Greenway Compact Program
The Greenway Compact Program is a voluntary community planning approach supported by the state for the 13 counties in the Hudson Valley region. Greenway Compact members are eligible for state grants, planning assistance, certain state liability protections, and other benefits. Dutchess County communities have already received more than $1.8 million in Greenway-related grants. The Greenway program is entirely voluntary, respects local home rule, and relies on incentives and guidelines rather than any new regulations or requirements.
The Greenway Compact promotes intermunicipal cooperation on five complementary goals:
To implement the program, Dutchess County created Greenway Connections, a highly-illustrated, easy-to-use sourcebook of inspiring ideas, how-to guidelines, and case study examples that are designed to help local officials and citizen groups make better decisions on improving our surroundings. It also describes the types of projects that are eligible for Greenway funding. The Guides offer detailed recommendations on a variety of current planning topics, from retrofitting commercial strips, saving farmland, designing conservation subdivisions, and creating walkable centers, to site specifics on signs, parking, lighting, and landscaping.
This 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.
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.
