RIVER STREET PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT
Lead Planner. Margaret Irwin, Principal
River Street Planning and Development is a professional planning firm that focuses on consensus and capacity building, comprehensive planning, community and economic development and resilience. River Street will conduct comprehensive public outreach to ensure extensive community feedback is gathered and heard.
RIVER STREET PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT
Lead Planner. Margaret Irwin, Principal
River Street Planning and Development is a professional planning firm that focuses on consensus and capacity building, comprehensive planning, community and economic development and resilience. River Street will conduct comprehensive public outreach to ensure extensive community feedback is gathered and heard.
2023 presentation on the New York Forward program
What projects do you envision for Downtown Copake?
SAVE THE DATE!
The New York Forward program will "invigorate and enliven downtowns in New York’s smaller and rural communities—the type of downtowns found in villages, hamlets and other small, neighborhood-scale municipal centers." It builds on the success of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) by adopting the same “Plan-then-Act” strategy as the DRI. The State has allocated $100 million for the first round of NY Forward. Each of the State’s ten Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCs) will have the option of recommending two communities for $4.5 million awards or three communities, one of which will receive $4.5 million and two that will receive $2.25 million.
NY Forward's goal is to boost local economies by transforming neighborhoods into vibrant places where the next generation of New Yorkers will want to live, work and raise a family. The Capital Region Economic Development Council (CREDC) will choose the downtowns in our county that are ripe for revitalization. We want to hear from you about your passion for our town and ready-to-go projects including public infrastructure that will help us reach our full potential. Opportunities that attract residents, workers and visitors and address needed public improvements like flood mitigation and municipal services may be identified in our proposal, which is due on September 29, 2023. Read more about the NYF program at
https://www.ny.gov/programs/ny-forward
Help us tell Copake’s great story.
To be competitive we MUST document community interest and support. We are building on Copake's 2022 New York Forward application, the 2016 Copake Downtown Design and Development Plan and the 2021 Town of Copake Waterfront and Community Revitalization Plan but we need your input focusing on downtown Copake. Please take the brief NY Forward Survey and write a letter of support for Copake's proposal (see side bar). Please contact us at CopakeNYForward@gmail.com with any questions or comments.
Watch the September 10, 2022 Community Meeting

Map illustrates boundaries proposed as the preliminary 2023 Copake downtown focus area for the NYF proposal. The boundaries for the 2023 proposal will continue to change based on community input about potential projects. Click on map to enlarge.
Don't miss our community discussion on revitalizing Copake's downtown!
COMMUNITY WORKSHOP
Saturday, September 9, 2023
9:00 am - 11:00 am
at Copake Town Hall
230 Mountain View Rd.
Copake, NY 12516
or
Join via Google Meet:
Dial in: +1 478-974-9461 (PIN: 531589618)
Write a Letter of Support!
Support Copake's 2023 NY Forward proposal and downtown revitalization by writing a heartfelt letter of support. Share your vision for why Copake is ready to invest $4.5 million downtown.
Address (but do not mail) letters to:
Capital Region Economic
Development Council (CREDC)
Mike Yevoli, Director
433 River Street, Troy, NY 12180
Please email letters of support to:
Or you may mail letters to:
c/o Copake Town Clerk, NYF Letter of Support
230 Mountain View Rd, Copake, NY 12516