Summary of the County-Wide
TOD Training Workshop held in
Westchester County November 16, 2009

Launch of Technical Assistance Initiative in
Westchester County

On Monday, November 16, 2009, more than 100 people gathered for a full-day opening event and workshop marking the official launch of the technical assistance initiative: “Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) – Building Quality Communities around Transit.”  Participants in the workshop included officials representing Westchester County, and municipal leaders and officials representing the many villages, towns, and cities in the county.  Other participants included leaders and representatives of various organizations and local, regional, state and national public interest and government agencies. 

The Ceremony

Opening speakers included Dr. Marsha Gordon, Co-Chair of the Westchester Rockland Tappan Zee Futures Task Force and President and CEO of the Business Council of Westchester; Cheryl Winter-Lewy, Chair of the Westchester County Planning Board; Paul Beyer, Director of Smart Growth for the New York State Department of State; Yvette Hinds, Deputy Director; and Michael P. Anderson, Project Director of the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor Project.  Each spoke to the significance and relevance of the initiative to their respective areas of purview.

The Workshop

Representatives from the Project for Public Spaces, Regional Plan Association and Reconnecting America then facilitated a series of training sessions covering such topics as “TOD 101 – Building Quality Communities around Transit,” “Creating Great Places around Transit,” “Complete Streets and Context Sensitive Design to Create Transit and Pedestrian-Friendly Communities,” “Smart Parking” and “Land Use Controls/Regulations and Financing for Transit-Based Community Design.”  The workshop included a break-out session in which groups of 8-10 randomly seated attendees participated in a facilitated community assessment exercise.  The event concluded with an interactive discussion of the topics covered in the workshop and key lessons learned.

The one-day event fulfilled New York State Department of State’s annual training requirement of planning board and zoning board of appeals members to receive land use training.  Additionally, the professional planners who participated in the workshop will be eligible to receive eight AICP (American Institute of Certified Planners) credits as a result of attending the workshop. 

More about the Program

The technical assistance program will continue through the spring of 2010, with more in-depth workshop sessions to review and apply conceptually topics covered in the opening workshop, among others.  The eight two-day workshops will be based on conditions in Westchester and Rockland counties (four sites concerning five municipalities in Westchester – the City of White Plains, the Town of Greenburgh, and the villages of Tarrytown, Elmsford and Port Chester – which were selected based on formal expressions of interest provided during the summer of 2009). 

• Summary of Rockland TOD Workshop November 19, 2009 TOD

 

• About Fall 2009 Technical Assistance Events on TOD 101

 

Archived Meeting information and registration materials for the November 2009 TOD Workshops:

• Westchester