Editor's note: This article previews a scheduled meeting based on the published agenda packet. After the meeting is held and video is released, coverage will be updated with the actual discussion and any votes taken. The Village of Croton-on-Hudson will host a New York Forward town hall on Thursday, September 3, giving residents their most detailed look yet at the state program it has been pursuing to fund downtown revitalization. The agenda is short — a welcome, followed by a presentation from planning consultant Valerie Monastra — but the material behind it is substantial: an 11-page deck that explains how the program works, maps the proposed village boundary area, and lays out a slate of potential Croton projects. The session closes with public comments. New York Forward, according to the presentation, is a state-funded "Plan-Then-Act" initiative launched in 2022 that awards grants to help small communities revitalize and enliven their downtowns, and is now in its fourth round. Two applications are awarded per Regional Economic Development Council region, at $4.5 million each. Rather than simply handing a village a check, the program pairs communities with planning professionals to produce a Strategic Investment Plan that establishes a downtown vision and identifies transformative projects, then guides them through completion. Much of the deck is devoted to showing what neighboring communities have done with the money. Sleepy Hollow, a first-round Mid-Hudson recipient, divided its $4.5 million among five projects: $1.5 million to transform the Strand Theatre into a community arts and culture center with studio space, a gallery and a future visitors center; $1.2 million to restore the Cortlandt Street streetscape with new sidewalks, crosswalks, drainage improvements, trees, lighting, street furniture and four EV charging stations; $1 million to create "Plaza Nueva" and redesign the park at the Morse School; $500,000 toward a transit-oriented mixed-use affordable housing development at 100 College Avenue; and $300,000 to establish a façade improvement fund. Later rounds went to Highland Falls and Montgomery, then Dobbs Ferry and Nyack, and most recently Ellenville and the hamlet of Livingston Manor. The presentation also draws careful lines around what the money can and cannot buy. Eligible activities include rehabilitation of downtown buildings, public improvements such as streetscapes, bike lanes, parks, plazas and public art, a small project fund for façade and other modest commercial work, and one-time branding and marketing. Off the table: further planning studies once the Strategic Investment Plan is complete, ongoing costs like salaries, rent and utilities, pre-award expenses, and training. Property acquisition can appear in a project budget, but must be paid for from another source. For Croton residents, the heart of the presentation is a single slide listing potential local projects: Croton Station parking lot upgrades; streetscaping along Riverside Avenue and Benedict Boulevard; bike lanes from Oneida Avenue to Croton Point Avenue; Historic Hudson Valley Phase 2 upgrades; the 425 South Riverside Avenue development; the Save-Mor Pharmacy development; and a small project fund. A separate slide maps the "Croton-on-Hudson NY Forward Boundary Area," the geography within which funded projects would need to fall. The list deliberately mixes public-realm work with two private development proposals — an approach consistent with what village officials described at a February work session, when they noted the state looks for a blend of public and private projects, including housing. Thursday's town hall is the latest step in a process the board has been working through since the winter. Trustees discussed a $4.5 million New York Forward application targeting the South Riverside corridor at their May 27 work session, where Monastra walked them through the program. As of the board's June 24 work session, the village had not yet been awarded a designation, and trustees were still sorting through what the boundary area process would require. The deck ends where Thursday's meeting will: with public comments. How residents respond — and which of the listed projects they push hardest on — will shape what goes into the village's Strategic Investment Plan. Related coverage:
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