PK4Keeps: comprehensive plan AND ZONING CODE UPDATE

City of Poughkeepsie, NY

How can a Comprehensive PLAN AND UPDATED ZONING CODE steer a small city in a bold new direction?

SUMMARY

When Poughkeepsie, NY, hired czb in 2021 to update its comprehensive plan and zoning code, it had been more than 20 years since the adoption of its last citywide plan and over 40 years since its last zoning overhaul. The intervening years had been marked by numerous accomplishments as well as a prevailing sense of stalled progress—a sense that was especially palpable in parts of the city that felt left out of the prosperity that was touching other parts of the city and the broader region.

czb and its partners at Ingalls Planning & Design facilitated a process that pinpointed community fissures and incorporated them into an understanding of the city's utmost priorities, core values, and complementary planning principles. The resulting plan provides the community with a coherent vision for the next 20 years and a highly customized implementation process that encourages focused and holistic work in each part of the city.

The plan was finalized and adopted in September 2022 and will be followed immediately by zoning updates to ensure that Poughkeepsie's code is a reflection of the plan's vision.

PK4KEEPS A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR POUGHKEEPSIE

Translating PK4Keeps into Poughkeepsie's Zoning Code

The comprehensive plan is the legal basis for the zoning code, which will be the first real test of the implementation process. Work on the zoning amendments is being guided by a Technical Advisory Committee comprised of staff from the City of Poughkeepsie's Planning Division and the Dutchess County Planning Department, as well as representatives from the PK4Keeps Steering Committee.

A process designed to achieve clarity on the community's values, priorities and its willingness to make principled choices

PK4Keeps was developed over three phases during 2021 and 2022. It was guided by input from a steering committee and the broader public to ensure that the resulting vision is a reflection of the community’s values, priorities, and desired direction.

The PK4Keeps.org website kept the public up-to-date on the planning process and its findings.

How did we get here?

Inequitable development and investment patterns over the past century continue to shape Poughkeepsie today and are among the factors to contend with as the city charts its course for the future.

What do we know about these patterns? And how do we move

Poughkeepsie forward?

This project brief provided data-driven insights related to historical development and investment patterns across the Poughkeepsie community.

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View the How did we get here? Project Brief (PDF)

Poughkeepsie's priorities

With remarkable consistency, community voices identified the components of the PK4Keeps vision for the future: what Poughkeepsians value, what they prioritize, and the direction they want the community to take.

What does the data tell us about Poughkeepsie's priorities?

Poughkeepsie's Plan for Action

To achieve different outcomes around

the community’s priority issues, a different approach to plan implementation is needed in Poughkeepsie.

The Whole Block / Whole Community approach requires assembling the right tools for the right jobs and a capacity to select areas of Poughkeepsie for focused and patient work guided by customized strategies.

PK4Keeps: A Comprehensive Plan for Poughkeepsie, NY

PK4Keeps is the community-based effort to develop a new comprehensive plan and updated zoning code for the City of Poughkeepsie. It defines the community’s vision for its future and translates that vision into priorities, strategies, policies, and guidance for making decisions within City Hall and throughout the city.

More than anything, PK4Keeps is about helping people and organizations make informed choices that will bring about a strong, resilient, and sustainable community—a place that reflects what Poughkeepsians say “yes!” to.