‘Planapalooza’ to kick off Port Chester downtown planning outreach

Port Chester will launch a “Planapalooza” this week, a series of events aimed at gathering community feedback on future development in the village’s downtown.

The Planapalooza concept is a trademark of Town Planning & Urban Design Collaborative LLC, a Tennessee-based planning consultant hired to help the village modernize its zoning.

The week of events is part of a larger “Plan the Port” initiative from the village. Port Chester plans to update it downtown zoning to a form-based code, which focuses on regulating the physical forms of development in an area rather than specific uses of properties.

The village budgeted $650,000 in 2017 to fund the study and update of its code.

The week of planning events starts with a workshop and presentation at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Salvation Army.

The village will then host a series of specialty discussions in open studio space at 17 N. Main St. Focus topics include affordable housing; transportation and parking; streetscape and open space and waterfront development.

The village and its planning consultant will do a “mid-week review” its findings from those specialty talks on March 25 in at the same 17 N. Main St. open studio. The week of planning will close out with a presentation at 6 p.m. March 28 at the Carver Center at 400 Westchester Ave.

The village has launched a website, www.plantheport.com, to provide updates on the initiatives and allow online feedback.