The Greening of Nyack

BY JANIE ROSMAN

It’s spring, and green is everywhere. Here are some ways the Village of Nyack is taking part in all things green.

The village’s Earth Day celebration is slated for April 18 from 12 noon to 5 p.m. (rain date the next day) at the gazebo on Main Street.

“We’re doing this with the Chamber of Commerce and turning away vendors,” Recreation Director Melody Partrick said. More then 30 vendors and seven food vendors, respectively, have signed on, she said. Contact the Chamber at 845-353-2221 and Partrick at 845-358-0548.

During the Chamber’s Dash Back to Nyack promotion from April 18 to 22 (actual Earth Day), stores are agreeing to a giveaway so customers will return. “It can be a certain percentage off their next purchase, a free cup of coffee with breakfast” or another enticement during those dates.

The village Board of Trustees passed Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em committing the village to green practices in its public land. While it does not ban leaf blowers, it does encourage homeowners to mow over their leaves (mulch them) and not place them on the street.

“Landscapers will have to adhere to the new rules,” Mayor Jen Laird White said. 

Once it’s in place, the village will ask landowners in the community to commit to these best practices for landscaping. They’ll have encouragement from posted information on the village’s and the Chamber of Commerce’s websites.

While there’s a heavy push to ban leaf blowers, White said, “The Village Board feels strongly that it would like to start here” before imposing a ban. “We feel that this approach will be successful.”

Memorial Park viewing platform/fishing pier is scheduled to begin next week. “The pilings are done, and now they have to build a deck,” she said.

The village ran into a small delay with the skate park because the designer didn’t take into account frost conditions near the water. After securing three estimates, the company picked one and will do the borings this week; it’s on schedule.

The village is looking to hire a consultant, and will soon assemble a committee for its Master Plan update. Its Request for Proposal (RFP) was sent out recently; bids are due back May 15.

“We’re looking for people with varying areas of expertise to update the Master Plan to reflect sustainability, transit, redevelopment, improvements to Route 59, etc.,” White said. For information, call 845-358-0548.

While Nyack will not pave paradise to put up a parking lot, it has options for accommodating parking overflow for the new bridge’s shared use path.

If the village incorporate the parking plan suggested in a study conducted by firm Buckhurst Fish & Jacquemart (BFJ) Planning (http://nyack-ny.gov/document/bfj-parking-study/) for the Nyack Parking Authority in January 2007, then it would gate one of its lots and work with property owners at Tallman Towers, Nyack Plaza and M&T Bank to incorporate it, which, White said, would double the amount of parking in the village.            

“We haven’t really needed it because there is enough parking currently,” she said. If the plan was followed, she said, the village would have to negotiate with those property owners, who would get a share of the parking revenue. “Studies are fluid, and as time changes, so do studies.”