Town Board Adopts Updated Comprehensive Plan (Updated)

The Town Board adopted the updated comprehensive plan by a 4-1 vote last week, with Councilman Nick Bianco casting the opposing vote.

He said his opposition is due to the fact that the updated plan goes against the plan adopted in 2005. It increases population density by 1,000 units and it allows apartments above stores to be developed. His other concern was that the increase in traffic would lead to a loss of environment and increase in taxes.

"In contrast this plan is pro development, pro tax, anti-environment, and pro traffic," Bianco said.

The town had to more forward with the plan, which has been in the making for eight years, councilman Terrence Murphy said. People in Yorktown are "getting crushed with taxes" and he said he would do what he can to help even if that would mean getting more businesses into town.

Councilman Jim Martorano said he voted in favor of the plan because otherwise it would have meant turning their back on eight years of work. He said when the plan first began, traffic and the environment were the critical issues. But after the initial plan was overturned in court due to procedural issue and the town had to have a second set of hearings to adopt the second plan, things changed.

"This time the outpouring of opposition to the up-zoning proposed was palpable," he said. "People were feeling the crunch of the hard economic times and they resented the fact that we were attempting to limit their ability to subdivide their land."

Martorano agreed with Bianco that the updated plan abandons the environmental concerns.

"As disappointed as I was in the abandonment of our goal of preserving the environment by limiting density, I think it's important to point out that if we voted the plan down, the present zoning would provide far more density that the plan that was eventually passed," he said.

The town board had the challenge and difficult task of writing a comprehensive plan that would balance the competing interests.

"On the one hand you have to consider the future of our most precious resources- our environment," Martorano said. "On the other, you must consider the rights of individuals who have purchased their land."

Supervisor Susan Siegel said the updated comprehensive plan deals with the reality of the current times.

"I want to make this town the best in the world," Councilman Vishnu Patel said of his reasons for voting in favor of the plan. 

Although the present plan had enough to secure a yes vote from the board members, Martorano said there were points he disagreed with. He said the town board needs to increase their efforts to purchase open space.

"Land turned into parkland ensures that we are preserving in perpetuity our natural resources," he said. "This is the greatest gift we can leave our children."

Editor's Note: The updated version includes Councilman Jim Martorano's comments.