[UPDATE] Port Chester Looks at Zoning Changes Needed to Implement New Comprehensive Plan

UPDATE (10 P.M. MONDAY) - In 6-0 vote, the Port Chester village Board of Trustees on Monday night approved the new zoning laws required to implement the new "Comprehensive Plan" already adopted to guide future development in the village.

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The Port Chester Village Board of Trustees is scheduled tonight to again discuss the extensive and detailed zoning changes that would implement the "Comprehensive Plan" that has been years in the making.

The plan is a guide to growth that can be allowed in the village in the future through its planning and zoning process. The Comprehensive Plan was approved by the Board of Trustees in December 2012, but a package of zoning changes is required for the plan's implementation.

The last plan for the village was created in 1967, although it was not formally adopted. A public hearing on the zoning law changes is set for tonight as part of the 7 p.m. Board of Trustees meeting at the Village Court on North Main Street.

Christopher Gomez, Port Chester's Director of Planning, and Village Attorney Anthony Cerreto in a Friday memo to the Board of Trustees said the zoning package includes updates from months of discussion and the package is ready to be adopted if the board is ready to take action.

Tonight's meeting is just a day before Port Chester's 2013 village elections, in which Mayor Dennis Pilla and all six trustee seats on the board are up for election. Pilla is being challenged by Republican Neil Pagano, and there are 10 candidates for the six trustee seats.

The Comprehensive Plan combined with its zoning changes includes lowering the density and height of developments that could be built in the downtown area, especially near the Port Chester train station. Also included are waterfront development guidelines and guidelines that would make a mixed use development on the former United Hospital property off Boston Post Road possible.