WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT. By John F. Bailey. December 17, 2004: Paul Wood, the Executive Officer for Mayor Joseph Delfino told WPCNR Wednesday that an in-depth review of the 1997 City Comprehensive Plan is now in the process of being prepared by City Planning Commissioner Susan Habel, and is in the final stages.

PAUL WOOD, CITY EXECUTIVE OFFICER, shown in September. Mr. Wood responded with regret at the Citizens' Plan Committee submission this week of a 66-page report suggesting directions the city should take in reviewing the City's Comprehensive Plan, and said it was an attempt to force their vision on the rest of the city. Photo, WPCNR News Archive.

He said the “comprehensive review” sought by the Citizen’s Planning Committee was already being done and would be released in about a month and a half, perhaps sooner.

Wood, interviewed on the phone by WPCNR, was responding to the CPC submission of a letter and a 66-page preliminary report identifying the issues the CPC thinks should be addressed in any review of the City Comprehensive Plan,  to the Mayor and Common Council released to the media this week.

Review is a Function of Government.

Wood said the release of the 66-page report, prepared independently by a group of eighteen citizens from the outlying suburban areas without the input of city departments, and its accompanying news release was untimely, because the preparation of a review of the Comprehensive Plan was the function of government that should involve the cooperation and input of all citizens of White Plains through a series of public hearings.

He said it was too early for the city to commit to sending an observer to the January 13 meeting at Ridgeway School that the citizens group has scheduled to facilitate a review of the Comprehensive Plan.

Two Years Overdue? A lot going on.

The group said in announcing the meeting that a review of the City Plan was two years overdue.  Because of this they had undertaken among themselves, (since many of them were involved in preparation of the 1997 Plan), to start such a review themselves.

In it, they were highly critical of the success or, what they considered the lack of success and the pace of the way the downtown revitalization is developing. The group also expressed concern over more development and where. They submitted their highlighting and critiquing  directions and issues they felt the city should be considering in determining what goals for development and city projects and needs should be emphasized over the next five years.

Commissioner of Planning Susan Habel told  WPCNR  the report was started late because of the large number of projects coming through the city approval process the last two years.

Wood considers the Report:

Wood said it  was not the Citizens' Plan Committee  place to tell the city what to consider on an independent, ad hoc basis, in a discourse to WPCNR:

“The City is undertaking the review of the Comprehensive Plan. It’s being done by the Planning Commissioner. It will be completed in a month and delivered to the Planning Board at a public meeting as called for in the 1997 Master Plan. There will be plenty of opportunity for citizens’ comments, ” Mr. Wood said.

A Report from “Unhappy People.”

 “The  (Citizens' Plan) committee is certainly not bipartisan and not diverse in any sense,” Wood criticized. “Most of the people who have signed on to the Committee are unhappy people who have not gotten what they’ve wanted.  They’ve been here (in City Hall) opposing projects. They’re a group with a biased vision, not non-partisan.”

Their comments will be considered with “everyone else’s”

Wood welcomed their comments:

“As a citizen’s group – which is what they are. They’re free to comment and to do whatever they like. We feel they are a small minority whose comments will be considered along with every one else’s.

We’ve taken a look at their press release and their plan and they are (both) riddled with inaccuracies and they would take too long to correct.  As to their concern about commercial creep, neighborhoods are protected. Policies are in place and followed.”

Job of Government.

Wood characterized the  Citizen’s Plan Committee as an attempt to “hijack” the government process to promote its own  point of view and control the way the city is going to go in the future by releasing the report. Wood said the Committee should have known or could have asked if the review was in the process.

“The process is through the government and elected officials in a series of public meetings of all the citizens,” Wood said. He said the city had not decided to what extent it would participate in the January 13 meeting.