municipalities that we have in Westchester

[1:35:57] County is we all try to work together a lot. And this is a wonderful example.

[1:36:03] And I think our application ultimately has profited greatly from you being here this

[1:36:10] evening. So I appreciate it.

[1:36:12] My pleasure.

[1:36:14] I should have ordered the drink.

[1:36:16] Brian, yeah, that's right. To be continued.

[1:36:19] And again, I just wanted to emphasize,

[1:36:22] just on behalf of the board and all of us here, is my expectation is that—

[1:36:27] and I could be off by a few weeks—

[1:36:29] but my expectation is that we'll probably get the notice from the state that the

[1:36:35] application period is open Maybe sometime in October,

[1:36:38] and we'll have until January to to to submit our application.

[1:36:42] The this is a list, and that's all it is right now.

[1:36:46] We've we've talked a little bit about it,

[1:36:49] but as you can see from some of the conversations that we've had tonight and

[1:36:54] conversations that we've had tonight and some of

[1:36:54] the some of the good ideas that have come forth from many of you,

[1:36:59] you know we're we're open. To lots of things.

[1:37:02] We have some basic guidelines about, you know, as Valerie said, contiguous, and,

[1:37:07] you know, we'll try to figure those out. But we want a great application.

[1:37:12] And when we didn't get it in 2024, in our region, who did get it was, was Nyack.

[1:37:17] And I happened to bump into the mayor of Nyack a couple of weeks later.

[1:37:22] And I said, Mayor, what was your secret sauce in getting New York forward?

[1:37:27] And he said, well, we got it— it was the 4th time we applied,

[1:37:31] and each time that we applied, we tried to improve our application,

[1:37:36] get more good ideas, get more people involved, and so that's what we're doing.

[1:37:41] I said, well, we're going to try to do the same thing,

[1:37:45] but do it in 2 tries rather than 4.

[1:37:47] So this is an important part of the process, and as Brian said,

[1:37:51] this is the beginning of the process, not in any way a conclusion.

[1:37:56] So to all of you that—

[1:37:57] Thank you.

[1:37:58] you know, suggested that, uh, that you need more time.

[1:38:00] We need more time too, and we need, we need all of you to, uh,

[1:38:04] to be involved in this. So I just wanted to say that as we, as we conclude.

[1:38:08] Thank you.

[1:38:08] Okay, any other—

[1:38:13] Are you going to put something out to the community so that now

[1:38:17] that they know that they have more time for projects that they

[1:38:21] can—

[1:38:21] There, there will be, there will be a lot of community output. Outreach, yes.

[1:38:26] Okay.

[1:38:31] All right, well, thank you everyone for coming this evening.

[1:38:35] This video will be posted on the website.

[1:38:37] It will be available tomorrow on the Village website,

[1:38:40] and stay tuned for the next outreach session.

NY Forward Town Hall Meeting

Transcript