New Castle studies what to do with 23 acres around the Chappaqua Metro-North station

The Town of New Castle, working with Nexus Creative Design and the Pace Land Use Law Center has embarked on a project to gather input from the community that will help town officials determine what to do with the approximately 23 acres of land the town owns in the vicinity of Metro-North’s Chappaqua train station.

A separate holding not being considered for future development is an approximately 2.9-acre parcel in front of and to the east of the station that was donated to the town in 1928.

The program has been named “Envision New Castle” and in May there was a walking tour of the area followed by public meetings to discuss the possibilities.

Town of New Castle Supervisor Victoria Tipp pointed out that the land currently includes plenty of parking, the Town Hall and Police Headquarters, a basketball court and a playground.

“We have put together a truly inclusive and collaborative process for our community with resident-driven priorities,” Tipp said. “We took this very seriously. We wanted a lot of resident participation in a community visioning process.”

Tipp described residents of the town as being excited about the effort and she said there is a lot of buzz in town about it.

“Even people who were skeptical at first came out and said, ‘we had a lot of fun, we enjoyed this,'” Tipp said. “We have a website that allows for virtual engagement where people have the opportunity to take in-person tours and give feedback.”

Among the ideas floated so far for the 23-acres is bringing new mixed-use development to the area incorporating housing, a new parking structure, commercial spaces, dog parks and skate parks. It was suggested that the mixed-use development options should include retail, senior housing, and affordable housing. It also was suggested that infrastructure could be enhanced with better lighting, crosswalks, and streetscape extensions.

There was a suggestion for making buildings more energy efficient and adding natural landscaping. There was a suggestion that recreation facility expansion should include pickleball courts, a swimming pool and tennis facilities. Other input suggested building accessible bathrooms and an outdoor water fountain, along with new bridges, sidewalks and pathways for better connectivity. There was a suggestion to relocate the police station and other facilities for better accessibility and efficiency and to create a new community center.

Among the challenges identified that would need to be dealt with in reconfiguring and developing the land were traffic congestion especially during peak times, lack of clear regulations and signage for parking usage, flooding, controlling the amount of impervious surfaces that would be added, and a need for amenities and spaces to attract and retain young residents.