Village of Maybrook Traditional Downtown Design District

Project Location: Maybrook, NY
Client: Village of Maybrook

Nelson Pope Voorhis was retained by the Village of Maybrook to draft zoning to encourage the development of a traditional downtown. Maybrook’s original downtown waned in the late 1970s when the rail bridge over the Hudson River burned. Prior to that Maybrook served as a major rail junction for trains originating in New York City, Boston and other points to the northeast. Following the fire, rail traffic was forced to cross further north in the vicinity of Albany, and the major industry of the Village was lost. In the years that followed, businesses closed up shop, and storefronts were converted to apartments.

Today, Maybrook is a bedroom community and located near a major node in the overland trucking network. The Village sought to encourage reintroduction of a more traditional downtown land use pattern as part of an overall economic development strategy to attract additional warehousing and distribution uses that can take advantage of the Village’s strategic location near Interstates 84, 87, Stewart International Airport and regional rail service, and also to attract cyclists, hikers and hunters seeking to utilize the adjacent Stewart State Forest.

Based on extensive background study, NPV recommended a two-phase approach to zoning. First the underlying zoning was amended to make sure that the desired land use pattern would focus future non-residential development to the proposed downtown. Then an overlay district was created that allowed incentive density and floor area, where the parcels were developed in accordance with an overall plan that called for shared interconnected parking, green space and stormwater management. Lastly, as further inducement of future development, the Village conducted a rigorous Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement that would be the basis for a local Type 2 list and allow future applicants to proceed through the Planning Board review process without having to conduct in-depth SEQR studies.