Plans For New Chappaqua Gazebo Presented

Plans for a new gazebo along South Greeley Avenue were presented at a work session earlier this week for the New Castle Town Board. While the gazebo is the main part of the proposal, it is merely the focal point of a larger urban planning overhaul.

Nicholas Pouder, of the Pouder Design Group, detailed a litany of changes to the region. The new gazebo, unlike the current one - which will be replaced - would be accessible at street level coming from South Greeley Avenue, and without a fence being an impediment. The structure will be an octagonal shape, with a public gathering space planned immediately to the west and south, with a fence separating the area from the adjacent baseball field.

The wishbone-shaped stream to the north and west will also get a makeover. Currently obscured by invasive plantings, the water body's banks will be cleared and wetland buffer planting will be added. Additionally, two pedestrian bridges will be installed, one going from the land next to the gazebo and towards a peninsula adjacent to the gas station at the north, and from there over the second stream, toward a small plaza adjacent to the train station parking on to the west.

Street-side parking will also be added along South Greeley, in the form of a series of diagonal parking spots past the sidewalk adjacent to the ball field.

The proposal is part of a larger series of urban planning overhauls for downtown Chappaqua, collectively referred to as the Chappaqua Hamlet Project.

Town Board members praised the proposal.

"I'm impressed," said Councilman John Buckley.

He noted Pouder's efforts to address multiple areas of the projects, such as wetlands, train station access and parking. 

"You're hitting quite a number of things with this design," he said.

"It really looks lovely. We're very excited," said Supervisor Barbara Gerrard.

The project may be done in phases.

In an email, Gerrard explained that the structure would be the first phase, while the order of the second and third - either wetlands/landscaping work along the stream, or parking on South Greeley - would depend on which they can get outside permission for first. The stream is under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers, said explained, while South Greeley Avenue is a county road.