Port Chester · issues
Civic issues
Topics getting the most attention in Port Chester public meetings, ranked by how frequently they come up.
Comprehensive plan progress
The second public workshop drew decent attendance and mostly positive feedback; a draft plan is expected by year-end with possible Board of Trustees action as soon as February.
Moratorium debate and legal authority to change the code
Resident Jim Brill again pushed a temporary pause on big downtown projects, arguing 3,600 units are already in the pipeline versus the 2,900 the code projected over 20 years. Trustee Allen sympathized but said attorneys call the legal bar for a moratorium as high as for the zoning changes themselves.
Building heights and form-based code reform (CD-5, CD-6, CD-6T)
Trustee Allen wants to downzone parts of the downtown now, two years after the CD 5-6 committee recommended it, to stop 12-story towers from rising in residential neighborhoods. Others want to wait for the comprehensive plan due as soon as November. No decision was made.
Future of the CD-6T transit-oriented district
Several trustees want to eliminate the CD-6T district — the two blocks near the train station where 15-story buildings are allowed — arguing it was ill-advised and is mostly built out anyway. Others say there's little left to change there and the effort should focus on CD-6 and CD-5.
Proposed overnight on-street parking ban
Trustees debated banning overnight street parking village-wide, but no decision was made. The board will first review the 2022 Colliers parking study and may form a residents' committee before commissioning a new study that could cost up to $200,000. Residents without driveways, renters, and overnight workers pushed back hard.
Legal status of three-family dwelling at 47 Ellendale Avenue
The owners want the ZBA to declare their three-family house a legal pre-existing use, or grant a use variance to keep renting it as three units. Board members signaled they think the owner created his own problem by buying it as a two-family and renting three units anyway — a denial looks likely on February 19, which would mean losing the basement rental income.