On May 31, 2023, WMPF held the 49th Annual Planning Awards Program and Dinner, an event that celebrates outstanding contributions to planning in Westchester County. The City of New Rochelle was host to the awards at the Glen Island Harbour Club.
Congratulations to the 2022-2023 Winners
Planning Achievement Awards
Westchester County | Grasslands Restoration at Croton Point Park
This three-year restoration of the largest grassland in the lower Hudson River Valley was completed in November 2021 at the Westchester-owned Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson. The grassland is a critically important habitat for birds migrating the Atlantic Flyway which is crucial to the survival of birds flying to and from Greenland and Canada to the Caribbean and South American.
Westchester County | Mayfair Senior Apartments
Mayfair Senior Housing, located at 1 Fairway Circle in the Town of Greenburgh, provides 74 units of affordable senior housing located on the grounds of Westchester Community College. It is affordable to seniors aged 62 and over with incomes ranging from 40% to 80% of the County’s Area Median Income. The project is an example of the synergy among the various stakeholders including the Town, local neighborhood association and the County who all worked together to contribute to the County’s critical housing needs.
Town/Village of Harrison | Repurposing the Teardrop
The “Teardop” – named for its shape – is an area in the Town of Harrison bounded by I-287, I-684 and the Hutchinson River Parkway. As a result of a rezoning initiative of this area by the Town, 6 obsolete office buildings, 1 newspaper plant and a hotel have been or are in the process of being repurposed, reinforcing the viability of the remaining office buildings, and creating a new and vibrant mixed-use community consisting of 900 dwelling units (with an additional 736 units in the pipeline), with new supportive retail and service uses including Lifetime Fitness, Wegmans Supermarket and Montefiore Medical.
Town of Mount Pleasant | Envision Mount Pleasant Comprehensive Plan and Hamlet Zoning Code
At the end of 2022, the Town of Mount Pleasant adopted “Envision Mount Pleasant”, a far-reaching comprehensive plan, replacing the previous compressive plan adopted in 1970-more than 50 years ago. The Town’s grassroots process in adopting Envision Mount Pleasant illustrates how a comprehensive plan can be created in an equitable and visionary manner, that also produces the tools to successfully implement the Town’s vision. To facilitate the Town’s vision, a new hybrid zoning code that is built upon the principals of form-based zoning, in a simplified and user-friendly format was also adopted.
City of Yonkers | Enslaved Africans’ Rain Garden
The project, first envisioned by artist Vinnie Bagwell in 2009, consists of 5 life-sized bronze sculptures that commemorate the legacy of Africans who once resided at the colonial-era Philipse Manor Hall in Yonkers, six of whom were among the first to be freed from slavery in the United States 64 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. This amazing outdoor exhibit educates the public about an important part of Yonkers’ and the nation’s history, and promotes diversity, equity and inclusion as an outdoor open-to-the public exhibit for all to see and enjoy.
Planning Commendations
Village of Croton-on-Hudson | Parking Facility, Vehicular, Pedestrian & Bicycle Enhancements
This $3.8 Million project funded through a combination of state, federal, county and local funds, was designed to create safer traffic flow through a ¼ mile long corridor along Croton Point Avenue from South Riverside Avenue to Veterans Plaza. The project included the roadway reconstruction, new curbs and sidewalks along the southern side of the road, the addition of bicycle lanes, 3 traffic signals, replacement of existing drainage structures and new striping and signage.
City of Peekskill | Charles Point Multi-Use Trail
The Charles Point Trail is a 2/3-mile long segment of waterfront trail which extends from Charles Point Park in the City of Peekskill to Lent’s Cove Park in the Village of Buchanan. This paved trail which includes benches, trash cans, bike racks, decorative lighting and directional signage, completes the southern portion of the award-wining waterfront trail, and implements the City of Peekskill’s goals as contained its Local Waterfront Revitalization Program and Waterfront Park and Trail Master Plan.
Westchester Parks Foundation | Westchester’s Winter Wonderland
A program partnership between Westchester Parks Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, and Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation, Westchester’s Winter Wonderland was originally founded in 2014 as a way to encourage the public to visit Westchester’s iconic Kensico Dam Plaza. In 2020, the program was re-envisioned as “Westchester’s Winter Wonderland Holiday Drive-Thru Light Extravaganza” to create a pandemic safe experience. The 1.2 mile light show saw more than 120,000 visitors in its first year and has become wildly popular.
For nearly 40 years, Ms. Courtney-Batson has significantly contributed to the improvement, progression and planning endeavors in the Town of Bedford from historic preservation to affordable housing advocacy to community engagement. Her dedication to the Town is not just evidenced by her attendance at nearly 800 night meetings as a member and Chair of the Planning Board, but of her longtime involvement with the Katonah Village Improvement Society and the Town’s Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee. She has received accolades from Bedford Magazine, and the New York Times, and now from the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation.
Mr. Davison served as the Chairman of the Mount Vernon Zoning Board of Appeals for 42 years before retiring in February 2021. As Chair of the Board of Appeals, Mr. Davison provided leadership and guidance to many members who served with him. He is the finest example of hard work, energy and meticulous preparation. He was involved in almost every important planning initiative of the City, including the 2011 Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee, the Mount Vernon West TOD form-based zoning, the East Brownfield Opportunity Area and the Canal Village Planning Study. In 2017, Mr. Davison received the David Allee Award for ZBA Chair from the New York Planning Federation. In addition to his service to the City of Mount Vernon, and other impressive local endeavors, Mr. Davison has volunteered every Wednesday since 2007 at the Community Service Associates soup kitchen at Sacred Hart Church in Mount Vernon.
Planning Boards, and by extension, the communities they represent, are often a reflection of the character of the Planning Board Chair. The Town of Harrison was fortunate to have been guided by the steady hand of Tom Heaslip for over two decades. His direct approach of using the Planning Board’s authority to modify, revise and adjust applications – one project at a time – helped to achieve the Town’s planning goals. Vision, perseverance and integrity were the hallmark of Tom’s stewardship of Harrison’s Planning Board, and the Town is well positioned for years to come because of his leadership.
Mr. McCarthy was born in the Village of Sleepy Hollow which at that time was known as North Tarrytown, and has remained a life-long resident. In 1991, he was appointed to the Village Planning Board where he served for the next 32 years. Mr. McCarthy assisted the Village through one of its most important development eras to date which includes: Ichabod’s Landing, “Kendal-on-Hudson” (one of only 14 CCRCs in New York State), the Phelps Hospital expansion, the redevelopment of the former General Motors property with the mixed-use development known as “Edge on Hudson”, Castle Oil redevelopment at “River’s Edge”, and Valley Street senior housing, just to name a few.
Mr. McNamara began his service to the Town of Somers in 1979 with his appointment to the Planning Board where he served for 20 years, including two terms as Chair. After taking some time off, Dennis was appointed to the Town’s Zoning Board of Appeals in 2014 before being reappointed to the Planning Board in 2016, a position he held until his announced retirement in early 2023, a collective of 32 years of service to the Somers community. Rumor has it that Mr. McNamara is responsible for the reduction in height by over 100 feet of I.M. Pei’s modernistic structures that can be seen while driving north on I-684.
Joseph Cianciulli is one of Yonkers’ legendary figures and one of its longest serving public officials having recently retired as the Chairman of the Yonkers Zoning Board of Appeals where he served for 53 years. After 2 years of serving on the Yonkers Parking Authority in the late 1960s, Mr. Cianciulli was appointed to the Yonkers Zoning Board of Appeals in 1970, where he became the Chairman in 1993. Prior to 2000, the Yonkers Zoning Board of Appeals was the only discretionary review board in the City. As a member and later Chairman of that Board, Mr. Cianciulli played an invaluable role and was influential in the outcome of literally thousands of development projects both big and small in the City of Yonkers. Mr. Cianciulli was first honored by the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation as a Citizen Planner in 1995, and is the first person to be honored a second time – this time in celebration and gratitude for more than half a century of service to the Planning community and the City of Yonkers.
Norma Drummond recently retired as the Commissioner of Planning for Westchester County. Norma worked for the County for over 37 years, most of that time administering community development and affordable housing programs, providing direct assistance to the municipalities, developers and non-profit agencies, helping them identify and address the needs of their low and moderate income residents and neighborhoods.
She began her career in the Office of Economic Development as a Junior Staff Assistant, followed by a number of other positions in Economic Development before beginning her career focused on housing in the Department of Planning, first as the Program Director Housing and Planning, Director of Program Development II (Housing and Community Development), Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and in 2018 County Executive George Latimer promoted her to the position of Commissioner of Planning.
Among her many achievements, are the administration of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, the Community Development Block Grant program and other HUD programs for the County. For over ten years, she focused on the implementation of the County’s Fair Housing Settlement Agreement, ensuring the development of at least 750 affordable units in the County’s less diverse municipalities.
Ms. Drummond is a Past President of the National Association for County Community and Economic Development. She was a past president of the New York State Section 8 Housing Task Force; served on the National Association of Counties Subcommittee on Community and Economic Development; and served on several non-profit housing agency boards including Community Capital New York and the Westchester Community Housing Resource Center.
Ms. Drummond was raised in the Town of Mount Pleasant, and, after graduating from college, resided in the Village of Port Chester for several years, where she served on the Planning Commission. She currently lives in Dutchess County where she has been very active in her community, including serving on and chairing the Planning Board followed by the Zoning Board for a combined 23 years. She has served twice on the Wappingers Central School District Board of Education, serving part of that time as Vice President of the Board. Since her retirement she has been voted onto the Dutchess County Planning Federation Board.
Aidan Boyle is a graduate student at The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, in the Landscape Architecture program. Her focus is in restoration and green infrastructure for sustainable development. She graduated with honors from SUNY Purchase in 2019 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing. Aidan currently resides in New Rochelle.
Katelin Penner is a vacant lot researcher and Masters in Urban Planning student at Hunter College. She earned her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University in 2022 and graduated from Hastings High School in 2018. Her work, which has been published in the Hunter Urban Review, Next City, and City Limits, concerns the ways cities respond to austerity, community resilience, social housing, and the role capital has played in shaping our homes and neighborhoods, especially in the late 20th Century. After graduation, Katelin hopes to work on building out a social housing sector in both New York City and Westchester County.
Special Thank You from WMPF to Bill Brady!
William Brady recently retired from the Westchester County Planning Department after 35 years. As the County’s liaison to the Federation, Mr. Brady provided indispensable organization for our annual Land Use Training Institute, educational programs, as well as the annual dinner. We can’t thank him enough for his support of the Federation and wish him all the best in his next chapter.
