Why is this the appropriate time to adopt a Form Based Code for Chappaqua?

Vacant storefronts exist throughout the hamlet.  While vacancies may have increased due to the pandemic, the vacancy rate prior to the pandemic was unacceptably high in part due to the popularity of online shopping.  The 2017 Comprehensive Plan recognized this and called for a revitalization of the Chappaqua Hamlet.  That Plan also identified the need for the community to diversify its housing type from a single-family community to one that offers more options for our younger and older residents.  The Comprehensive Plan also called for protecting our single family neighborhoods and targeted new development to locations where we had the infrastructure to support it. The Chappaqua Hamlet has a commuter train station within walking distance to the entire hamlet and it contains sewer and water infrastructure.  It is the perfect place to meet the goals of the Comprehensive Plan.  Re-writing our zoning code allows us the ability to consider the form of future development- something that we can’t do in the same way under the existing zoning code.  Form is an essential component of keeping our community character.  Combining the form with a use based code enables us to embrace elements of regulation that are not currently contained in our existing zoning code along with typical controls regarding uses  we want to see in our hamlet.  The Form Based Code will allow residential uses on the first floor of buildings within certain areas of the hamlet.  This will help put more feet on the street, which will create more people living and walking around our downtown area to sustain the businesses that are shuttering today. A form-based code provides an opportunity for us to shape the future of the Chappaqua Hamlet.

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1. NEW - Will completing the SEQRA review for the FBC on the entire study area undermine the Town Board’s ability to limit the FBC to only a small area (the North Greeley corridor)...
2. NEW - Why is the Town Board considering revisions to the FBC legislation before receiving draft responses to the comments from the public and interested agencies on the Town's DGEIS? ...
3. What is a form-based code?
4. What is the purpose of Chappaqua’s comprehensive plan?
5. What is the goal of rezoning the Chappaqua Hamlet?
6. Will the rezoning change the history of Chappaqua?
7. Is the Chappaqua form-based code a construction project?
8. What is GEIS?
9. Didn’t the members of the Downtown Working Group who own commercial properties in the Chappaqua hamlet have conflicts of interest that precluded their participation?
10. Does the Form Based Code allow the entire Chappaqua Hamlet to be 5 stories in height?
11. Why does the DGEIS study a "full build out" or "buildout scenario" of the Chappaqua Hamlet under the Form Based Code?
12. Does the FBC mean development on Town-owned land?
13. If the Town Board determines in the future to sell or lease Town-owned land for a development project, will I have and opportunity to vote on whether that should occur? Will there be a referendum?
14. Has the Town been in contact with other public entities on this proposal (e.g. the school board)?
15. Once the Form Based Code is in place, what are the next steps for the Town to attract interest in potential opportunities for development?
16. Does the Town plan to use eminent domain to buy and consolidate privately owned, small contiguous parcels?
17. How does the public notification of a proposed development project change with the Form Based Code?
18. Why is this the appropriate time to adopt a Form Based Code for Chappaqua?
19. Does Chappaqua have the water and sewer infrastructure to handle future development?
20. What assumptions were the foundation of the Form Based Code?
21. Can the public vote on the Form Based Code?
22. Can the Town conduct a "public opinion poll" or an advisory (non-binding) referendum of the electorate with respect to the proposed Form-Based Code?
23. Do any members of the Town Board have a conflict of interest with respect to the Form Based Code because they own property in the Chappaqua business hamlet?
24. Did the members of the Town’s “Downtown Working Group” write the Form Based Code?
25. What is the “New Direction” announced by the Town Board for the Form Based Code? What does that mean and what happens next?
26. If the Town Board is limiting the Form Based district to North Greeley, why will the FGEIS and SEQRA Findings Statement be completed for the entire study area?
27. Can the Town lawfully regulate the number of bedrooms that would be permitted within new apartment units?
28. The Chappaqua Board of Education has asserted that the Town cannot control whether future developments in the Chappaqua hamlet will be subsidized through PILOT agreements. Is this accurate?