Village Comprehensive Plan Draft Release
The Comprehensive Plan Committee for the Village of Rhinebeck is delighted to announce the publication of Envisioning the Future for Our Historic Community: The Village of Rhinebeck Comprehensive Plan (April 19, 2024 Draft).
The Committee, along with 45 additional volunteers on seven Subcommittees, has been working tirelessly since January 2022. They have been listening to hundreds of voices from our community, including 84 at two Community Conversations, 143 at twenty Kitchen Table Conversations, a half a dozen youth-specific engagements, 128 at multiple tabling events throughout the community, and more then 700 survey respondents, and working together to evaluate what they heard, gather an incredible amount of data and analyze it, craft recommendations, and draft a visually informative Comprehensive Plan for the future of our Village.
As the work unfolded, it has become clear that our 2600+ person, 1.9 square mile Village boasts a strong sense of community and a thriving economy that anchors not only our Village but also many of our surrounding Towns and hamlets, but it is also facing increasing pressure over the past twenty years around pedestrian and traffic safety, affordability, diversity and accessibility, places to gather, and our historic and aesthetic qualities. As a result, the Committee crafted the following vision:
OUR VISION FOR RHINEBECK’S THRIVING FUTURE
The Village of Rhinebeck is dedicated to improving the lives, health, and well-being of all its residents, providing safe and equitable housing and mobility choices, reducing carbon emissions and energy use, and protecting the historic qualities that residents cherish while providing for new compatible buildings, distinctive neighborhoods, and gathering places that foster a strong sense of community.
This 74-page draft plan is broken into seven main sections with dozens of recommendations that address our cumulative goals for land use in the Village:
1. A Center with Greenspaces
2. Climate Smart Practices
3. Safe and Walkable Streets
4. Diverse and Affordable Housing
5. A Vibrant Village Center
6. Historic Stewardship
7. A Community of Neighbors
Now that a full plan has been properly drafted, the Comprehensive Plan Committee wants to hear from you again! Please review the plan and bring any questions and comments you have to their public hearing at the Village Hall, 76 East Market Street, on Sunday, May 5 at 3-5:30 pm and Wednesday, May 8 at 7-9:30 pm. You can also contact the Committee at ourthrivingfuture@villageofrhinebeckny.gov. The Committee will be accepting written comments until 5 pm on May 19, 2024.
Once the Committee has reviewed all your comments, it will then make any necessary revisions before recommending the Comprehensive Plan to the Village Board of Trustees, which will then hold its own public hearing before the plan’s final adoption. Once the plan is adopted, it will provide the values and direction that will then guide future policy, such as our zoning code.
Thank you so much for your continued participation in this important process for the future of our beloved village.
The draft Comprehensive Plan can be found here.
On behalf of the Village of Rhinebeck Comprehensive Plan Committee,
Trustee Lydia Slaby, liaison for land use