COMPREHENSIVE PLAN City ofNew Rochelle, New York Prepared by the: Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee New Rochelle Department ofDevelopment Saccardi & Schiff, Inc. Adopted by New Rochelle City Council July 30, 1996 The City ofNew Rochelle Mayor and City Council Hon. Timothy C. Idoni, Mayor Members ofCity Council Hon. Rhoda Quash, Deputy Mayor Hon. Noam Bramson Hon. Alexander R. Eodice Hon. Joseph F. Fosina Hon. Ruth Kitchen Hon. M. Christina Selin Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee Lois Brechner Sebastian·Bulfamante Anthony A. Carbone, Esq. Jacquetta Cole Hon. Alexander Eodice Hon. RuthKifchen Jay Kreisberg Teresa Morales Gerard Ragone Marianne L. Sussman, Esq. Joseph Rossini Dr. Jason G. Silverman Department ofDevelopment Joseph G. Madonna, Commissioner Alan B. Schuman, Deputy Commissioner ofDevelopment Edward Lynch, Senior Planner Saccardi & Schiff, Inc. John Saccardi, Principal Syrette Dym, Project Planner Csaba Teglas, Project Designer Table ofContents Page PREFACE I. INTRODUCTION I-I A. New Rochelle's Comprehensive Plan I-I B. Summary ofProcess 1-2 I. Future Visions Planning Process 1-2 2. Comprehensive Plan Process 1-3 II. CITYWIDE CONDITIONS AND PLANNING STUDIES II-I A. Regional and Local Context II-I B. Population II-3 C. Housiug II-7 D. Land Use and Zoning II-9 I. Existing Land USl: II-9 2. Existing Zoning II-19 E. Infrastructure II-24 I. Utilities II-24 2. Transportation II-27 F. Community Resources II-33 I. Municipal Buildings and Uses II-33 2. Cultural Facilities II-39 3. Historic Resources II-40 4. Community Diversity II-4l 5. Community Events Il-41 6. Not-for-Profit Community Services Il-41 7. Public Schools Il-42 8. Higher Education II-44 G. Economic and Fiscal Conditions II-45 I. Economic Conditions and Base Il-45 2. Fiscal Conditions Il-47 3. TaxBase II-48 ill. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN PROPOSALS ill-I A. Citywide Land Use Plan III-I I. Community Based Future Visions III-I 2. Plan and Development Goals and Objectives III-2 3. Environmental Context and Objectives III-7 4. Land Use Plan Map III-8 B. Planning Proposals III-17 I. Proposed Actions for Downtown I1I-17 2. Proposed Actions for Center City 1II-25 3. Proposed Actions for Waterfront/Pelham Road III-35 4. Proposed Actions for East Main StreetlEcho Avenue I1I-45 5. Proposed Actions for West Main Street! Weyman Avenue/West New Rochelle 1II-49 6. Proposed Actions for Fifth Avenue III-53 IV. IMPLEMENTATION IV-I A. Zoning and Regulatory Control IV-I I. Zoning Map Changes IV-I 2. Zoning Text Changes IV-4 B. Design Guidelines and Standards IV-9 C. Required Amendments to Urban Renewal Plans IV-IO D. Capital Facilities and Improvements IV-II E. Funding Sources IV-I5 V. TECHNICAL APPENDICES V-I A. Generic Environmental Impact Statement V-I B. Community and Institution Information V-2 C. Zoning V-3 PREFACE . PREFACE The City of New Rochelle Comprehensive Plan was developed through a IO-month planning process which built upon a prior nine­ month community visions process. The planning consultants, Saccardi & Schiff, Inc. worked closely with the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee and the City's Department ofDevelopment to develop the plan. The Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee assumed amajor role in development of the plan. This responsibility included attending periodic meetings with City staffand consultants to discuss a variety ofplanning proposals and conducting public meetings to review plan proposals. The plan encompasses a set of planning proposals and potential implementation programs designed to shape the physical environment of this basically built up city within the context of redevelopment, revitalization and limited new development opportunities. The initial step ofthe process was a study ofexisting conditions on a citywide basis. This included the traditional documentation and analysis of demographics, economic conditions, housing, transportation, infrastructure and community services and facilities. Next, attention was turned to the areas ofthe city most in need ofalternative planning concepts to either coordinate and update existing or ongoing plans or present new planning proposals. These focus areas include the downtown and are the subject ofspecific proposals. In other areas of the city, preservation is emphasized within the context ofa changing community profile; land use proposals are fonnulated within the context of contemporary economic and demographic issues. Implementation techniques include public sector initiatives necessary to attract private redevelopment; zoning changes to guide proper development; and identification ofprograms available to fund required development. The Comprehensive Plan provides an overall guide for the city's growth over the next 15 or so years. It is intended to be a flexible tool that can respond to changing economic and market conditions and to the availability and allocation of resources needed to implement the various recommendations. The numerous plans and programs which exist and are ongoing even as this plan has evolved have and will continue to shape the City of New Rochelle. This Comprehensive Plan seeks to weave these plans into a coherent framework establishing an overall planning context that will aid the city in making critical land use decisions as it moves into the 21st century. ,· L INTRODUCTION Introduction j Fifth Avenue East Main Street! Echo Avenue Waletfrontl Pelham Road \ <". \ '" '.. ,•.... FOCUS AREAS Saccardi & Sclliff, Inc. I. INTRODUCTION A. New Rochelle's Comprehensive Plan The New Rochelle Comprehensive Plan is a plan for a built-up city. Within the city. however, are a number ofstrategically located urban renewal sites and municipally owned or controlled lands, privately owned underutilized sites, and strong institutions and govemment centers. These provide the opportunity to build upon .the city's enduring image and histoty, its undisputably advantageous location in the region, and an idealized vision for its future. The plan will establish a land use and zoning framework that will guide New Rochelle into the 21 st Century. The maJUler in which land is used and controlled in the city is a focus ofthe plan. Utilizing a less traditional approach, the plan also seeks to link numerous discrete ongo.ing development and redevelopment initiatives to create a cohesive plan that balances attention among competing economic needs, between areas vying either for attention or the distinction of being left alone, and among the traditional issues of transportation, infrastructure, community facilities, housing and education. These development and redevelopment efforts are centered in the six main focus areas of the city where it was determined that detailed analyses and action plans would be developed. The six focus areas are: • Downtown • Center City • WaterfrontlPelham Road • East Main StreetlEcho Avenue • West Main Street/Weyman Avenue! West New Rochelle • Fifth Avenue Center City is a term developed during the Future Visions process for the North Avenue corridor from dovmtown to Eastchester Road including the New Rochelle Hospital Medical Center. Outside these areas, the plans for the city will emphasize neighborhood preservation of existing residential, commercial, open space and recreation uses. While the plan builds upon the Master Plan for the city completed in 1965 and updated in 1977, it is new in that its vision, goals and . objectives are tied to a pragmatic realism fostered by the major changes that have transfonned the city, the county and the region since then. The lessons learned from efforts to implement the earlier planning proposals have also been utilized in fonnulating current recommendations. Saccardi & Schiff, Inc. I-I Introduction This comprehensive plan is also new in that it will be subject to the revisions to Section 28-a of New York State General City Law regarding City Comprehensive Plans, formulated by the State Legislative Comm ittee on Local Government, approved by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. In accordance with the new legislation, the term comprehensive plan supplants the former accepted term, master plan. More importantly, the change in name is based on the underlying theory that the plan encompasses all materials regarding the goals and objectives, principles, guidelines, policies, and standards that relate to either the immediate or long term growth or redevelopment ofthe city. The new law states that all land use regulations must be in accordance with a comprehensive plan, ifsuch plan is adopted, and further requires that plans for capital projects of any governmental agency on land included in the comprehensive plan are required to take the recommendations ofthat plan into consideration. While the adoption ofthe comprehensive plan is the sole responsibility ofthe legislative body -. in this case the City Council _. ifthe plan has not been prepared by the Planning Board it may be referred to the Planning Board for its review and recommendation. This plan was prepared under the aegis of the City Council with direction from a Council-created Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (COMPAC) on which three Planning Board members sit. It was referred to the full Planning Board for its reviewand recommendation; following that, a public hearing was held by City Council. A generic environmental impact statement accompanies the plan in accordance with the requirements ofthe comprehensive plan law and SEQRA. B. Summary ofProcess 1. Future Visions Planning Process For approXimately nine months in 1993-94, the City ofNew Rochelle conducted a grass-roots,