Village Mayor Peter Cavallaro, along with members of the board of trustees and village staff, met with representatives from the New York State Department of State and real estate and economic development consultant team last week, to take the first steps in developing a strategic plan for the $10 million downtown revitalization grant awarded to the village last month.
The meeting allowed state consultants and representatives a chance to learn more about Westbury and its revitalization efforts, as they begin to craft a plan for how to best utilize the grant money. Part of the meeting included a tour of the village, allowing the team to better familiarize themselves with the community’s commercial and residential areas, real estate development, parking lot availability, Long Island Rail Road train station and the Space.
“This allowed us to introduce the people who we’ll be working with to the community,” said Cavallaro. “It was encouraging. [The state] has assembled an impressive and talented team who have experience doing other projects like this.”
Over the next several months, the village administration will be establishing a committee of approximately 15 local residents and stakeholders who will provide input and make suggestions on how the funds could be best used to improve the downtown. The consultants will look at the revitalization efforts already underway, as well as upcoming projects (such as the third track) that might impact the community.
“The goal is to come up with an updated look at what we have—properties, assets, resources in the community—and come up with an approach based on what we tell them we’d like to see. Then we see what’s feasible and prioritize,” Cavallaro said.
Westbury was announced as the winner of the $10 million grant on July 7. The village was the sole Long Island winner of the Governor’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative and one of 10 recipients state-wide.
