Port Chester Wins Award for its New Master Plan to Guide the Village's Growth

After years in the making, the completion of Port Chester's "Comprehensive Plan" was cause for celebration among village planners and elected officials.

Now they have another reason to celebrate.

The Westchester Municipal Planning Federation, a voluntary association of officials representing the county’s 45 municipal governments, zoning and planning boards and land use consultants, has selected Port Chester to receive its Planning Achievement Award for the Comprehensive Plan — which was designed to be a guide to future growth and development in Port Chester.

"This is a great testament to the hard work of staff, the Board of Trustees, and the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee members," said Port Chester Village Manager Christopher Steers. "A job well done."

Port Chester will be honored at the planning federation's awards dinner, set for June 6 in Tarrytown. The village completed the Comprehensive Plan in December 2012 after years of discussion, studies and debate in the community about issues facing Port Chester.

In 2012, the planning federation honored the Town of New Castle for its efforts to improve parking. The town, according to the federaion, ucceeded in unifying a collection of uncoordinated, poorly designed parking lots into a cohesive, functional design by negotiating cooperation among 11 individual owners of the abutting lots.

Port Chester's Comprehensive Plan led to a series on changes to the village's zoning laws to bring them in alignment with the goals of the Comprehensive Plan.

The federation, governed by a 15-member Board of Directors, says the organization’s purpose is to “create an effective and permanent countywide organization for the exchange of information on matters of planning interest.”

The group works closely with the Westchester County Department of Planning to arrange programs of interest to the Westchester planning community. These programs include an annual land use training institute, annual planning and zoning board seminars, and a variety of breakfast, luncheon and evening programs on topical planning issues.