On November 29, 2021, WMPF held the 47th Annual Planning Awards Program, an event that celebrates outstanding contributions to planning in Westchester County. This year would have been our 48th Annual Awards Program, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were unable to conduct our awards program in 2020. Therefore this year’s presentation includes awards for projects submitted in 2020.
Congratulations to the 2021 Award Recipients
PLANNING ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
Westchester County | Census 2020
Westchester County’s efforts to obtain a complete count in the 2020 Census were unprecedented. Planning for last year’s census was started by County Executive George Latimer in August of 2018; and county representatives presented at 41 different municipal board meetings and made over 60 census presentations to agencies and groups to raise awareness. Meetings were held monthly through December 2020; the switch to remote meetings due to the pandemic provided the opportunity to expand participation. Outreach and marketing activities included billboards and bus shelter ads in hard-to count communities, TV public service announcements, online videos, at outdoor movies at Kensico Dam Plaza and Playland, social media ads, reusable shopping bags, flyers, tickers, lawn sings, robo-calls and banners. Through its incredible planning and outreach efforts, the County identified more than 23,000 housing units to be counted beyond the 2010 totals.
City of White Plains | White Plains Library Plaza
The next project reimagined a once barren and unwelcoming space into a destination and a vibrant urban park in a very busy but under-served area of the City of White Plains. The City, needing to remedy decades of water damage at the parking structure below the White Plains Library, saw an opportunity to turn this 60,000 square foot plaza into a welcoming public green space. With the assistance of Westchester County, The City of White Plains developed this beautiful outdoor plaza which is an extension of the Library that welcomes hundreds of visitors on a daily basis. The project exemplifies inter-municipal cooperation at its best. The new plaza includes a number of sustainable features including low reflective pavers which help to reduce urban heat island effect, and tree groves which provide shade along the southern façade of the Library, reducing energy costs; It includes new energy efficient LED lighting, new security and surveillance systems given that the space is surrounded by three courthouses, and one of the first pollinator gardens in Westchester County to be located in an urban center.
City of Yonkers | Downtown Yonkers Mural Program
A thriving art presence in a municipality energizes the environment, inspires economic development and connects communities with public art. The City of Yonkers continues its downtown Yonkers mural program as part of its revitalization process. Its murals, old and new, inspire individuals from Westchester County and beyond to explore the heart of Yonkers, and all of the food, nightlife and culture it offers. Recognizing that the arts play not only an integral role in the economic engine of a City, but also in urban planning as well, the City undertook several public arts murals in the last three years which are a reflection of the community. These pieces include Luisa Vibes Waterfront Vibes, Surface of Beauty’s Orange Joy, Katori Walker’s Vigorizar – Daylighting III , and Daisy Rossetti’s Come Fly With Me. Each of the murals embody the wildlife theme found in the City’s past murals. The muralists were selected through a call and were chosen on how effectively their work represented Yonkers’ diverse community. The mural program continues to connect the community with art that truly speaks to them while revitalizing and branding the City as not only a great place to visit, but also a wonderful destination to live.
City of Peekskill | Peekskill Central Firehouse
Design and construction of a new Central Firehouse is a crowning achievement for the City of Peekskill and is the culmination of a 10 year process that engaged volunteer and career firefighters and the entire Peekskill community. This $12 Million firehouse located at 1141 Main Street consolidates five fire stations into a single state of the art facility which is centrally located and allows firefighters to reach any emergency in the City within about three minutes. The new building is equipped with a kitchen, locker room, sleeping quarters, training stations and a public meeting room to serve the needs of the City and the wider community. The lobby also features a Fire Museum that highlights and preserves almost 2 centuries of proud service to the Peekskill community and includes a 19th century restored fire apparatus. The Project which has received 2 significant design awards is a sign of the City of Peekskill’s commitment to its first responders and its unwavering confidence in its future.
City of Peekskill | Esther Place
As we all know, Covid-19 highlighted the need for more public space to safely gather and for restaurants to expand outdoor seating. Last Spring, “Peekskill Walks”, a volunteer group in the City of Peekskill presented the idea of closing Esther Street, a short downtown alley that runs from Division Street to Brown Street, to vehicular traffic and transforming the space into a parklike space to create more outdoor seating room for restaurants which would provide greater social distancing and would help restaurants amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The group worked with City Manager Andrew Stewart who in turn worked with City departments to make sure all needs and requirements were met. The City placed barriers across each end of the one-block street to close it off to traffic. The City added picnic tables and created a new dynamic space. Esther Place instantly became an active community space for eating, music and arts, movies and meeting friends. This project is a great example of how the public, community organizations, businesses and government can all work together to create exciting new public spaces that quickly become a center of life and activity, and contribute to the success of a downtown.
Town of Yorktown | Yorktown Heights RR Station Restoration
The Yorktown Heights Railroad Station is located on Commerce Street in the Yorktown Heights business hamlet within Railroad Park, immediately adjacent to the North County Trailway. The station was part of New York Central’s Old Putnam line that ran from Sedgwick Avenue to North Brewster; the last passenger train departed the station in May of 1958. The Property was thereafter acquired by the Town as parkland, and in 1976 the station was locally and nationally landmarked. Throughout the years, the Town and local Historical Society have struggled to maintain the building through volunteer work and private funding. The building had been closed for many years due to interior fire damage. The Town sought to restore the station building back to its historically correct configuration and to preserve its architectural character in keeping with its designation as an historic landmark. Over the course of the last decade, the Town worked with NYSDOT to obtain funds and permits for the restoration of the Yorktown Heights Railroad Station. The Town hopes to open the building to the public as a light concession and information center for users of the North County Trailway. Finally realizing the success of this restoration project helps to emphasize its historical importance and allows the Yorktown Railroad Station to once again be the focal point of Railroad Park.
Town of Ossining | Historic Dale Cemetery Superintendent’s Cottage Restoration
Historic Dale Cemetery was founded in 1851, and remains an active, non-sectarian public cemetery which provides an affordable option for a dignified final resting place for generations of Ossining’s families. The cemetery was acquired by the Town of Ossining in 2003 and in 2013 was added to the National Register of Historic Places; many prominent historical figures are buried at Dale: Revolutionary War generals and heroes, a Federal Judge, a congressman, a professional baseball player, a nationally known jazz recording artist, and former New York State Governor and Mayor of New York City. In recent years, the Town has undertaken the challenging task of restoring the historic assets of the cemetery that were neglected for many years prior to the Town’s acquisition of the cemetery, including the Superintendent’s Cottage that had been designed by landscape architect Howard Daniels and which graces the entrance to a beautiful landscaped cemetery containing stories of the Town of Ossining, the greater community and our nation. The Town worked with Stephen Tilly, architect and preservation expert to develop a renovation and restoration plan that efficiently preserved the Cottage’s most important features. The restored Cottage preserves a piece of important history and will serve as an office of the cemetery and a space to showcase artifacts curated by the Ossining Historic Cemeteries Conservancy.
PLANNING COMMENDATIONS
Yorktown Trailtown Committee | Mohansic Trailway Connection
Completed in the Fall of 2019, the Mohansic Trailway has become an important component in Yorktown’s interconnected network of walking, hiking and cycling trails. Although the Mohansic Trailway which was constructed along an abandoned town owned railroad right-of-way that ran briefly in 1917 is only 0.4 miles in length, it provides the critical missing link between the popular North County Trailway and 6.4 miles of trails in FDR State Park. The trailway also provides safe off-road access to the business hamlet for pedestrians and students at the Yorktown Middle School and High School. A true public/private partnership among the Yorktown Trail Town Committee, the Town of Yorktown, the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, the Yorktown Business community and more than 130 volunteers, the Mohansic Trailway is the realization of a 20 year dream of Town of Yorktown officials.
NYS Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation | Community Design Guidelines to Support Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park
The Old Croton Aqueduct State Park is an important recreation and scenic trail corridor that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to Westchester County each year. The OCA traverses 10 municipalities, each subject to different zoning regulations and review processes. The Community Design Guidelines to Support Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park were completed by the New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation in 2020 to help guide and inform the evaluation and design of development in physical and visual proximity to the Old Croton Aqueduct. Consideration of and consultation with the Guidelines during the local review processes will help to provide uniformity to project evaluation and will aid the Office of State Parks in its ongoing mission to conserve, protect and enhance this historic park. Download the Design Guidelines
Village of Ossining | Comprehensive Plan & Form-Based Overlay Districts
In 2020, the Village of Ossining began to process of updating its comprehensive plan with a consulting team led by BFJ Planning. The Village persisted with the critical work of creating a new Comprehensive Plan throughout the COvid-19 pandemic, including through virtual outreach, virtual meetings, surveys and meetings with 6 subcommittees. The plan, entitled “Ossining Tomorrow” follows the organization of the Village’s 2009 plan with key additions for how the Village an implement the objectives and strategies of the Plan, and includes a new Form-based Code for Downtown and Croton Avenue. The form-based zoning will help improve design outcomes and will streamline review processes. https://www.villageofossining.org/planning-department/pages/comprehensive-plan-documents
Town of Somers | Somers Planned Hamlet
In creating the Planned Hamlet District, the Town of Somers envisioned the development of an innovative mixed-use district that incorporates the flexibility to accommodate changing market trends. As initially envisioned nearly twenty years ago, the Planned Hamlet Master Plan proposed a mixed-use development which incorporated senior affordable housing, market rate townhomes, retail, office and restaurant uses and an assisted living facility, all organized around two main elements – a boulevard connecting to Route 6 in 2 locations, and a Village Green. The concept of a walkable neighborhood accessible to the newly redeveloped Somers Commons and the future new uses anticipated to the north along Route 6 were guiding design principles. The Planned Hamlet which has now been constructed contains 147 senior affordable units, 153 apartments (23 of which are affordable), a memory care facility and Village Green, a site dedicated to the Town for a future firehouse, and a site intended to be utilized for commercial uses. The Somers Planned Hamlet represents the creation and successful implementation of the vision of the Town of Somers.
DISTINGUISHED CITIZEN PLANNER AWARD
Steven Kavee is being honored tonight as a distinguished citizen planner. He has been an active participant in land use and planning review in Westchester for over 25 years, currently serving on the Mount Pleasant Conservation Advisory Council since 2010 and becoming Chair in 2011 and previously serving as a member and Chair of the Briarcliff Conservation Advisory Council, and a member of the Westchester County Environmental Management Committee SEQR subcommittee. As chair of the Town of Mount Pleasant CAC, Mr. Kavee is a dedicated volunteer who always works professionally and diligently. Mr. Kavee also works hard to educate the public, and under his leadership, the CAC has hosted a number of public presentations at the Mount Pleasant Public Library. He and the CAC recently created and Native Plant Resource Guide which is utilized by other municipalities in the County and region. Mr. Kavee, over many years, has quietly and without fanfare has worked tirelessly for the community in which he lives. The result of his dedication will certainly be felt far into the future.
SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS
Evan Dash
Evan has an undergraduate degree in Geography (with minors in Urban Studies and Political Science) from SUNY Geneseo (2020) and is now a Master of Urban Planning candidate at SUNY Buffalo (graduation May 2022). Evan is a life-long resident of South Salem. Evan’s application states a career goal to work in Westchester County, perhaps in “a non-profit, government agency or private company to work toward a more equitable and sustainable future for our region”. We were especially impressed with Evan’s varied work experience (including GIS and US Census work), as well as academic research on topics such as housing, equity, and historic structures.
Yvette Pollack
Yvette has an undergraduate degree from Boston University in Communications (2017), and is currently a Master of Landscape Architecture candidate at Cornell (graduation May 2022). Yvette is also a lifelong resident of Westchester, having lived in Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Briarcliff and Somers, and intends to return Westchester after graduation. Yvette’s application indicates the desire to “be on the teams helping new builders make neighborhoods that draw families outside to enjoy nature and provide space for kids to run around and be kids. I would like to help Westchester County diminish the effects of climate change on coastal neighborhoods.” The committee was also impressed with Yvette’s academic record, work experience in the County and career focus.