The New York State awards $500,000 in smart growth grants

The New York State Environmental Protection Fund’s Smart Growth Grant Program awarded $500,000 in grants for smart growth planning projects in the Hudson Valley. These include:

• $250,000 to the Open Space Institute (OSI), for a Lower Hudson Valley regional smart growth plan. OSI is partnering with the Regional Plan Association, the Trust for Public Land, the Environmental Defense Fund, Scenic Hudson, and Patterns for Progress. The plan will address carbon emissions, economic efficiency, and quality of life and produce plans for priority growth and preservation areas.

• $50,000 for the Town and Village of Harrison to draft zoning regulations and design guidelines for a 3.3-acre mixed-use, transit oriented development and prepare a request for proposals.

• $40,000 for the City of Poughkeepsie to undertake market research and economic analysis to formulate transit oriented development scenarios.

• $35,000 for the City of Mount Vernon to conduct a market analysis on the potential of mixed use, transit oriented developments.

• $50,000 to amend the Town of Red Hook comprehensive plan and its zoning regulation to curb housing sprawl on rural and agricultural land, encourage village-scale development and protect open spaces.

• $50,000 to enable Orange County to conduct an inventory of vacant buildings and develop an adaptive reuse plan intended to direct growth to existing developed centers to utilize their infrastructure and limit sprawl.

• $25,000 for the Town of Lloyd to complete a development analysis for the Hamlet of Highland including traffic and parking; linkages to the waterfront, rail trail and area parks; and public spaces development along Main Street.