Board of Trustees Work Session
Alright. Welcome to our October 14, work session of the Croton on Hudson Village Board of Trustees. Our first item of business will be a presentation of the Quavea Park landscaping master plan.
Okay. And so with us tonight, we have, John Embiano from IQ Landscape Architects, and they've been working for the past couple of months, more than a couple months Right. On these these plans. So we're looking forward to hearing your presentation, John. Great. Thank you. Everybody hear me? The microphone's on? Okay. Great. Pleasure to be here tonight.
I'm John Embiano, a principal of IQ, landscape architects. Embiano Quigley in White Plains. I have Shaty Patel from my office here who prepared many of the exhibits you'll see tonight. So it's a pleasure to be here. It's especially a pleasure because I am a former Croton resident of twenty years, raised my family here, was involved with everything from ASO, Little League, and actually, with previous administrations designing some of your parks and kayak launches. So it really is a pleasure to be here. And I know how much... How important parks are to the village and open space and creating all these wonderful opportunities here. So this is, again, a great opportunity, to come up with some some ideas for the park. You know, I understand you were, this was donated property. It's about 15 acres. It sits... You can see here, this is more of a contextual aerial photograph where we inserted the park itself. You have Skyview to the South. You have, of course, the Route 9 and the Hudson River to the West and North Riverside to the East and the residential communities heading towards Cortlandt to the North, of course. So if we go to the next slide. Thank you. This is a larger representation of the park itself, and I'll go over some of the proposed elements that we're gonna introduce. And as Brian said, we started the project several months ago into the summer, working closely, I should say, with Brian, with Frank Balbi, and Scott. I don't know his last name, but he's Scott Marsh. Yep. He's been been great. Getting on the bulldozer and actually progressing with some work that the village can do in house, which is great cost savings and logistically. So what we're proposing here is
improvements to the park. What we're gonna... To allow circulation into it, we're keeping the existing driveway, which serve the existing residents there that will be a future park and rec building in a community center. So we didn't wanna make this a a two way road because that would entail widening that from, like, 10, 11 feet that it is today to 24 feet making it... Having some environmental impacts and you have a lot of rock down there. So what we did is we have a one way loop road through the park, again, leading to the existing residents now, but then continuing east towards North Riverside. And that loop road will allow us to have several satellite parking areas to service some of the proposed amenities we're we're including in the park. And then it would be a separate exit to North Riverside. Right? And so you'd have an access point to the north that you have today and an exit to the south of that. You have an existing parking lot that DPW created out of gravel there right now. It's permeable. We're proposing that stay. They did all the earthwork. They have the sub base ready to to pave eventually. We're proposing that there'd be a a turnaround terminus to that parking lot, and that would be an area to let handicapped off. You might have an information kiosk or way finding kiosk at the terminus there to say, you know, where the... All the other features in the park are. Around the Loop Road, again, I... We have smaller satellite parking spaces, parking lots, if you wanna call them that, to service the the park and rec center, community center. We have, like, twenty twenty five spaces down there, a drop off, and also eventually for staff for for park and rec down there.
And then as we climb up towards North Riverside, you could see we have a a little cluster of things going on in the park. So we have a small parking area, which I'll get into servicing that area of the park. So this loop road kind of is the... Helps circulate vehicles, pedestrians around the park to the proposed activities. One of the features as you arrive into the park is this gorgeous... And I just took Jatse there before the sunset. Is this gorgeous open lawn area that has... Is a natural bowl right there. It was a... It's... There's some wonderful mature trees there. You know, there's a couple of picnic tables, but I think that could be enhanced as a picnic grove. So we're proposing there is more of a natural amphitheater to allow for concerts, performances. You could create this amphitheater out of low stone seat walls so it doesn't reek of bleachers or benches. It could be just a lounge area that when it not used for concerts or performances. And in the center of that lawn is more or less a flexible pavilion, something that could act as a stage certainly, but also it could be a a roof covered picnic pavilion too and and used for other crafts and other events. So it's a a flexible, not your traditional gazebo. We'll show you kind of the image we're thinking of there. As you head around the the loop or depending where you're leaving and coming, you see the blue area, that's this hidden gem that you have there, this pond, that we were just discussing, you know, is... Has plenty of invasive plants around it and it... Which makes it quite hidden. But what a great amenity there. It could be a nice feature
once it's opened up and cleaned up there. To the south of that or to the right of the pond, there's a a metal shed right currently there. We tossed adaptively. We're using that around. Frankly, we didn't see how it would be or could be to winterize it, punch windows in it. So we're... Right now, it's not in the plan to be...... The Quonset Hut? Correct. The Quonset Hut. Yeah. Thank you. But what it does allow us to do, because once you remove that, you have a a flat kind of area there to do something with, which is unusual for this site, topographically challenged. And what we're proposing there... When we first got to one of our first meetings with Brian and some of you here is a totally passive park. There was no playground that we're proposing here. But it came up that maybe this north section of the village does need something and something to draw people to the park while you phase the other improvements out, like improving the building that's there and some of the other amenities we're proposing. So we did insert a good sized playground there, and we will go over what that could be. And then also a community garden where we took a look at where the sun and where the trees aren't and put a community garden just east of the playground. We thought there'd be a good synergy between the play area, the community garden, and the pond itself as an educational kind of opportunity there. As we get to the... Going back down to the building itself, we have an enlargement of what that could be, the Community Center Park Rec Building. But you could see here there's a a ravine and a stream, brook,
that bifurcates the property near 15 acres. Literally half of it's to the south adjacent to Skyview is Woodland, and maybe it's phase three, four, or 10, but you could build a bridge, a pedestrian bridge from the, community center building over that ravine and create a, a loop, you know, more of a strenuous trail, I should say, on that side of the of the park and open up an entire pedestrian loop there. Okay. The next... That was the biggest spiel I'm giving was that, being descriptive of what we're proposing. But we we put together a booklet that you could see here, and this is in the order of the booklet. So the next page describes that. It's kind of the board I have up here which describes all the elements that I just told you about. But we wanted to show some of the images and inspiration for the park that I just described there. Things like the the stage and pavilion is on the upper half of the sheet. Something similar, maybe something architecturally that reflects the mid century modern style of the building that you have on the site. What what a... Well, there's your community garden at Silver Lake, which I think would be a comparative size that we might wanna have at this park.
There's entry kiosks that we designed for a park in Larchmont, Flint Park, which is a wayfinding sign. And then a a pollinator park we did for the city of White Plains where you see some of the flowers there. This was a restored, parking lot at one point, a car service center. This is what could happen at the community center, and even around the pond where you have natives, you have interpretive signs, and you really create a sustainable landscape down there. The the one other element would be the bridge you could see on the lower right. That would be maybe something very rustic that would cross over that ravine just just for pedestrians. Then the next slide, is one we just inserted because we wanted... When we say playground, some people must say, playground doesn't belong here. And we didn't think of it, to be honest, the first time we'll go around, but we listened. So I think whatever playground goes here or play area, I should say, interactive discovery garden, whatever you wanna call it, really has to be special. It shouldn't just be something that's plumped down. I understand you did a compound play... Recent playground, and I love compound. They're very creative. You can do something like that. You could take off on, the eagle nest that happens to be there and do an eagle theme. There's many things that Croton you could do thematically. But one thing we really like to do with our playground is introduce nature into it. And by that, I mean, actual plants, native perennials, shade trees for for obvious shade.
Other elements other than than just the play equipment is for older kids too. I mean, we're just discussing back here, not rock climbing would be appropriate, but something like that. Something that's outside the box of just, you know, your five to 12 year olds. And then as I said, there's... There could be a great relationship between the play area itself, the community garden next to it. Maybe there's a pergola that's shared by both. And, of course, the the pond itself, which could be very interactive for kids and school kids, especially. Thank you. So the rest of these are really just back up to the plan where we break down different elements of the plan so it's obvious. These... This one's called landscape zones, which just, identifies the landscape types, typologies that are on the property, the forest. You can see in the ochre color, the yellowish color, what we're suggesting there is that, the central lawn area, the amphitheater remains lawn, manicured. You mow it every... Once a week, and that's how it's used as a picnic area and as a possible performance area. But everything else could become a so called meadow and don't necessarily have to have everybody seen wildflower meadows. This could just be a a kind of meadow grass that's just mowed once once a year or once every two months. But it could be something different and create habitat for certainly birds like the higher grasses and meadows. But then there's a null that, is adjacent to the... I wish I had my pointer, but adjacent to the playground south of that, that there's no trees on it. It's just a natural outcrop that could become a feature wildflower meadow. And because it's a high point and it... I think it overlooks the eagle's nest area, it could be a nice, bird, watching viewing area there. So this is landscape zones. And then we wanted to highlight on the next slide,
pedestrian circulation. You you know, if you build something and we have these so called perimeter parking areas and we have all these great amenities around this loop, You wanna bring people to them, make this very walkable. Most of these are ADA compliant. They don't exceed 5%, the gradient, except, of course, for the trail across the ravine. So we wanted to show these connections here. And and I think if you take the, the lineal footage around the whole loop there, it's about a quarter of a mile. So some people I know down at, the landing there, people love to walk, but then you reach the dead end, you gotta turn back. This is a constant loop.
And this just highlights the parking areas that I discussed. Total, I think, is 60 spaces that is being proposed. You have... Currently have 28 on... That are already built with the gravel parking lot. So we're adding another 30 plus spaces. And then there is the opportunity for... If you have an event there for overflow parking along the edges of the road, we kinda discussed that rather than having a paved area. Next slide, please. What we wanted to do in in terms of phasing the project and discussing what needs to get built for this park to get built is once you open it up, not so much the park after dusk. I believe that's probably a village policy. It closes. But if you have office workers, their staff is to light the the roadways at least, not that necessarily the pathways for pedestrians. So we we did a a schematic lighting plan, and you could go to the next slide. This is an enlargement of the community center park and rec offices. You know, I I... We actually know the architect very well, John Sullivan. So we we work with him on developing some of the outside program elements. I believe there's a deck on the back overlooking the Route 9 and the river, of course. But we were creating... Almost what's there now is this entry courtyard in front as you enter where you could have benches and people congregating and kids doing crafts in front of the the building itself. And then we have a small parking area that I described for handicap, number one, for Amazon trucks and parcel post trucks, and then a parking area to the east of that for staff and, of course, people visiting the office from the village.
This is a a cross section. We'd like to say the design element should be consistent. So we're thinking maybe rustic chic, maybe. I know that's an oxymoron, but something that maybe use wood elements like wood light poles, wood guard rails so cars don't go into the ravine, and just durable paving for walkways and and the roadways. The next three d rendering is definitely give all the credit to Shea here. It's a three d rendering of what the amphitheater could look like. There's some large sweeping seat walls around avoiding the roots of some of the big trees there. It responds to the topography, the grades that are on that bowl area, and then in the distance is the, the stage, slash picnic pavilion. What we have on the next sheet, again, this is all part of the kind of report that we're doing or did, is just some of the materials, elements, product manufacturers. So you could literally take this and, you know, with some village personnel purchase some of this stuff on your own rather than contracting some of it out. Okay. And then last is some preliminary ideas on how you may phase the project. Of course, this is totally based on budgets and community priorities. So the first one though, you've already begun. The... You know, Frank and Scott are, you know, creating these roads, cutting through, bringing in fill or cutting fill, and creating this... At least the rough grade for it, not necessarily the paving. But it's the road system, the parking areas, and the infrastructure, the utilities that would service... You wanna put these in now even though you may not open the building for a few years. You wanna put in the water lines, the sanitary lines. I forgot to mention we're proposing there's a comfort station by the playground
area and the community garden, so we would need to get water to that and and sewage, which is very close to North Riverside, so it's not a long length. But you need to get it to the future park and rec building. And then we would probably want want us to put in conduits. So when you put in this... The lights along the drive, then you're not ripping up paving or even the earth around it. So you have the the conduit tubing for wires later. So that would be phase one. Phase two and three are kind of interchangeable depending again on budgets, your priorities. Would you wanna do the amphitheater first as a feature to draw people to the park initially? Or do you start the area, the core area, that's the play area, the... Certainly, community garden restoration of the pond that could be done with in house help volunteer work, Eagle Scout kind of projects. And I forgot to mention John's comment from the last meeting with the rec department. We we did introduce a bocce horseshoe courts down below where the picnic grove is. It just seemed like a natural relationship with picnicking. It does get shade. You know, it's not fun to play bocce at our age, right, in in the sun. So it's near trees. It's flat. So that might be a project that could be phase one easily and retrofitted into this. So the next slide is gonna show phase three, but again, they're kind of interchangeable or if you have the money and willpower, you could do both, two and three together as one. And then the last would be... And I'm not even sure this is correct, but the the building itself, I I saw some of the the budgets that were allocated for that.
I think work is... You're doing some work there. But to do the full build out... And, of course, you wouldn't do the plaza or the court in front of the building unless you're ready to do the building. And the last phase would be maybe that connection to the south parcel, you know, with the pedestrian bridge and building trails. Although as we mentioned here, you could enter the trail from the east side because that brook is really just a trickling culvert. It's a drop up there. You can... You you don't need a... Technically a bridge. I think we could manage access, but then you would be doing a a dead end or a loop just on that west side and then around the south side and then returning back to that point. And that's phase four, five, six, whatever we wanna call it, I guess. So that that is it. We we got some valuable information from our first two or three meetings with the rec department, with Bryan and his group. So look forward to any comments from from you. Thank you for having us.
I just... There... There's so many things I like about this, in no particular order. I... You know, when I I I looked at the, renderings of the amphitheater for quite a while, and I I was just really taken with it. Of course, I was saying to myself, where are the seats? And until until I realized, you know, that this is a very innovative approach and is, you know, not only for performances, but contemplative time Exactly. And all of that. So I wanna wanna thank you for the creativity on that. And then secondly, I I just think being able to to add to our existing bocci resources is just great. I'm very glad glad you're I heard. Quite a success. Yeah. You were able to do that. Just one one question I had because I I... I've been... We we talked about this a little bit when you were here a number of months ago. Know, I'm I'm still in search of a, of the right place for pickleball in in Croton. I take it that it's probably not here for geographic or topographical reasons. And and is is that... Space? Yes.
It's... You know, it's... Two of them take up a tennis court. Right. Exactly. Exactly.
It's... It... We'd be hard pressed to find that here. Right. Right. Although, I started thinking, when you were talking about the Quonset Hut, I said, well, maybe that's... That would fit a pickleball. Wouldn't... Yeah. And all all year round. Yeah. You know? So maybe that's something that we can we can talk about at some subsequent point. But I just wanna... I'll just, you know, yield to to my colleagues. But I I just thought it was just a, you know, more more than a great start, but I think it it gives us a great a great basis from which to go forward. So I appreciate that. Thank you. And also, and last but not least, I mean, I thought that, you know, it's it's a it's a shame in many ways that we have to use the word playground to describe what you've put there. But it's so much more and so much better. That's why discovery garden, all those other things that... And intergenerational as just meant, not just for the It's not not little kids. Not swings and slides, you know, things like that. It should be something more. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So thank you.
Thank you, John. It's really beautiful Thank you. Very inspirational, beautiful design and gardens and materials used. Bless you. You. I have a question. So this was shared with the, recreation advisory committee. What was their feedback? I'm curious. I...
So, I mean, I can... I was at that meeting, I can just kind of briefly, you know, they had... There were a number of comments that were given, but, generally, I think the feedback... And trustee Slippen was there as well. Generally, the feedback that was given was was positive. They they appreciated the the work and the effort that went into it. As was mentioned previously, you know, one of the members had a suggestion for the bocce courts. Right? And there were, there was some discussion about the playground and the fact that the north end of the village does not have any specific play area. Right? The the furthest north playground in the village is actually in this area, right, at at Dobbs Park. So, it... You know, there... It was generally a positive positive meeting.
Thank you. Yep. I guess my questions are probably more for the manager at this point because I feel before I can understand the financial aspects of this, it's hard for me to I think from a vision standpoint, this is beautifully done. And clearly, the team who led this picked a great company like yourself to do this work. You know? So that's great. When I... Where would this money come from? I mean, my understanding is the Govea endowment, as of the end of year 2026, we were anticipating having about $250,000 left in it. Correct. Okay. I know, like, some projects got off to a later start because of the eagle's nest. Correct. Yeah. Okay. So let's say we have $2,250,000 in the endowment. And at the same time, I know we need to maintain a certain, unassigned fund balance in order for the village to have creditworthiness. You know? So we're balancing a lot of priorities, infrastructure, public safety. And I know we we have a police survey that, a police study that's gonna be launched that will likely
result in potentially needing additional headcount. We don't wanna prejudice the outcome. No. No. But
it's a possibility. It is a possibility. Yes. A possibility. So Yeah. I just... You know, I love this, but I I just don't wanna get too excited about something that,
like, the village may not be able to afford this this whole thing. That is a very valid very valid concern because we don't have the money available. Right? And so, you know, part of the part of the fact that the board of trustees authorized this expenditure for for John and his firm to come up with this plan is that we now have a a wonderful blueprint that we can include in grant grant applications or other... You know, whether it's the Friends of Gordon Parks potentially being able to do some outreach on their own. Right? They can show this tangible document that says, look. We have a vision. We have a plan for this park. So, you know, some of the items that are detailed in, the cost summary, money has already been allocated for it, like the the roadway construction. As John was saying, that's already... That phase has already started. So some of those costs are included in the $400,000
Set And aside. Yeah. So some of the... Not not most of them, right, because it's 3,000,000. So it's... 400,000 of that has been kind of set aside already. But, yeah, we would obviously need to come up with...... From the endowment. That's from the endowment. Correct. So... Madam Chair, I I would, you know, also ask, you know, I think one of the virtues of John's approach is the phasing approach. So that we would
phase one, we would we would do if we felt we could afford it. And then, you know, at some subsequent point, you move on to phase two, phase three. Yeah.
Yeah. And I mean, there are...... Time. You you will have... As as I've said in the past, right, you know, you are gonna be getting this large sum of money from the sale of lot a that the board is gonna need to decide how to allocate. And we also have, you know, with any pending future projects, you know, you do get recreation fees from those projects. Right. And so that money can only be used to improve, parks and recreation. So, you know, that's... That is a built in source for future park projects.
among our parks, like what the future needs are, you know? No. We don't we don't have that. That's something that we've kind of broached initially with the RAC and with DPW and the rec department. So that is something... We had a we had a plan that was done about twenty five years ago. Okay. And somewhat... Comprehensive No. It was it was a plan... It was a recreation master plan that was done in advance of the 2003 comp plan. Okay. And so somewhat surprisingly, I mean, it's a it's a very good thing. We actually did a lot of the things that are listed in that 2002 plan. And so it definitely is time for it to get a refresh and see, you know, what... Over the next generation, what do we wanna see in our parks. Yeah. I'd... You know, I I don't wanna boil the ocean, but I think in order to determine,
you know, an allocation of funds to this, we wanna understand what the what that might come at the expense of in other parks. Know? Like, when when residents say, oh, Senesco's underwater again, well, I know that's a whole other issue. We've
money for already. Right? We're we're doing the study for that as part of this year's budget. Yeah. So...
Yeah. You know, but I think it's helpful to to have a... You know, to kind of have a prioritization sheet of what work needs to be done so we can have a holistic understanding of park investments. Because this looks great, but if we were to move forward, I'm just saying even with a phase one, and then residents are saying, what's going on with Duck Pond? You know, we have to do something. I'm sorry. We don't have the money. Or, you know, it's just under Yeah. Setting priorities. And then there's the... And then I'll let other folks speak. But I look at we have an... A really wonderful portfolio of parks in Croton, and I feel like they all play a different role. Right? You know, you have Dodds, right, and amazing ballpark and a beautiful playground. And, you know, when we think about the duck pond with bocce and a dog park, like, we have this portfolio of parks and they each play a role. So if I think about Govea and if we are gonna prioritize and think about any further investment there, what is the, you know, one to three things that is truly unique? And is it the arts and the music, you know, concert, amphitheater, the ability to hold hold performances there? Right? Because playgrounds do exist in other places.
This park doesn't really have easy access for anybody to walk to. You can't walk to it, unless there's a plan to put sidewalks on there. So I'm just wondering, you know, curious what residents might feel as far as, you know, the one to to... The top two needs that if we were to stage something just, you know, what would be the unique aspect of this park? And then what are the implications of that? Because if it means we have to build out all these other things, I think we just need to let the public... We need to be clear about that with the public Yeah. Be transparent. You know? Yeah. I mean, like, a a new pond is amazing. I love ponds, but I think we all see that we've been having some challenges with ponds. And they require engineers which are difficult to find. And And thankfully we have volunteers locally willing to get in a canoe and help address problems. So, you know, long story short, I think, if we think about the priorities, it would be helpful to understand what are the other require... Investment requirements in order to have an amphitheater and
an arts pavilion. You know, I guess it's a question for you, John. You know, if we were to prioritize something like that, what what is it that we would need as far as utilities, as far, you know, as far as other investments?
So, I mean, I can just jump in with the utilities. Right? That's part of the phase one. That we're doing already. That we're doing already. Right? So the the sewer the sewer line has already been brought across the road. We we do need to upgrade the water line and the electrical. The electrical is underground. So all of that, we're gonna do as part of phase one because we don't want to have to dig up stuff that... You know, we don't wanna put in the community garden, let's say, and then have to dig it up to redo the line. So all of that is gonna be part of the phase one that we're doing now in terms of utilities.
Can I ask a question? Yeah. Sure. Please. So is... The plan is to run the sewer line and water line to the residents
Yes. In phase one? Yeah. And so that there'll also be a stub put in for the potential comfort station. So that, again, we don't have... If we do end up moving forward with that, we won't have to dig up what's been put in. Got it. Yeah. And is there any...
Has has there been any thought by anyone to do some sort of a pop up event at the park and see if people love being there before all the sewer lines and water lines are run to the residents?
I mean, we have... We've been trying to build up usage in the park. We now have, like, the rewilding school that does activities there. I know that there have been some efforts to get people. The Friends of Croton Parks had a great event scheduled there for September that unfortunately got canceled because of the nor'easter. So there were, you know, there have been some efforts to get people more involved in the park.
So I think... Now this is the second time I've seen this presentation because I did... Or maybe the third time because I think we talked about it with the staff. Yes. We did. And then we talked about it with the recreation advisory committee. I will just speak for myself. I'm totally overwhelmed by this. Like, I've gone to Guevea tons of times. I'm excited about the possibility, but overwhelming. It feels like overwhelming possibilities, overwhelming price tag. I know that we have made progress and like the progress that we're making right now is not, you know, it's like infrastructure stuff, which is so important, but it's not something... Nobody's going there and saying, I love the sewer line, you know? So which makes it challenging because it's a lot of work with the staff. It's a lot of planning. It's a lot of, but there's not... You know, if people were to see... Well, people get really... I mean, I can... People get really excited about the Quonset Hut. Like, there's been so much... Who knew I would say the word Quonset Hut this many times in my life because everybody wants a piece of it. The arts wanna do something there. Recreation wants to do something there. There were bikes stored there for a while. I think we've decided now we're taking the... I don't... Are we taking it? Can I say that out loud? I think we're now taking the Quonset hut down because we've determined that in order to do any of the any of the things that people want to do there are for reasons that are... It's one of the few flat space in the park. But also it's, you know, it looks like a place where you could do something inside it, but it gets wet. It doesn't have electricity. Yeah. You can't drive to it, all those things. So, people are anxious to to use it. So I guess I have... So I just have so much I wanna say about it. When I look at the prices that are attached to some of these things, I'm thinking $10,000 for signs? Like, this feels weird. So maybe I don't know exactly... Understand exactly what wayfaring signs are. But They're expensive. $10,000
seems like I mean, just don't know. Just like the regular signs that are like, welcome to Duck Pond. Right? Like, signs, those are $4,000
a piece. Right. But... So I'm just saying... And I think that signs would enhance this, but I feel like I want to be able to get my arms around this in a way that's like, what's something we could do that will that will bring people there? You know, this is... And I understand that this is scaled, you know, it's phased and that that is the point. But I don't wanna... You know, I don't... People are all week... Since this got posted, it was, you know, people were like, $3,000,000, like this is insane. Where's the money coming from? What are you gonna do? This doesn't... And I I get that because $3,000,000 is insane. And then when I started to look through the price list, I was like, know, I want to be reasonable about what we can do. You know, there's an ongoing conversation about Gouveau always about how we should sell it and we should do this and we should... Which I think reasonably is for a variety of reasons that I'm not gonna bore everyone with now. That is not gonna happen. We need to try to make this usable space. The situation with the house is super frustrating because it's just a big unusable space that is gonna be gazillions of dollars to bring it up to where we can where we can use it. And I know that that this is not even talking about that. So, I guess my point is we do need this plan and this vision so that we can go after grant money because in other places, you know, all throughout Westchester and all throughout New York, projects like this are funded by grant And it's because there is a great vision for what this can be. I I don't... I... If I started to try to name off places, I wouldn't do it justice. But I think all the places that are like this that we go to and love
happened because there was a vision and something small was done, and then a lot of grant money was able to come in. Because you had organizations like, you know, the the arts organization, CCOA has a vision about something they wanna do there, or Friends of Croton Parks is able to do something small. But... So I I guess what I'm saying is this feels overwhelming, but we need to do this step so that we can do whatever the next step is. But I wanna think about how we have the community conversation about what is next. Some people love a playground. They really want a playground there. Some people do not want a playground there. Some people think that we need more bocce courts there. Some people do not. You know, some people think that we should... We need to have pickleball here. Some people will say if you drive a little farther up the road, there's pickleball in the town of Cortlandt that is easy to get to.
And I'm really worried about how much things are costing. You know? I I... Just in general. Like, it's gonna be an expensive winter for a lot of people. So for us to flagrantly talk about $3,000,000 to make the park, it feels insensitive. So what I would really like to do next is be thinking about, and the way you put this together,
there are so many small projects. It's like, here's a list of things you could plan, you know? That's a that's a But I think we need to understand what you're dependent on each other. Right. You know? Because I don't know if it's as simple as, you know, a menu like that. Let let's just let's just reset for a second if we can. Right? We are not gonna be able to do anything
in a... At a minimum until next year, a a year from now, because DPW is not gonna be able to finish what they're doing. They're not gonna be able to finish the site work by the end of the year, and then we have to take a pause for the Eagles again until next August.
So... But that planning time is important because it feels like even though the the Eagles situation was unexpected Yeah. It gave us a lot of time to work on other projects that DPW had to do, which was great, and then be able to be really ready to hit the ground. Yeah. So I guess what I'm saying just to finish my Mhmm. There are a lot of people who want to get Friends of Croton Parks really have great ideas about this. There are some there are some environmental educators that have some really good ideas about this. There's definitely opportunity for some Eagle Scout type projects to be done here. I think that I would like our next conversation to be what are... How do we figure out what those smaller projects are? And to trustee Nachtaler's point, like, which... How are they all interconnected? Like, how do we have that next conversation about here are some small things we could do next year. When the... When a Boy Scout or Girl Scout come to us and say, what's the project we wanna do? We could say to them, okay, there's a... Whatever the invasive project is, or when an environmental educator wants to run a program through the recreation department here. So how do we go from this incredible amazing vision and roadmap to bite sized pieces? Because even a playground, which may or may not a bite sized piece. Yeah. Well, right. But I'm just saying, you know, but but that's also... The playground is also something that we could specifically be asking for grant money for. We know. That's Yeah. It's not like, oh, what's a vision? Like, that's something specific that we know there's grant money for, that we know how to go after that grant. So I guess my question is, how do we segment this out? And I'm not...
Like that's what I would like to do next. Have the conversation about
Well, I mean what are the bite sized pieces? I think the idea is that there are phases and I think that we need to sharpen our pencil... Pencils and come up with a very, as you were kind of alluding to, a very, let's call it efficient phase one. And here's the other thing that I would say is that, especially given the long road it's taken to get here and the long road that remains, I think it's very important that we show progress as soon as possible. And we have a compact, for lack of a better word, phase one that we can fund... That we can do under our own steam without grant funding because I think relying on grant funding in near term is too contingent in the long term. Eventually, we probably can get the funding for the second and third phases, but unclear if any of us will be up on this dias by the time that happens. Right. I think that we want to to have the flag planted, so to speak. Mhmm.
I would love to see a prioritization sheet of all the parks we have or the ones that are most used to understand what are those needs so that, you know, we're not just moving forward on on this without understanding
I think it's fine to situate it in the context of other planned capital work in our budget. But, I mean, in terms of the usage, let's put it this way. Croton Landing wasn't... Is probably one of the most heavily used parks. It wasn't any any use when it wasn't a park. You know what I mean? So that's It's easy access. You know? I'm not saying that folks won't come here if this vision isn't
realized because it's beautiful, but that has amazing access. And then the other thing is when we talk about grants, I I was under the understanding that many grants require fifty fifty funding or, you know, that they're not just a hunt... Typically a 100%
grant money. Can depend. Matching, some matching. It it it can depend. If you can get some... There are some private grants that are not... You know, generally, state grants have some kind of matching match to them. You know, I mean, we have... In some of our applications, we have not been successful because of the demographics of the community. Right? So, you know, the state is is, you know, is is putting their money towards communities that are... Have more need. Mhmm. So, you know, I don't know if the state is gonna be a future potential funding source for this particular project. You know, we may have to look elsewhere. If we can get a... If we can get federal funding, perhaps. Right? Federal funding is usually less of a match. Yeah. So there are there are other opportunities that are out there that, you know, obviously, working with Valerie, we will explore all the opportunities
that we that we have. Do know if the senior... Is it a seniors facility? I forgot the name of it. That's right. Adjacent to Skyview. Skyview. This is adjacent to Skyview. Right? Yes. Mhmm. Yeah. So when I think about Briarcliffe Manor, there's an atria there that's part of the... Next to the pavilion, and there's a lot of connectivity between seniors coming out and seeing kids play and, you know, it's a really great thing to do. Any opportunity to
I think, I mean make them a part of this at all. It's it sounds wonderful. Yeah. Right. I mean, I I don't know how much of the residents of Skyview are that mobile. Mhmm. You know, I think I think, like, The Atria is more of, like, a senior Or some independent living room. Correct. Yeah. I don't think Skyview has that component. Yeah. Yeah. But it is a nice thought if they would be able to
to, you know, participate in the park. Yeah. Benefit from it. Are are we designing it with... Is there any, like, handicap accessibility built into this, or is it all handicap accessible?
The park itself? Yeah. Most of the walkways on the north side of the the ravine are. Okay. I agree. That's why these walks are kind of long
to get that gradient. Great. I had one other question. In this... Which you've done an amazing job. In this design and schematic, has there been any thought or concern or process with, like, the highway noise and any sort of application that can be sort of buffer out the noise? Or is that... Or is there a study that shows when parks have some highway noise, is it not as heavily used? Or... I'm just wondering if that's been thought of or talked about. You know, I was just there with Chatzi, and I said it was... It's kinda like white noise to me. Right. The highway.
And they were... I'm not saying I'm not saying it's loud, but I'm just asking, like, if it's... Yeah. No. I I don't have any data to back that up. I mean, again,
using the example of Curtin Landing, it's not exactly Yeah. It's not a deterrent. Yeah. No. And in fact, we made it slightly louder. Harness the sound. Yeah. That... There we go.
Manager, you know, since you mentioned next year, would you say is it possible or reasonable that following consultation with this board and the RAC and the public, of course, and others that we might begin to see elements of phase one in the 2728
budget that you would propose. Well, phase one is ongoing right now. Right? Or or the... I should I I should say portions of phase one. Right? So that's ongoing right now. You know, I think a lot of that is gonna depend on what the board shares that they wanna do with the with the money that we have coming in. Right? It's a significant sum of money that we need to... Because decisions that relate to the 2728 capital budget, right, a lot of that is gonna rest on what the board decides they would like to use that money for. Because if we decide that we want to put that all towards a fire truck, just throwing that out there, right, then that's gonna limit the other projects that we have to spend it on. Right? If you wanna say that you wanna spread it equally among, you know, five departments, then that gives us more room to... Yeah. So I I would like to, you know, I would like to be able to keep the project moving forward. Right.
You know, but we have other needs that we have to look at. But just just, you know, restating that slightly. But the the the 2728 budget would be the logical vehicle
if we were prepared to do something. Yes. Yeah. We're not gonna fund we're not gonna fund this outside of the capital budget. Yeah. And and obviously, the budget is our major deliberation throughout the year Correct. Throughout the year. Yeah. And I mean, I don't think anyone was was saying this, but, you know, there was... There... The inclusion of the cost estimate was just for informational purposes. There was no there was no thought this evening that we were gonna say, oh, yes, let's approve the the $3,000,000. Right. Yeah. That was not that nobody had...... It out loud is important. Right. Yeah. So
where would we find the parks that... I guess, the two the... Thousand well, the park master plan? Yep. And is it is it posted online? Yeah. It's under it's under the...
If you click on the public documents on the website, under the Citizen Action Center. Okay. Maybe I'll find it later. It's actually... I I I... But I just think that... It's very easy. It's right Okay. I'll I'll commit it. Tell me where it is. If you... Right. Go to our main home page, and everyone at home can do this too. Go to the main home page and click on public documents. Okay. Right? You see that? Yeah. Okay. And then if you just go down to general village documents
Okay. It's right there, recreation master plan. Okay. I would never have found that if you didn't just walk me there, so thank you. You're welcome. So I guess the question is how... What's the life what's the lifespan of a recreation master plan?
Yeah. I mean, I don't think that... I don't think there's a correct answer for that, you know. Mean, as I was saying, I I think it's I think it's great that we have completed a lot of the things that are in this plan. Mhmm. Right? I mean, one of the big ones is Croton Landing, which has been done. Another big one was the potential acquisition of Ghegan. Right? I mean, so there are a number of things that were done that were completed that were in this plan. So,
That's that's in our LWRP. I don't know... I I don't remember if it's specifically in this plan as well. Yeah.
I guess I would be interested in talking about... I think there is... Obviously, a plan like this would be undertaken by... As this one was by an by a plan... By an outside planner. Correct. The same way you would undertake a a master plan and that could potentially be funded by grant... The... That could be funded by grant money. So The plan itself. I think Yeah. That, you know, trustee Nachtaler brings up a great point. This is where we... This this would be a great place to start. So is there some way to open up the conversation about looking at this plan and then using whatever we do with the master plan as the road map of how to move forward with? Because all of our parks need attention and maintenance. Nothing else needs this kind of attention and maintenance to this scale other than Senesco, which is a totally different Correct. Situation. Yeah. But I think that being able to answer some of those questions would help us figure out how to figure out what projects to tackle here. So can we... How do we have a conversation about
Well, think as as we go approaching the rec... The rec... Or whatever this is called, the recreation master plan. Yeah. I mean, I think if if there's consensus from the board that that's the direction that we wanna move in, we would just have that conversation as part of the budget process. Right? Because you're gonna allocate... You would have have it as part of next year's
budget. I don't know how else we would make decisions about how to move forward with unless we have a comprehensive idea about, you know, how how to do this. So I think that that would be my desire and having this as part of, you know, having this plan Yeah. That would help inform this. Yeah. Right. I mean, we kind of need this to inform the the plan, but we need the plan to help us figure out what's next. So that's what I would be in favor of doing is having that conversation. And I don't know if we use the planners that we planning... I don't know, guess we bid it out to planners. But as part of your budget process,
Activities. Yeah. Okay. I I... So who does... So is the idea that we would redo the recreation master plan and then situate this and that revised plan? That Is what you're saying?
To see how it fit. Well, I don't know about situate it within it, but use use whatever... Identify
Yeah. I mean, is super outdated. Right? So we've got this, like, super... It's almost 25 years old. Yeah. Right. I mean, look at the picture of Croton Landing on the... Like, I remember when it looked like that, but barely.
So... Yeah. But I think that... Is this the only way to establish priorities for parks is to update... No. It's not it's not the only way. I mean, it would be the most it would be the most comprehensive way. But...
Well, but I think at least we could look at this like you're saying, and I believe you, that we've accomplished most of the stuff in here, but I don't... No. I mean, it's... I didn't even know where it was on the website. Website. So I... I'm just taking your word for it right now. It's 59 pages, so there's definitely a lot in there. Right. So,
I mean, listen, we could certainly... You know, you could refer this to the r a c if you wanted to get their thoughts on it. Mhmm. You know, I mean, I can certainly work with Frank and John to come up with a list of things that they know about in the parks. Right? Like, we know we know that the Harrison Street playground needs to be replaced. Right? So that's that's one of the things that's in there. Yeah. There's other... I'm sure there's other things that need to be done that we can kind of try to prioritize and come back to the board, you know. And then maybe maybe that's the first step is we try to come up with our own list based on our own knowledge. I like that. Yeah. And then, you know, after you've had a chance to look at that, then you can see if you want to move forward with
doing a formal that idea. Yeah. I mean... And and if you want in parallel to to some... Whatever the right mechanism is to get public input on... If we were to prioritize a phase, you know, something new addition in this park to get traffic and engagement, what would the public do? I mean, I I'm
kind of, in terms of doing a whole new study and hiring an outside consultant. For the master plan or? For the master plan. I mean, I'm not... There may be a time to do that, but I don't think that, forward progress on this needs to be contingent on that. And I think that what we could do in the interim is kind of a memo from the staff. I will leave it up to the manager on how exactly it's organized, whether or not it's him doing it himself, which I would not advise. I guess I didn't leave it to him, but... Or perhaps it gets delegated to someone else. Mhmm. But to to situate us Yeah. You know, in terms of outstanding capital projects in the parks. Yeah. Inventory
know, opinions from your internal staff on on what they see is coming to the end of life. What... You know, getting that from your own people first to see where you wanna go. The the two processes are not mutually exclusive, and I think, you know, let's acknowledge that we've we've already done a tremendous amount of work in recent years. We had the the the most recent Govea task force, which got us to this point. There's the work that's ongoing on the house, the dedication of the house, all the work that DPW has done above and beyond the architectural firm that... That's been working with us now almost two years plus, you know, this great work. So I think they can both go forward in in many ways on on compatible
paths forward. Yeah. Do you have any ideas on the best way to... Is it a public hearing or is it a webinar like you've done? I think the last Govea webinar might have been in March. But if there was, you know, sharing out just this vision of ideas, of... It's a la carte. It's not committed to, but I don't know how to just get a sense of where the public public's interest in. Like, I... You know, we're all getting emails and Yeah. To me, it feels like it's leaning toward amphitheater and and an artist showcase or, you know, place to play music and... But I don't I don't know. I... You might be Yeah. I think we would need to identify,
components that can be isolated and are not, let's say, load bearing and therefore can be, you know, done or not, you know, paid for or not paid for. Mhmm.
Typically, we do not take public comment during work sessions. I'm sorry. Do I... Could I... Could we I'm happy to share my microphone. Yeah. Well, no. We have a microphone. Alright. We have our vice chair of the recreation advisory committee. No. I mean, it's clear. You have a really big job in your laps,
and it's a great plan, and it's gonna require grant money. What's missing is that the community is very doubtful because they have no grasp of it. And so my suggestion would be to get the various committees throughout the village to come up with an idea to get people to see the property, to actually walk it and be on it and see the potential of the view or where things might go or, you know, build a horseshoe pit and have a Croton Horseshoe contest for the weekend, you know, for kids or for... Whatever. Get the Arts Council to have people come up and do something. We have Audre McDonald, who is a great opera singer and Broadway star, that do a benefit at the... Keep working with us.... Great acting. I'm just saying, just to get to people... Yeah. Because they're all gonna be in doubt until it's done and they can use it. And rather than you be always the bad guys, what are you doing? Let people get familiar with it. That's one thing that no one has been familiar with this property, myself included. I was there once, and I was in a parking lot. But to get to the committees and be the recreation... Everybody to get people up there to see what it is we're talking about, and then you get more support as you go along. It's clear you're not gonna raise this through taxes.
Anyway, that was my point. Thank you. Thank you, John. Thank you. You know, when we first when we first acquired the property, there were open houses. There were several open houses where there was a shuttle because the part... There was no parking Yeah. At the time. And there were shuttle buses and people just... A lot of people went and spent the afternoon.
But that was that was when the house was accessible, right? People were able to go in I the think... I don't think anybody went in the house. Oh, okay. I think it was all outside. But I do think to to
John's point, having some small events there that, you know... And and I I think that the arts... There there are different committees that have talked about doing things there. If recreation could plan a few things there, if the arts and humanities committee could, you know, plan a few things there. But I think we need to be making the ask and and helping it happen. We can't just say, recreation art... Recreation advisory committee, do an event here. I think we need to go to our committees that we're liaisons to and say, you know, we would like you to... You know, May is your month. What do you think you could do there? I think we need we need to get... We need to actively get people there. Or maybe not us, maybe it's the staff. I don't I don't think the recreation department, truthfully, they're doing so much already. I don't think it can be on them. So I don't know what that mechanism is, but I do hear what, John is saying, but maybe maybe it's a specific ask to all the committees. Come up with one activity you'd like to do at at Govea or something like that. I don't I don't I don't know. But I think if we don't make a specific ask, it's not just gonna happen. It's a great idea, but it's not just gonna it's not just gonna happen. Friends of Croton Parks are are planning events there. Yep. Yeah. For sure, which is definitely gonna get people there. But what it was the... It was a bird walk, owl It's gonna be an owl watch and also a
So maybe we could build on that, you know, and really help promote that. And it'll... That's That's great. I would love to do that.
Fantastic. Suggest that I leave January 18. Well Bring your parkas. But I do think, you know, some some... The arts and humanities committee is always talking about doing, you know, like, I'm gonna... You know, the... That outdoor painting Yeah. Type of type of project. Yeah. You know, or, you know, the... Even, the the invasives removal. You guys did some invasives removal, did you? Did you do some invasives removal? We did not. Somebody... Oh, maybe the CAC talked about it? No. No. It was Friends of Croton Point about it, but it ended up being the village... Our contractor wanted to get it. Yeah. Oh, okay. So... But whatever it is, I I don't think we can I don't think we can solve that problem? That... Solve that problem now. Not that it's really a problem, but I think it's a... How do we move that conversation along so that we can come up with some deliverables? Because I I don't... This is an amazing deliverable, but it doesn't really get us... It's not it's not really the next step. It's as... There are a lot of steps in between here and there.
Yeah. I think that's a good... Yeah. Could say, you know, I mean, we could link to this presentation. Right? Because, you know, John's part of it was about a half hour, so it's not unreasonably long for people to to watch. Yeah. So
Do do we do some sort of, like, survey at the end? Capture data? Like, how people I mean, Brian is our survey,
you know, I know... I think I I I think you just... If you wanna do a survey, you just have to be thoughtful about what you're going to be asking. That's all. So... You can also consider the other surveys that might need to go out. Right. The sequencing is very Yeah. Right. Because you wanna make sure you get... You you know, you don't wanna burn people out. Exhaust. Yeah. Exhaust the public. Yep.
What's next? So I think what's next is we'll we'll try to come up with a list of the park improvements that are needed over the next five years and come back to the board with that.
Yeah. I mean, I don't know how much you're gonna I don't know how much you're gonna plan in the winter. That's the only thing. Right? Mean... Doesn't hurt to open the door. Yeah. Well, that means it's a great place for sledding. It's a great place for... You know what?... Done.
My kids are not little anymore, so I don't I don't always know. No. People... You know, is it a spot for a community bon fire? I don't know what the answers are. I would say I don't think that the bon fires are allowed anywhere. You look nervous when you say that. Everyone everyone
hates that idea. So Well, she... We've got the snow and fire or anything, seriously. I don't know. Fire department. Yeah. I don't I... Yeah. I don't know if that's a good idea, but, no. There's definitely... There's stuff you can do outside Yes. In the fall and the winter. I don't think we have to just be married to the summer. No. No. I'm just saying specifically, like, you know, arts and arts and humanities. I don't know if there's necessarily something that they could plan,
you know, in the wintertime. But, no, they... Let the committees think about it. You know, I don't mean to limit them. I'm just saying. Right. Yeah. And there there is a natural amphitheater there right now. You know, you could... We don't have a stage and we don't have seating, but, you know, we have a portable stage and people bring chairs to Senesqua. So there could certainly be something there. I just think we have to think outside the box a little bit. But to John's point, we need to get peep... We need to give people a reason to Yeah. To get there.
Thank you. Thank you. Really beautiful work. Thanks, John. Appreciate it. Very talented group. Thank you. Yep. I love the eagle, whatever this The eagle plate. Plate. It's
Are you a food truck or something? Yeah. Part of the playground. Beautiful. It's really cool.
Yes. Thank you, John. Have a great night. Thank you. A good night. Bye. Good night, Sarah. This is gonna get posted all onto the Google I think I think it's I think it's already there, but if it's not, we'll make sure it's there. Okay. Yeah.
Alright. We now proceed to a discussion of road safety projects and infrastructure. Manager, you have a memo. Would you like to Yes. I'll start with that. It and read it to those folks Yep. Who are watching us online. Listen. Give us a moment to head it up here on the screen.
If you could just pull up my memo, the first first one there. Thank you. So, I wanted to return to the conversation that we have been having on and off for, the year about the traffic improvements along Old Post Road North. Know, we completed a traffic study last year that came up with a number of recommendations. We had a Zoom with the residents in the area on... In January 2026. And then in the current fiscal year, we... The board allocated a $100,000 to fund the improvements presented in the plan. So it's a very concise brief overview of what went on, But, you know, when we had that Zoom, in January, there were a number of opinions expressed, right, which kind of paused this this portion of the implementation. Right? Because there were some people that felt the improvements were too much and other people that felt they didn't go far enough and some people that were fine with them as they were. So, you know, we just need to... We would just like some direction from the board since this is a funded project, you know, are we... Should we move forward with it? Do you want us to not move forward with it?
You know, what... How should we proceed at this point? So... And also, I just... Sorry. I wanna let you guys talk, of course. But there's three components to this project. Right? There's improvements to the Hunter Place and Old Post Road North intersection, improvements to Lownsbury and Old Post North, and then improvements to Michaels Lane and Old Post North. And as far as I'm... As far as I am aware, the only comments that you have received are about the Michaels Lane Intersection. The other... I don't believe there's any concern or issue with the other two, infrastructure improvements.
Manager, the the the two that... Let's just call them the the non controversial ones. Can you just describe
Yeah. The specific improvements that would that would be there? Sure. Might be helpful if we bring them up on the screen there. So
Yeah. Thank you. So, so here... So you see this is Hunter and Yep. Loudounsbury here. Right? So the idea would be that there'd be a crosswalk that'd be going across, Old Post North at Hunter, with new landing pads constructed there. And then there'd be a bump out, on either corner of Lounsbury and a crosswalk placed across that intersection. And, you know, obviously, the idea there is to significantly narrow the, turn lane and make it easier for pedestrians to cross safely.
So the only comment I I have to this plan, and I think I said it at the time, was as a person that crosses the street from Hunter to Lownsbury, I have never in twenty years seen anyone, maybe not never, but the people cross at the other side of Hunter. So maybe everyone will just start using the crosswalk, but in reality, people cross on the... I guess it's the South that's now being Yeah. Closed for the North Side of Hunter, but where the people cross is on the
is on the South side, not the North side. So I don't know what the Well, there's no there's no there's no sidewalk or landing pad at present on the North side.
So I think there's actually a guardrail there. Right? Correct. There's a guardrail there. So there would be no way to... But I just don't know if... Is... If because there's a crosswalk there, people go... I don't know what the... Mean, that's that's some sort of study about, like, human behavior. And if you put the crosswalk there, they will do it. Or if you put the crosswalk there, they will continue to cross where they've been crossing regardless of where the crosswalk is. It's just... I'm just saying it out loud because I know this intersection. Absolutely. You were gonna have
your people that follow the rules, right, and so they will naturally gravitate towards where the crosswalk is. But, you know, the crosswalk is being suggested to go there because it's a it's a stop intersection, Right? So that's why the... That does make sense. If you're crossing where the stop sign That that... That's why it's being placed there. That's fair. Yeah. And I think a a k r f,
not their spokesperson, but I think they recommended it because of best practices and a logical place for crosswalk. Yeah. Is that a stop sign? Yes. Yeah. Right. But I do think that what what the humans are doing should be taken into consideration. Yeah. Well, there's... I'm sure this makes sense on a piece of paper, but as a person who walks there, it doesn't make sense. But Well, I hope I hope you can lead by example. You know?
I think there will definitely be a learning curve. But Yeah. I mean, right now, even for the people that wanna cross from sidewalk to sidewalk, which I think we all agree is the safest mechanism way to cross, they don't have the protection of the crosswalk. I know that other people might
try other routes. Yep. But right now, no no one is safe. I mean Yeah. Right. Well, that that, that's a little melodramatic, but there But I... Yes. There's not clear safe passage for any direction. And I think I said that when we looked at this last time that no one crosses the... Where you're suggesting they should cross, but there but there is not... There... There's a guardrail. You just climb over a guardrail to walk across.
just a few or one, it's it's not gonna hurt anyone. So it it... I think it makes sense. Yeah. And I and ideally, what we would like to do or ultimately, what we would like to do is extend the crosswalk... I'm sorry, extend the sidewalk down to High Street because there is... There's an existing sidewalk that ends Right. At the corner of High Street and Old Post North. So we would be able to connect that small strip so that there would be one continuous.
Well, right. Because then for the people on High Street, which is the next street north of Hunter, those people have...
There's nothing there. There's nowhere to cross. They have cross. Maybe you cross to Mount Green and then walk on the sidewalk over there, but it is a very awkward place. Yeah. And there's no crosswalk there. So this would give them a safe passage up to Hunter and then across the street. Right. Yeah.
Just in terms of other traffic calming measures in other places, when we were... I I know that we don't do speed bumps here, but when at the entrance to the new, Story Hudson Valley, there are... I will call them rumble strips, that is the wrong description for them. Yeah. But it's
The... Or some sort of... So that when you... It makes you slow your car down. It's a rumble strip. Right. Is that what it's called? Yeah. So... But I don't... I think that that is... And like I did, you know, I did a little research on it today. They're very So if you have that, it does slow the traffic down, but the people who live right near it are upset by, the sound that it makes. But there are cars driving fast everywhere in the... And they're also very bicycle unfriendly was the other thing I saw. But it's not the same kind of... It doesn't slow down emergency vehicles, which speed bumps do. It's not a problem for snow plowing, which speed bumps are. So... And obviously, the traffic going in and out of historic Hudson Valley is that you can't... It's not It's not traffic anywhere else. It's not like traffic going up and down Old Post Road. But I just wondered if it was... I have driven over Rumball Strips before, but not in Croton. So when I did that, I... It was note... You know, and other other people who were there at when we were doing the ribbon cutting were noticing and saying this... Maybe this is a solution to speed bumps. So I did just wanna sort of interject that into the conversation because we haven't... We've talked about not having speed bumps, but we haven't talked about... You know, we've talked about having beacons and whatever the other things are, but, you know, maybe that's a question to ask. Other than the fact that the people who live next to it are gonna be super mad because it is loud. Yeah. And that and that... I mean, you get that complaint with speed bumps as well because,
you know, the constant driving, ba bum ba bum ba bum, right, Well, people you're slow, if you're going slow enough But that's the thing people aren't. Right? That's the problem. Right. So Right. I mean, you can't speed through
But I I was driving in Pleasantville the other day and on Marble Avenue near where the field is where kids play ball, they had a walk... A new walkway now and a sign on each side of the street, yellow, with a blinking light. And I think that... I'm not sure if the kids or whoever's crossing presses a button. Well, that's... Those are the beacons. That's what we have. On the men's. Yeah. Or or if these... Is that something that could work? That's what we have proposed for Michaels and... Yeah. Because that... Anyway, that was very effective Yes. Driving through there. And that's what we have really slowed down the traffic We have it we have it at the entrance to PVC on Maple,
and we have it at Wood and At Wood is where I was seeing it. Correct. And we're... Our third one is gonna be going in at Wells and Maple and Van Cortlandt that...
and old posters. Let's... Before we move to Michaels, does anyone else have... I I mean, I've... Assuming that everybody's okay if we move forward with these these areas.
No. No. Nope. There's no parking in... There's no parking here. Okay. Thank you. So, manager, you alluded to the idea of, connecting
some of that. The... This intersection to High Street. There is an expanded sidewalk. Yep. I know that that's not tomorrow, but based
on previous sidewalk projects, what would the time frame potentially I I mean, I I hate to throw yet one more thing at DPW. Right? But, I mean, I would think that it's something that could potentially be done in the springtime. So that assuming that this is able to be done in the in the fall and early winter because this is not... I mean, this is not a ton of work. So when you say springtime, you mean spring of twenty eight? '27. '27. Yeah. Okay. So, I mean, I think it will depend on exactly how much money we have left over from chips Yep. In terms of the paving project, you know, because our paving project did come in under under what we budgeted. Right? The bid came in under what we budgeted, so we will hopefully have some money left over from chips. So otherwise, if for whatever reason we don't and we have to put it in the budget, then we can do that for the following for the following year.
Okay. So if there's no more comments here, then we can go down to Michael's if you wanna scroll to the next one. Wait. So there are no more comments. So what does that mean is happening next? Well, I'm taking that as meaning that we can move forward with this. So we're gonna coordinate... We want... We wanted to try to get this... As much of this work done as possible before Con Edison
repaves. Got it. Okay. Yeah. And none of the... None of these neighbors have Have have said has said anything about this. No. Okay. Yep.
No. Sorry. So stay on that same link. Yeah. And just scroll down to the next area. Yep. Thank you. Okay. So this is... So here you have Michaels. See, again, you have a new crosswalk that's across Old Post North, a small bump out on the southern side of the road there, and then you have, I know what we're calling that, a porous bump out. I I I forget exactly what word they use. It's... If you zoom in, could probably see it. But, it... It's basically an area that is flushed with the ground so that, like, people could... Trucks could drive over it if they needed to, but it it still narrows the drive lane. And then you can see where the where the, beacons are slated to be to be, installed at either end of the crosswalk.
Okay. So for this intersection, there was a lot of public interest. Yeah. We... I think we heard I think we heard from eight or nine people total. More than that's more than zero, which the other... No. No. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. And I think after that meeting,
does this drawing incorporate the feedback you got from that meeting or nothing has changed since that time? Nothing changed. I mean, we did... As part of the backup for this meeting, right, there's a memo from AKRF that explains why the stop sign is not Right. Feasible here. But, no. I mean, the the... Nothing that was... I mean, the only the only thing that was suggested that we could do... And and correct me if I'm wrong. I don't remember, but this is why I'm asking. Wait. So what did say? Sorry. I said I don't remember exactly what was what I was asking. No. I mean, there were there were complaints from the residents of Old Post North who live opposite Michaels. Right, they were... There there was a proliferation of signage, and they and they were concerned about the addition of an additional sign, meaning the rapid flashing beacon. Right. So in... You know, I looked at the area. I spoke with DPW. Know, we can relocate the bike share the road sign to be closer to, like, Mount Green so that that sign would be out of this area. So at least it would not be adding. It would just be... You'd be taking one sign down and putting one sign up. And what else is there? There's a deer crossing sign there, I think? That's on that's on the opposite side going towards Terrace. Okay. Yeah. And there's also like a sign for the arboretum. There's a sign for the arboretum, which is a... Which is one of those Wayfinding. Wayfinding signs. Yes. Right. And then I think there might I think there might be a speed limit sign or, you know, which... I mean, those have to stay, you know, those can't be moved.
So... Okay. Yeah. I'm sorry. Just one of the other concerns that were raised, which I think we allayed in that meeting, people were thinking that the light was gonna be flashing, like, regularly or, you know, at, 02:00 in the morning. The light only flashes if somebody is actually pressing it. So... And, I mean, I know we've spoken That's right. We've spoken to residents of Maple who have said that it hasn't really impacted them because it's not... You know, for large portions of the day, nobody is crossing, and so it... It's not
it's not an issue. And and Maple is almost certainly to be a more high traffic area than Oh, I would think for sure. Yeah.
It's not a passive light. It's... The the the user of the crosswalk has to make the decision to press the Yeah. Correct. Yeah. Because you could you could cross without pressing the button. Sure. Yeah.
Are people losing parking spot? I know that was a lot of the conversation too. The way that people park on those corners. So I know... What makes it a little Yeah. Is is...
Yeah. Sorry. The the owners of the house on the northern side, right, which I think is one Michaels Yes. That that area, the shade... The shaded area there was designed so that they would maintain two spots in front of their house, which is what they have now. Okay. So that that is not an issue. I don't think there's any on the southern side because there's a stop sign there now, you're not supposed to be parking within 20 feet of the stop sign anyway. So I don't think I I... The addition of that bump out is not...
I don't think that's causing any spots to be lost. But there was some question about... There's a... I live on Michael's Lane, which is why I know... This is why I'm so knowledgeable about this. Thank you for your thank you for disclosure.... To not disclose that. Thank you for the...
I'm very familiar with these corners. No. Painfully to everyone here familiar with these corners. There was some question about, the way the person that lives on the South Corner will get in and out of the driveway and ability to clear snow. Yeah. I remember I don't... There were just... She had some very specific concerns about how this change was gonna impact
her, and I just wanna make sure that those were Yeah. I think the... I mean, the snow... If... I think superintendent Balbi kind of addressed the snow situation. Right? I mean, obviously, if if snow... If that area was used to pile snow in the past, then we'll just have to pile the snow elsewhere. Right? Because it won't be available to us. But we're not... It's not like we're gonna pile it on the sidewalk. That's not, you know... I mean, it's... It may happen as the plow goes by. Think that was the concern that she's now gonna be responsible for cleaning a sidewalk that she didn't have before. Correct. Which I guess she she will. Well, I mean, depending on depending on if it's just a landing pad... Like, I think I think that one is just a landing pad. We may clear that. Okay. I... So I just want that to be clear to her because I know that was Yeah. No. We'll definitely we'll definitely... Before the winter, if... I mean, if this goes in before the winter, then we will. Yeah. We'll make that clear. And if we... I mean, some winters, there's not enough snow to highlight there, but some winters Yeah. Last let... You know, last winter was fresh in everyone's mind. Right? And so Right. Yeah. I mean, it's been many years since we've had a winter like like last year. Right.
Yeah. I mean, I I don't I don't remember exactly what the concern was with the the driveway. But, I mean, certainly, whatever would be designed would, you know, would maintain access to the to the driveway. Yeah. Okay. So, I mean, we did... We heard from an... The the the whole genesis of this study and ultimate plan, right, was that we had been hearing from a number of younger rep... Younger parents on... I'm sorry. I should say number of parents of young children on Michael's Lane. And, you know, they were saying that they have difficulty crossing the street and their kids have to walk to school and, you know, I I... Trustee Slippen probably knows what what year they stopped busing in that area, but, you know, there's no bus available after a certain grade. So...
And even though there is a stop sign at Hunter, cars come down very fast and it's... It is... You can't really see them come... You can't really see them come... It is dangerous place to cross. So
so that was the whole genesis of So there's there's definitely support on Michael's Lane for this. Mhmm.
The concern were... The the concerned people were the ones that lived right In the two houses. Yeah. Well, right... And across the street. So if you live right on either, you know, right on Old Post Road or on the corners of Michaels and Old Post Road, there was concern about... Because those are people who are gonna be immediately impacted by it. Everybody else on the street is just gonna benefit from the traffic calming measures that are being taken. But I... It doesn't make their questions any less valid just because they're there. Yeah. I understand the concern about having something flashing in your window.
So... And hopefully at least with I think I I'm I'm hoping that, you know, by being able to relocate the sign that will at least, you know Mhmm. Reduce some of those concerns. You know? And, again, I'd I'd... I'm not sure exactly. I think we did... They did... Well, not I... Not that I think. They did do a traffic count for, you know, what they believed were the peak periods.
And There was a lot of... There was a lot debate that. I mean, they do lives there didn't... Couldn't imagine where those numbers came from. But, yeah, I think we got to the right answer. Yeah. You know, there was... There there... As the mayor was alluding to earlier, there is limited
crossing in this area. So, you know, the the button is not gonna... The the light is not gonna be flashing continuously. Yeah.
Rectangular. Flashing beacon. For e. Rapid rectangular flashing beacon. Yes. Always get the... Always double check the second r. Would you see that as prior to next... The upcoming budget?
Well, the money the money is already allocated. So it's it's just, you know, now that we've had this conversation, I can go back to Frank and Scott and we can see what's feasible and, you know, how much we think we can get done between... Like, you know, the beacon is probably gonna be the the last thing because we can do the the the beacon is not contingent on Con Edison paving. Right? We we we wanna try to get whatever work is being done in the roadway done before Con Edison comes and repaves the road because we don't wanna have to... We don't want them to pave and then have us dig it up and then have to pave again and... Yeah.
And I think you said this, but we're we're in... We're installing one now at Maple and Wells. It's... Yes. They're under construction. That's great. Which which is just the p v... PVC families. Okay?
Yep. Sounds like the turbine is okay. Great. So the only other question I have is, you know, this is a area that there was some traffic there were some traffic concerns about and now we're addressing them. There are other sections of roadway in the village where there are... It... There is concern. Yeah. How do we identify which area we're looking at next so that we can do a similar assessment?
Yeah. I mean, I think I think if people... You know, we have the we have the accident data that I've shared with the board. Right? I think... And, know, you maybe this is a good segue, mayor. I don't... You know, if you wanna talk about that. But I I would say if the board wanted to look at some of those areas that are... That have had a high number of accidents, that's one thing you could do. You know, we get comments from people all the time, and so we try to look at those areas as they come up. I mean, one of the areas that we're tentatively trying to see if there's a solution for is actually right down the street from this area. It's the block of All Post North between, Brook and, Terrace. And we're trying to see if if it's feasible to place a sidewalk on the west side there, you know, the... Between Terrace and Brook, the West side of Old Post North. Okay. Mhmm. Yeah. So... But across from
Lower North Highland? Correct. Okay. Yeah. So because... I get a lot of emails about, and I've seen it myself, Capriccio. It's... There's...
Cars are blocking views to get out. Well, that that brings us to our next agenda item, but... Or I guess the next subsection of this agenda item. But, yes, manager, you're correct that that's a a good segue. I don't think it's... We have the time or sufficient documentation to address it in this meeting, but I think a review of the areas that have been identified as trouble spots based on crash data would be very helpful. I will also flag that we actually have a traffic calming plan for an area that has historically had some significant number of crashes, which were accidents, which is Old Post Road and Grand Street, the intersection down there. More popularly known as the home with the dummy light. So I think if we're we're bringing... If we're doing that exploration,
I I think that has to be at least part of the conversation. Mhmm. And just just as a refresher for newer members of the board, we had a study that was done by a traffic engineer firm, Provident Engineering, which actually, again, I think is under that public documents on the website. I'll
study was was on the board's agenda for March '20 We were very close. So... And obviously COVID kind of shelt those plans. So... Option four. Yeah. So it is... It's something that's out there. It is something that we could bring back,
you know. And if there's something that's not on the accident data, I don't know if that area near Capriccio is on accident data or not, but we know that we're getting
a lot of reports. That is, I think, directly... Almost directly related. I mean, what I've heard about that area is a lack of visibility, and that's exactly what the
not The next item. Yeah, the next item is or the next sub item is. Wait, but can we just go back for a minute? If we're gonna have this conversation about traffic areas that are of concern, can we... Is there some way to ask people? Because maybe there are areas of concern that we're not aware of or we're not indicated in the study that... So I would like there to be a mechanism for people because maybe...
I I think that there are residents that might be... So do you have a running list, I guess? Yeah. Mean, was just gonna say that that's one thing, at least in my opinion, that's one thing that people are not shy about writing in on. I mean, because I get emails all the time from people about
either having issues with speeding or having issues with, you know, being able to cross safely. So, I mean, I'm... I don't know if the board gets those as well, but I mean, but we also have to recall that, you know, anecdotes are not data, and we have to be... You know, we have to put the data first. Right? It's like what... Yeah. I'm sure everyone is familiar with this phenomenon. Right? You'll get... We'll get comments about a specific street and speeding, and we will put out the speed monitor. And we will find a pretty unremarkable amount of speeding on it. You know, any speeding is bad, but, identifying a specific problem area is very challenging. Right. But if you're a mom trying to cross the street with a stroller and dog, like, then you feel like cars are gonna really get trustee, but, the point is that there is a finite amount of resources. We can't A 100%. But I just think trick is not to have cars, but I don't think we're doing that. I mean, not to be frank. People people should...
We have... The speed monitor is deployed right now based on complaints that we received. Right? So if people have concerns, they should continue to write in, and we try to allocate the the resources accordingly. But Yeah. We we are responsive, but we... And we investigate and we get the data. But like the mayor was saying, lot of times, you know, we we got an email from somebody a while back that said, oh, you know, cars are going 50 miles an hour down my street and we get the data and, like, the fastest car was going 35. Right? So, I mean, people people's perception is always... Is a lot of times that cars are going faster than they are. Yeah. So... And look, I mean, you're not gonna hear an argument from me against people driving slower. I mean, there's a big difference between thirty five and twenty five.
I won't be, melodramatic, but the survival rates for pedestrians are a lot better, you know, on the other side of that range. And, you know, it's not... Still not being nice hit by a car at... Going at 25 miles an hour. So, you know, it's certainly in specific areas we can look at further reductions, though that is not an easy lift.
So do you wanna move on to Yeah. Let's let's go to the bicycle and pedestrian committee. So I I just... Before we get there, just... I also just wanted to share because I know this is kind of a big topic. We do have more speed signs that are being deployed. So Oh, yes. That's very good. So we do have signs that are slated to go on Mount Airy on Route 129 in Glengarry. It's been a little bit of a process because the signs took a long time to get ordered, and then the polls have... You wouldn't think that getting a metal galvanized poll would be, like, so incredibly difficult, but apparently in this new world, it is. And all of that. Yeah. So the poll... So now so now we have the signs we're in, but we're still waiting for the polls to come. So we do... We are
ready to deploy these when we get all the supplies. So so these are the ones that, like, tell you you're going Correct. To what your speed is and these should slow down. Yes. Either thank you or too fast. Yeah. And so one of those is gonna go back on 01/29
where there used to be one? Correct. Okay. Yes. But but speaking of responding to neighborhood requests, these are in response to neighborhood requests? Correct. Yes. Specifically, the the one on Glengarry I don't think they really work.
when they're off versus when they're on that they make a difference. Yeah. Okay. Good. Well... And I know there was a situation on Glengarry that we... So to be responsive to that, I'm glad Yeah. That we're able to do that. It took longer than we wanted, but it's happening. Unfortunately, things do sometimes. But, yeah, I mean, the whole thing was that
we used to be able to mount these directly on the telephone poles. And then Con Edison told us that we were no longer allowed to do that. So that required us to go out and buy the poles and, yeah. So... Okay. Okay. So anyway, so, moving on to the final item here is the bike peg committee has submitted a memo on a proposed daylighting policy, which is included in the backup here. And, basically, a daylighting policy is what we were talking about with regards to capricious. It improves visibility for cyclists, for pedestrians, for motorists at... When they are, either approaching an intersection or, you know, turning, turning out of an intersection. Exiting
parking lot. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. So... Yes. And this was done recently at the bottom of Farrington?
Yes. In a way, we did that. Yeah. Because we we put in those... I mean, there was already no parking allowed there, so we had already implemented it, but it wasn't being respected. Right? So we ended up putting the delineators up so that now nobody can really park there. So... And we've gotten feedback from people who live there that... That are very appreciative. Yes.
So, sidebar on that, I'm a fan of delineators and I'm a fan of just physical infrastructure. I think that, you know, it's something that we struggle with. You know, our police department can't be everywhere at once. Right. And, you know, unfortunately, without... Yeah. We either have enforcement, which is imperfect, or we have infrastructure, so.
Yeah. And, I mean, the the delineators are being tested in this area. I'd like to see how we get through the winter with them in terms of the plows and and whether or not we lose all of them at some point because of the plows or whatnot or the snow breaking them. How much do they cost? They don't... It's not that they cost a lot of money. It's just more of the of the... What do they look like? They're just they're just, you know, stand up poles. They look like whiffle ball bats. Yeah. Yeah. And so they're just they're just screwed into the they're just screwed into the ground and, you know, it just prevents people from from parking there.
I think that's on. Yes. I I I mean, I hope we have a decent survival rate through the winter, but even if we had to do a annual refresh, think it would be worth It's it's just more of I don't want there to be... Yeah. I mean, I
don't know if The creation of hazards and waste on the roadside. Yeah. Well, like, I don't know if a plow hits one. It does... Is it gonna Yeah. Fly off and hit somebody's house Yeah. Person, you know. So I just would like to see how we do through the winter before we... Because it I am a big fan of them too. It took me a long time to convince the superintendent to deploy them, but I got them out there. And so, you know, I would just like to make sure that it actually works before we, you know, multiply it elsewhere.
It used to be Ocean House. It... Yeah. Like... That's where... Yep. Yeah. So... Yeah. So we have them in two locations right now, which are, you know, relatively flat and should hopefully be no issue.
And so this says, establish a process for identifying and prioritizing locations. So
how... Are you looking for the board to just... You know, I was just gonna say... Just adding on to that, if I if I may. And we thank we thank the bike ped committee. This is not a policy. This is this is the outline of a policy that they want us to explore Yes. And and and adopt. So I I think... And it makes... I think it makes a lot of sense. And it's consistent with everything that they've done. So that that they're saying, figure out how you... You know, since you you can daylight literally every single block, but how would you prioritize
the removal of parking spots for this purpose and how... You know, what are the standards that you would use and all of that? I mean, that... That's, you know, where we where we put in these delineators, it was easy because there was already no parking allowed there. Right? So Right. You know, there are other areas where this could be done for sure, but an area like North Riverside is already so tight with parking that to, you know, take away more parking, I I think is gonna require a serious conversation
and consideration by the by the board. And some analysis as well. Yeah. Know, like, for example, when we did the original... When we removed the two parking spots on Riverside by Caprizios, that was... A lot of it was just word-of-mouth. I mean, it it accumulated so many complaints over a couple of years. We thought, well, that makes sense. And then we were And
and Capriccio also has a a 20 something Yeah. Spot parking lot, whereas most of the businesses on North Riverside have no off street parking.
So... But pulling out of there now is like a death wish. I know. And then people... Even with those two spots not there. Right. Oh,
are you talking about pulling out of Capriccio? Yes. Yeah. No. I know. I I park I park on the street there, you know. But not in those two spots. Not in those two spots. No. Just checking. I recommend bicycling as well. Yeah. Yeah. No. You you don't have any problem. I never felt uncomfortable. That makes sense. Then people are crossing the street too because they can't Because they park on the side... They park on Yeah. Yeah. We looked at... When did we look at that? Hold on. We looked at potentially putting a crosswalk at Clinton, right, which would be next to Samurai and...
Yeah. I mean, again, that's a mid block crossing, right, which is inherently more dangerous. Oneida is the closest street, I guess. Yeah. But Oneida, that... That's even more dangerous because it's on the crest of the the... Yeah. The curve there. And so...
That's where I was thinking in Pleasantville when they have it in the middle of the street, the two signs with the blinking light, if somebody needed to cross at Capriccio Yeah. They could just press the button and, you know, and it it is very effective.
Sure. Now we would also have the joy of partnering with the DOT on that. Correct? Oh, wow. We would not. We would not because... Oh, because the... At that point, it switches over to us. Correct. That's... Where does it switch over?... Easy breeze to do.
Yeah. Let's do it. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, that's that's our area there. Oh, great. So, yeah, listen, that's something that you that you could look at.
Well, and hypothetically on North Riverside, I don't mean to change the subject back to there, but once the Brook Street parking situation is changed, a lot of the cars that are now taking up space on the... Or some of the cars, there will be more opportunity for parking Off street parking. Yes. We're gonna have to explain... You know, communicate to people what Yeah. A parking lot is going to be, but that's a particularly
bad spot. Yeah. I mean, you're you're probably... You... I would say a majority of those spaces are probably gonna be used by Brook Street residents, but you will have you will have some spaces that are available for the public if that's what you want to decide. Yeah. Shared parking. Yeah. Right. Because you're gonna have you're gonna have permits for that lot like you do the rest of your lots, and so you could decide if you wanna make it permit only. But but not having
residents and other people using the street will make a significant difference because right now, there are only a handful of spots there. Yeah. And you're gonna... Parked on the streets. It's particularly hard to pull out of there also. Yeah. It's very it's very difficult. Yes.
So what would be the next steps on this? Well, so if people are if people are generally supportive of this, I can I can work with the bike ped committee and, you know, not not? Maybe not me specifically, but somebody in my office will work with the bike ped committee and Lori Lee and and probably Valerie as well to develop, an actual policy document.
You know, I think it would be helpful in having some very broad guidance from the board. And I think that one of the things that we, one of the comments that, I've already received is, you know, someone saying, am I not gonna be allowed to park in front of my house? And I think, certainly, at least in this situation where you should prioritize the high traffic commercial areas and not residential neighborhoods.
Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Thank you for saying caveat, I think we can move forward unless there are other additions. Number two on the bike ped committee, page three, number two, last page, establish a process for identifying and prioritizing locations where daylighting is needed in coordination with the committee's existing sidewalk and safety maps. And, actually, that that goes back to, I think, about over two years ago where they... The committee identified the hotspots in terms of sidewalk gaps or sidewalks were in very bad condition Yes. At the time. So... Which we've which we've used extensively. Right. Yeah. As the jumping off point. So I I think they can... I think they'd be very pleased to to do this. And and, actually, you know, what's what's what's helpful in a lot of that is, you know, the... Having, you know, Scott or or the superintendent there just with their sleeves rolled up and the big map out on the table. So I think that's that's a good good approach, at least at least in the beginning. So
while we're talk... Are we done with the... Sort of Yeah. I mean, I'm done with I'm done with what I had listed on the memo. Yeah? While
we're talking about the bicycle pedestrian committee, though, and I know that this is not part of what is on the agenda, but because we're... I I do wanna say that we have had several conversations. The thing that I hear most about from people is the... This sort of bicycle and pedestrian safety, and this is one element of that. But I would like to know... I'd like to talk about how we... I don't know if the bike pad committee came with the... Up with this on... Like, you know, they they were inspired to send us this memo or we asked them to send us this memo. But what I would like to do is start a robust conversation with them about bicycle and pedestrian safety Mhmm. Both on the sidewalks and the roads and on the river walk. I I'm... I assume my colleagues get as many comments about this as frequently as I do. I don't know what the right way to have the conversation is, but it's... It is hands down right now, for the most part, what I'm hearing most about from the public. So I don't know what the answer is, but how... I mean, I've
that course, but, you know, I've seen that correspondence from time to time. I don't know if I would describe it as what I've heard most from the public on any topic, but, you know, we could have that conversation. I think, again, it should be informed by the data, and we should also think very clearly about what we're talking about. Right? Because in theory, you're prohibited from riding on the sidewalks right now. Right? And, also, I mean, you know, what we hear about with the Riverwalk, right, if we're talking about Croton Landing for more than twenty years, you've been allowed to ride a bike. I mean, if we wanna prohibit bikes, we can have that conversation.
But prohibiting bikes and prohibiting a e bike, I think, are two separate things. And is that... I'm not I'm not advocating one way or the other, but I would like to have the conversation. I Yeah. Several times a week, I hear from somebody, not from different people who are saying, I was at the river walk and I almost got run over by by, you know, those hoodlum kids. It's not what they're saying. Yeah. You know, it's like, you know, and they weren't wearing whatever. I'm just joking. But, like, I do think it is something that I would like to have a mechanism to address.
We are awaiting... I know I I recently did research for another, community. We are awaiting the county's action on the e bike legislation. The county is supposed to take a comprehensive look at the regulations because the provisions in the state law prohibit certain limitations or requirements or safety things. So they're going to take this regional approach and then we'll be able to at least enforce e bike safety in a more comprehensive and equal manner from municipality to municipality to municipality. And I've been in touch with, board of the legislature council and keeping, you know, keeping abreast of what,
where they are in the process. Do you have a sense of what the timeline is? No. Not yet. Because I feel like there's a lot, you know, we're waiting for that. We're waiting for the q and a about the cameras. But there are certain limitations, that local jurisdictions can take in terms of e bike legislations, local. So so maybe I'll just say it. I'm concerned about ebikes on the Riverwalk. I don't know if that's a specific conversation to have or maybe that makes it easier or
harder. I mean, well, I I think that makes it easier because. That's not... The board has... The the board has already taken action on that. Right? You referred it to the bike ped committee. You got a a response from them where their response was basically to not take any action. So
it's up to you. I mean, you've already...... Told me when that... When we got that back? I'd have to go back I'd have to go back and look. I wanna say it was maybe two years ago. Right. So, I mean, is the installation of the new e bike... You know, we may put an e bike... I don't... I have no idea if the Project Mover bikes that are... It's an Esk will have any impact on it at all. I'm just saying that's a that's a... And we have more e bikes on the road than we did before. I would just like to reopen it at some point Yeah. To have the conversation. So I guess I guess my point is you don't need to refer to them again if you don't want to because you already have referred it to them. So you can just... If you wanted to schedule it for a future work session, you can do that. I mean, what... And you are... You aren't... I'm sorry. And you're not foreclosed
from taking, use of e bikes on sidewalks because that's public property held in trust, and you are in charge of that. I was suggesting the legislation that we're expecting from the county will provide the, enforcement capability by your local police officers on streets and highways. Got it. Okay.
I was suggesting if you can ask the planner. We have a great planner. Mhmm. And I think we had this conversation, but there must be some best practices out there in The United States in biking communities that, you know, might have good tactics or good solutions out there for us to consider.
I don't know. I'm just The bike bike and pedestrian committee is gonna meet Thursday night. I'll I'll let them know about the conference.
Yeah. A week a week from Thursday. I'm sorry. Yeah. A week from a week from tomorrow. Yeah.
Don't rush. I'm sorry. Now you're on Thursday. Bike Pet is a week from tomorrow. Yeah. There must be Could we paint like a There must be communities out there. Oh,
kind of hiking. Yeah. I think I think... Yeah. We'd have to we'd to walk situation. I was gonna say we'd have to try to find specifically, communities that have successfully managed shared use path. Sure. That's Right? That's that's what we'd be looking for. So... But, yeah, I mean, lots of places have them, so there probably is something out there. So we could look to see. Yeah. It's short of on the North County Trail. Somebody yelling, on your left. Yeah. On your left. Yeah. One as mayor as mayor indicated, let's let's also,
Yeah. I mean, I don't know I don't know how many people necessarily call in to say, like, you know, oh, I almost got ran over by a bike. Right? I mean, as long as they didn't get run over by the bike, they're probably just shaking their fist and, you know, That's good news. Mean, I've I've... People... I hear from people about it. No. No. I'm saying I'm saying I don't... You know, if we're looking at the data, I'm saying I don't know how... We wouldn't be able to get that from the police department per se because I don't know how many people are calling that. Yeah. And and I do think that,
you know, we have added a lot of e bikes to the street, which is amazing for all the reasons that we've talked about or it's wonderful to to be engaged in that program. But with all the addition of that, you know, and I've been saying this from the beginning, should come a comprehensive, you know, project mover. And I'm not saying it's all project mover. A lot of... Like, e bikes are a thing that people buy their kids now. It's not just You have a whole store. People using... Right. So... But I think things have changed, so to look at it, you know, we could we could be doing some more outreach about it. I'm seeing lots of, you know, AI generated flyers about reminding people what the rules are from other communities. I'm never suggesting that we make an AI generate flyer, but I am just saying that I think that there is an opportunity for You
the bicycle and the ebikes are, by law, required to follow general traffic rules. So a reminder to that is always good because oftentimes, they take they take it less seriously. I mean, I was in behind an e bike this afternoon, and it was weaving in and out of traffic. And... But but in general, any bicycles,
are required to follow that portion of the law. Yeah. And I just wanna say, I don't minimize the... And and appreciate the recreation department running and running a bike, safety course. That is not... I don't... I think we're talking about two different things when we're talking about the rec department running that and us having some type of comprehensive outreach program regarding the use of the bikes and pedestrians sharing the road.
Appreciate Oh. Any information. There's also a robust conversation to be had about automobiles sharing the road. You know, again, let's just keep the hazards in proportion, and we can go to the data when we have that conversation. Yes.
And it will be helpful, when we get, hard and fast legislation that you can have your police department enforce, you know, additional safety measures, etcetera, etcetera.