The Greenway Compact is entirely voluntary; respects home rule; and relies on incentives and guidelines, not any state or county requirements.
GREENWAY GUIDE A5 Protecting the Countryside RURAL ROADS For lower volume roads retain the narrow widths, natural edges, and scenic winding character of traditional rural roads, rather than imposing wider, suburban-scale standards into the countryside. Rural Road Guidelines, especially under 400 vehicles/day
GREENWAY GUIDE B4 SLOWER, SAFER STREETS Strengthening Centers Design narrow streets in cities, villages, and hamlet centers with buildings close to sidewalks, street trees, and other pedestrian-friendly features that promote slower speeds. Compare two main streets: one looks like a highway, while the other balances car access with walkablity.
GREENWAY GUIDE D5 BUILDING BICYCLE NETWORKS Greenway Connections Develop local and regional bike plans, establishing a network of bicycle facilities to safely connect bicyclists of all abilities to schools, jobs, shops, transit stops, parks, and other destinations. Shared Lane with Sharrow Shoulder Bicycle Lane Bicycle Boulevard Shared-Use Path Nationwide, half of all trips are three miles or shorter, less than a 20-minute bike ride, and one out of four trips is less than one mile, only a five-minute bike ride.
GREENWAY GUIDE E6 Site Specifics CONVENIENCE STORES WITH GAS PUMPS Feature a well-designed store at the front of the parcel, with the gas pumps, canopy, and accessory parking toward the rear. Guidelines: Highlight the store up front with the parking and pumps toward the rear; Reflect community architecture; A Canopy on every corner? Provide a direct sidewalk connection; Design all four sides of the building; Connect the canopy to the store; Use recessed, non-glare canopy lights; Encourage a monument-style sign. Village of Rhinebeck case study with pumps and canopy to the rear.
Easy truck access GREENWAY GUIDE E7 Site Specifics RECYCLING AND WASTE COLLECTION Provide for the separation and collection of recyclable materials, as well as the proper placement and screening of containers, as an essential part of every site plan and development review. Make Recycling Routine Recycling bins should be placed adjacent to every trash container. Label containers so it is easy to tell which is for trash and which is for recyclables. Rear fence and evergreen screening Enclosure as part of rear loading area Collection Area Design Common driveways and connected parking lots with shared enclosures facilitate efficient collection from neighboring businesses. Trash and recycle bins near store entrances Good enclosures feature attractive, durable materials that match the adjacent buildings, steel corner posts, separate pedestrian door, and screening from neighboring properties.
Houses use gutters and downspouts to direct roof runoff to yards or planted areas. Landscape Strips capture sidewalk runoff and separate walkers from traffic. GREENWAY GUIDE E8 GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE Site Specifics Manage rainwater runoff near its source to emulate the area s pre-development hydrology, using green infrastructure practices that allow rainwater to percolate into the soil. Streets can be porous pavement or drain through curb breaks into planted swales. Bioswales slow down, absorb, and filter runoff from streets or parking lots. Street Trees have numerous benefits, including intercepting and soaking up lots of rainwater. Rain Gardens collect and infiltrate roof and yard runoff. Curb Extensions add planted drainage areas in parking lanes. Filter Soil Mix Storm Drain collects any larger rainstorm overflow. Model green drainage strategies for a residential street. Splash Blocks take water away from the house and into the yard. Bioswale at Marist College parking lot. Case Study: NYS Parks Taconic Region Headquarters in Hyde Park Adaptive reuse of a vacant 1930s school building in the National Landmark Hudson River Historic District. Underground pipe converted back into a stream, pond, and native vegetation for natural drainage and riparian habitat. Permeable pavement and brick pavers in the parking lot with reinforced grass overflow parking to the rear.
Centers and Greenspaces Greenway Guide This new four-page Guide combines a regional perspective with Greenway principles and simple mapping techniques that have been successfully used in multiple local plans. The objective is to prevent commercial strip development along our roadways and residential sprawl into the countryside. Communities are encouraged to locally identify through a public process natural and agricultural lands for possible protection measures, as well as key centers with positive potential for community growth. Centers and Greenspaces plans also include design concepts and illustrations to show residents and potential investors how new centered and connected development could fit with the existing context. Click on the boxes to the right to get more information on how Centers save Greenspaces. You can review the Centers and Greenspaces Guide and countywide map, find out about recent success stories in Red Hook and the City of Beacon, or view larger scale maps and data about your community. Let s get started! 1. Guide Overview (.pdf) 2. Countywide Map (.pdf) 3. Centers (.pdf) 4. Greenspaces (.pdf) 5. Urban Success Story (.pdf) 6. Rural Success Story (.pdf) Now look at your community. Select a community Build close-knit, connected centers...to protect our landscape legacy. Reinforce existing centers and main streets; Mix uses to promote walking and biking; Connect major centers with transit services; Locally identify priority growth areas for close-in expansion and conversion of strip districts or subdivisions into new centers. Employ a range of protection measures for farmland and natural wildlife areas; Adopt policies that support agriculture; Plan for continuous greenspace systems; Locally identify priority greenspaces for future public or private conservation.
Dutchess County Most development before 1950 focused around walkable centers, surrounded by expansive rural and natural landscapes. Forming a combined ecosystem, cities and smaller centers concentrated diversity and innovation in commerce and culture, while large areas of farms, woods, and wetlands generated a wide diversity of natural species. The regional spread of stripand-sprawl development compared to more compact, centered patterns of the 1930s. 1990s 1930s This interconnected pattern of central places and surrounding greenspaces, evolved over centuries and embedded in nature, has now segmented into suburban forms that mandate driving for every major movement. Commercial strips line most highways and residential sprawl spreads far into the countryside, fragmenting both communities and nature. Auto-dependency also fuels a basic contradiction: low-density sprawl creates higher levels of traffic congestion. Limited land, unlimited traffic aggravation, and escalating local taxes to service all those scattered subdivisions make the continued strip-and-sprawl conversion of outlying areas unsustainable. Global energy and climate concerns make policy changes even more urgent. A Greenway-inspired Centers and Greenspaces approach that re-centers most new development into walkable, mixed-use forms can protect our natural and agricultural heritage, end wasteful land, energy, and pollution practices, and provide a wider range of transportation choices, from walking, biking, and cars to transit alternatives. Land use map shows outlying roadside strips and residential sprawl replacing farmland. The Centers and Greenspaces initiative integrates land use, transportation, and ecological planning to implement Greenway principles and prevent strip-and-sprawl patterns. The goal is to encourage municipalities to identify natural and agricultural greenspaces for possible protection and priority growth centers with positive development potential. The Centers and Greenspaces approach was From Centers and Greenspaces Guide, Pages 1-2 Projection of current trends, based on existing zoning and suburban zones under five acres. first applied in the Rhinebeck Town Plan and a Red Hook intermunicipal plan, then with the towns of Poughkeepsie and Pleasant Valley and the City of Beacon. These plans not only identify growth centers and greenspaces, but also tried to illustrate what new close-in development might look like. The Centers and Greenspaces map builds on these local examples and will evolve on the interactive website as new municipal plans and projects are completed. Greenway principles support reinforcing centers as primary growth areas, fitting any outlying development into the natural landscape to preserve farmland and open spaces, and providing strategies to pull together separated subdivisions and commercial districts into more connected neighborhoods or mixed-use centers. Greenway Connections, page 27
Centers and Greenspaces Countywide Map The Centers and Greenspaces Map is designed as a Greenway vision map to be used for larger scale studies across multiple municipalities and so that local plans can consider the surrounding context. The map stresses regional interdependence and the area s primary connectors, including transportation corridors that link together settlement centers, the Hudson River and other waterways, and the continuous greenspaces of forests and farmlands. Building from the bottom-up, this map began as a compilation of adopted town, village, and city plans, but sought to simplify mapping techniques and enhance common characteristics. It highlights four indispensable patterns, both centered and connected, for complementary natural and human ecosystems: Centers are concentrated places of community life, commercial exchange, and cultural history, including cities, villages, hamlets, and potential emerging centers. Greenspaces include natural areas, farms, and parks, combined in a continuous countryside and essential for food, recreation, and diversity of natural habitats. Greenway Corridors, including waterways, floodplains, and wetland systems, offer critical connections for wildlife movement, recreation, and water quality. Greenway Routes provide transportation linkages between centers, forming a landscaped network from trails to sidewalks and from parkways to main streets. Municipalities can use Greenway principles and mapping techniques as a starting point to create local priorities and plans. The Centers and Greenspaces map to the left demonstrates how towns have refined the countywide version into more parcel-specific planning maps. These locally generated Centers and Greenspaces maps still show larger land use patterns, but also provide detailed decisions on parcels considered a high priority for protection measures and areas targeted for potential new compact development in and around designated centers. See the Rural Success Story page for additional information. Combined Centers and Greenspaces Maps from local plans for the towns of Red Hook and Rhinebeck.
Centers: Compact, Complete, and Connected Centers are the focal points for community history, commercial exchange, and close-knit development, including the cities of Beacon and Poughkeepsie, the county s eight villages, multiple small hamlets, and larger town centers, such as Hyde Park, Hopewell Junction, and Amenia. They are traditionally defined by a human-scale 5-15 minute walking radius. Within a ¼-mile radius is the mixed-use core, where visitors can park once and walk around. The ½-mile radius contains surrounding residential blocks, where people can easily walk from the edge to the center. Cities combine multiple mixed-use and walkable neighborhood centers. Ideally, larger centers contain a complete range of commercial stores, services, restaurants, lodging, job sites, schools, parks, and important civic buildings, such as libraries and post offices. They are linked to other centers by bus or train services and include an interconnected sidewalk system to provide multiple means of getting around, other than just the automobile. Smaller hamlets may lack sidewalks and essential services, but still act as places of local historic identity. In order to promote a stronger sense of community, encourage efficiencies in land use, energy, and transportation, and protect the rural countryside from commercial strip and residential sprawl development, most new growth should be concentrated in and around existing or emerging centers. This may include infill between buildings, redevelopment, or extensions of existing centers within walkable distances. Local plans should identify priority growth centers and provide zoning incentives and design standards for these designated areas. Emerging centers are locally identified mixeduse areas, most often created by retrofitting an outdated commercial district with good existing access to roads, transit, infrastructure, and nearby residential areas. A new, more integrated and walkable center can be built, without destroying natural areas or farmland. Large, well-located vacant sites, such as the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center, are also excellent places for planned emerging centers. Route 55 Bank Civic Use Offices Local Example: LaGrange Town Center LaGrange identified the need for a Town Center to replace the commercial strip in Freedom Plains as far back as 1987, but finally adopted its new Comprehensive Plan, zoning, and Illustrative Plan in 2003. The plan featured roundabouts to slow traffic on Route 55, a main street with a central civic building and amphitheater green, a mix of multi-family buildings, and residential neighborhoods to the south. A large proposal consistent with the plan was withdrawn in the recent recession, but when completed, it would be the first new village-scale center built in the county since the mid-1800s. Wetlands House Lots With Rear Lane Multi-Family Residential House Lots With Rear Lane LaGrange Town Center Illustrative Plan
Greenspaces Greenspaces include large natural areas, working farms, parks, and protected public and private lands, which combine to create the continuous landscapes of forests, fields, and open countryside necessary for food production, recreation, water protection, scenic enjoyment, and a wide diversity of wildlife habitats. The overall greenspaces categories are represented on the previous Countywide Map and depicted in much more detail on the individual municipal maps. The Biodiversity Block Map to the left was also prepared to understand broad patterns of natural habitats, after discussions about criteria with scientists at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. First, impact zones on wildlife from developed areas, individual houses, and road corridors were mapped in black. Roads over 25 vehicles per hour pose significant barriers to wildlife movement. Biodiversity Blocks in various shades of green are the remaining continuous areas of natural and agricultural land over 1,000 acres, as required for most area-sensitive species. The results show that the County maintains substantial sections suitable for natural habitats and worthy of protection. Every community survey of resident opinions in Dutchess County has shown very strong support for preserving natural features, farmland, and other rural characteristics of the countryside. However, most local plan recommendations employ general policy statements, without firm implementation measures, or rely on a piecemeal, parcel-by-parcel approach that just reacts to individual development proposals. The Centers and Greenspaces Guide encourages municipalities as part of their public comprehensive plan process to map their essential greenspaces, work to enact a variety of long-term conservation measures, and identify a priority list for potentially preserving important properties. Some communities like Red Hook designate farmland the highest priority for protection, while others might value specific watersheds, endangered species areas, ridgeline corridors, historic sites, scenic views, or large biodiversity blocks. Local Example: Salt Point Hamlet The 2009 Pleasant Valley Comprehensive Plan included three hamlet plan maps. After a workshop with Salt Point residents, the greenspaces priority was to save the two large farm parcels at the hamlet entrances. The plan proposed a transfer of development rights to a buildable parcel hidden from street views, but still walkable to hamlet businesses. Salt Point Hamlet Illustrative Plan
photos: generalidea.tv/portfolio/344-main-street-beacon-ny Urban Success Story: City of Beacon Beacon s 2007 Comprehensive Plan included the Centers and Greenspaces Plan map to the left in the appendix, highlighting both major greenspace parcels to be protected and prime redevelopment opportunities along the riverfront, Main Street, and Fishkill Creek. It also featured illustrative sketch plans for key parcels on Main Street and along Beekman Street, the primary approach to the City from the Train Station. Since 2007, the City purchased and permanently protected the 88-acre Hiddenbrooke greenspace property on the eastern mountain slopes with combined City, County, and State funds. It also created three new zoning districts to attract investment to the City: the Fishkill Creek Development District, Central Main Street District, and Linkage District between the West End of Main Street and the Train Station. The latter two districts involved new form-based codes, allowing a more flexible mix of uses, greater building heights, short setbacks, and reduced parking requirements. They also include graphic examples and design standards to ensure that new construction will be compatible with the existing city character. Spurred by a positive approach to redevelopment in these designated districts and new zoning incentives, the City has seen a dramatic increase in development activity, involving hundreds of proposed housing units and substantial commercial square footage in the Main Street area. New residents within a convenient walking distance are essential to reinforce central businesses and encourage enhanced transit services. Linkage District Illustrative Plan Landmark Building at Key Corner Beacon Information Center Tower at Top of Beekman Street Park with River View over Parking Municipal Building Direct Path to Main Street Corner Building with Pocket Park The Central Main Street District used as models building types and streetscape standards from adjacent historic areas, encouraging mixed-use buildings with housing above storefronts and parking hidden to the rear. Sketch plans showed where new buildings could replace front yard parking lots. Graphic studies determined how taller buildings might affect street shadows and mountain views. The approved code allows 4-story buildings along the south side of Main Street and up to 5 stories with special permit conditions along the north side, but with the top floor set back 15 feet to allow in more sunlight and give a 3- and 4- story appearance from the street. Previous Central Main Street building, now demolished The Linkage District leading up the hill from the Train Station had been largely demolished during the 1970s and divided up over time into seven separate zoning districts. The new unified district was designed as a pedestrianfriendly, primarily residential neighborhood to support nearby Main Street businesses. Parking requirements were reduced due to walkability to stores and the Train Station. The sketch plan to the left was included in the zoning to illustrate principles and standards, but it is only suggestive. However, projects with a footprint under 10,000 square feet and consistent with standards are given expedited review. Original proposal for new building, consistent with the Central Main Street zoning and design standards
Preserved Farmland Mixed-Use Expansion within Village Edge Preserved Farmland Infill Development in Historic Center Rural Success Story: Town and Village of Red Hook The 2011 Centers and Greenspaces Plan and zoning included illustrative plans and detailed standards for walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods to ensure compatibility with the existing Village and to provide design guidance for future development proposals. Instead of reacting to random development locations, the plan offers a positive vision for where growth is mutually beneficial, acting as an advertisement for new economic investment and streamlining the review process. A Fiscal Impact Study showed that the proposed strategy could increase the commercial tax base and reduce the potential for town-wide residential development, limiting both sprawl and school tax impacts. Since the Centers and Greenspaces zoning amendment was adopted, almost 1,000 additional acres of high priority farmland in the Agricultural Business District have been permanently protected through the PDR program. In the Traditional Neighborhood Development district, just south of the Village, the first major development proposal for a mix of 102 houses, attached townhouses, and smaller cottages is now before the Planning Board. If approved under the incentive zoning, this project would contribute an estimated $660,000 to the Town s PDR fund, proving that strong Centers save Greenspaces Retrofit Strip into Village Extension Village of Red Hook and South Broadway Illustrative Sketch Plans Inset to right shows proposed development on village-scale lots with tree-lined sidewalks, narrow streets, and an entrance green, consistent with the Traditional Neighborhood Development zoning. Old Farm Road An appointed Intermunicipal Task Force from the Town and Villages of Red Hook and Tivoli proposed zoning changes to save farms, protect rural character, reinforce traditional village centers, and promote economic development. The plan identified over 50 priority farms to be included in an Agricultural Business District, designed to replace the current mostly 3-acre suburban-scale zoning and permit greater business opportunities for farmers. The Town s existing purchase of development rights (PDR) program would also receive extra funds through incentive zoning for development located close to the Village.
Town of Amenia Centers: The Town updated its Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code in 2007, recognizing two historic hamlet centers and two potential new centers. The population of the Town of Amenia is 4,438, while the population in all the identified centers is 1,045, or 24% of the total. Within the centers are 243 residential, 47 commercial, 10 business/industrial, 26 public, and 48 vacant properties, according to Real Property Tax records. Amenia Town Center, located at the crossroads of Routes 22, 44, and 343, is the primary commercial center and includes the Town Hall and Library. An Amenia Hamlet Concept Plan with several development options was presented to the Town Board in 2008. Both the Comprehensive Plan and the Hamlet Plan call for a more fully connected sidewalk and street system, traffic calming measures, such as narrow lanes, on-street parking, and street trees, and infill development in and around the center. A proposed sewer system for the hamlet area is a high priority. Wassaic hamlet in the south-central section of the Town is smaller, but has lately seen a resurgence in commercial activity with the redevelopment of the former Maxon Mills as an arts center. The hamlet has recently been connected to the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, the popular tourist and recreation Greenway Route that runs north through the Amenia Town Center to Millerton. Two emerging centers have also been identified. South of Wassaic, the 350-acre NY State Taconic Developmental Center site is now mostly vacant and, with its existing large-scale water and sewer infrastructure, represents a prime opportunity for redevelopment. A model mixed-use, transitoriented center for the surplus state and private land surrounding the Tenmile Station was endorsed in the Comprehensive Plan and designated as a hamlet district in the zoning law. Another potential emerging center is the 850 acres around the Silo Ridge Golf Course, just southwest of the Town Center. The previous project proposal with a hotel and village green retail area has now been redesigned as a primarily residential and gated resort development. Greenspaces: The Town of Amenia has 12 areas of continuous greenspaces over 1,000 acres in size, including 271 agricultural district parcels, 10,514 acres in agricultural production, and 6,030 acres either under conservation easement or otherwise protected. In 2006 Hudsonia prepared a Significant Habitats report with maps of ecologically important habitats in the Town. Greenway Corridors: Amenia has 13,140 acres of unbuildable area. These stream corridors, State and Federal wetlands with their buffers, floodplains, and steep slopes 20% or more act as biodiversity connectors between greenspaces. The Town has 85 miles of streams, 78 road miles, 8 miles of sidewalks, and 6.4 miles of trails. Amenia s Biodiversity Block Map includes twelve 1,000+ acre blocks of natural habitat and farmland, much of it with steep slopes.
Town of Hyde Park Centers: Hyde Park adopted its latest Comprehensive Plan in 2005 and updated its Zoning Law in 2007. They identify the Town Center, Staatsburg hamlet, three neighborhood cores, and one emerging center. The population of the Town of Hyde Park is 21,456 while the population in the Centers is 4,534, or 21% of the total. Within the primary Centers are 952 residential, 104 commercial, and 14 business/industrial, 48 public, and 70 vacant properties, according to Real Property Tax records. Hyde Park Town Center is a linear commercial and residential district along Route 9. Two National Historic Sites and major tourist destinations frame the center - the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home and Library to the south and the Vanderbilt Mansion to the north. The Crossroads area at Market Street features a grouping of civic uses and historic buildings, including the Town Hall, Library, Post Office, and three churches. In 2015 the Town rezoned the Crossroads Core to encourage mixed-use development that is compatible with the historic building patterns. It also included an illustrative plan, showing infill buildings around a central green that visually connects the Roosevelt-era Library and Post Office. The Town completed a Corridor Study through the Town Center in 2002 and a more detailed Corridor Management Plan with NYSDOT in 2006. A Town Center Pedestrian Study was also prepared in 2013, which includes recommendations for new sidewalk extensions and an illustrative plan with infill buildings for the shopping area south of Pine Woods Road. All three studies support consolidation of curb cuts, street trees, on-street parking along Route 9, more crosswalks, and a complete sidewalk system throughout the Town Center. Staatsburg is a small hamlet in northern Hyde Park with a Firehouse, Post Office, and restaurant. Future expansion is limited by the surrounding Staatsburgh Historic Site and Dinsmore Golf Course to the north and Mills-Norrie State Park to the south and west. The zoning code recognizes three neighborhood centers along Route 9G - East Park, Haviland, and Greenbush, which allows a mix of commercial and other uses near existing residential areas. It also supports a potentially large, mixed-use, and tourist-oriented emerging center on the vacant 339-acre property across Route 9 from the Culinary Institute of America. Greenspaces: Hyde Park has seven areas of continuous greenspaces over 1,000 acres in size. The Town has 57 agricultural district parcels, 1,526 acres in agricultural production, and 3,291 acres either under conservation easement or otherwise protected. In 2009 Hudsonia prepared a Significant Habitats report with maps for the northern sections of the Town. Greenway Corridors: The Town has 10,522 acres of unbuildable area. These stream corridors, State and Federal wetlands with their buffers, floodplains, and steep slopes of 20% or more act as biodiversity connectors between greenspaces. Hyde Park has 99 miles of streams, and 153 miles of roads 10.9 miles of sidewalks, and 27 miles of trails. Hyde Park s Biodiversity Block Map includes seven large remaining areas of farmland and natural habitat.
Town and Village of Fishkill Centers: The Town of Fishkill updated its Comprehensive Plan in 2009 and adopted its Zoning Law in 1977, but has added numerous amendments over the years. The Village of Fishkill updated its Comprehensive Plan in 2009 and its Zoning Law dates back to 1984, with subsequent amendments. The Town has two historic centers, Fishkill Village and Glenham hamlet, and two emerging centers in the Brockway area and south of the Village along Route 9. The Town Plan endorsed a list of Smart Growth principles, including to mix land uses, create walkable neighborhoods, and direct development towards existing communities. The population of the Town of Fishkill is 22,102 while the population in the Centers is 4,731, or 21.4% of the total. Within the Centers are 1,310 residential, 117 commercial, and 56 business/industrial, 45 public, and 155 vacant properties, according to Real Property Tax records. City of Beacon The Village of Fishkill dates back to Dutch settlers in 1714. The Village played a crucial role in the Revolutionary War with a large Continental Army encampment in the fields to the south. Over 125 properties in the Village are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately, the historic section of the Village is now cut in two by a six-lane section of Route 9 and incompatible commercial development. The Village still has space to grow on small infill parcels, a vacant block at the corner of Jackson Street, and by retrofitting commercial parcels surrounding the historic center, especially the shopping plaza at the west end of Main Street. South of the Village around Interstate 84 is a large collection of commercial uses, hotels, massive warehouses buildings, and a repurposed mall. The Town Plan suggests a mixed-use redevelopment of this area, but some new construction has been questioned because of recent archeological finds from the Revolutionary War. Glenham is a small historic hamlet along Route 52. It was thought to have significant growth potential because of the now vacant 36-acre Texaco research campus. However, extensive soil contamination has been found on the site, so the lengthy clean-up process has put any major redevelopment plans on hold for now. Brockway is the area along Route 9D between the City of Beacon and the Dutchess Stadium. It has all the components of an emerging center, including major residential projects, a central commercial plaza, and industrial uses, but lacks a coordinated mix and walkable connections. A cooperative redesign of the properties on the south side of Route 9D could spur substantial development in an area with good access to I-84. Fishkill s Biodiversity Block Map includes two 1,000+ acre blocks of continuous natural habitat along the Hudson Highlands southern border. Greenspaces: Fishkill has two areas of greenspaces over 1,000 acres in size along its Hudson Highlands southern border, plus over 700 acres of state-owned land around Stony Kill Farm. It has 18 agricultural district parcels, 48 acres in agricultural production, and 5,854 acres either under conservation easement or otherwise protected. Greenway Corridors: The Town has 12,650 acres of unbuildable area. These stream corridors, State and Federal wetlands with their buffers, floodplains, and steep slopes of 20% or more act as biodiversity connectors between greenspaces. Fishkill has 45 miles of streams, 120.5 miles of roads, 34.6 miles of sidewalks, and 17 miles of trails.
Dutchess County Planning and Development: plandev@dutchessny.gov (845) 486-3600 Greenway Connections: www.dutchessny.gov/countygov/departments/planning/17329 Hudson River Valley Greenway: www.hudsongreenway.ny.gov (518) 473-3835