County Executive, County of Westchester New York

During his tenure as Westchester County Executive, Andy Spano has gained a reputation as a progressive environmentalist who has initiated numerous programs to preserve open space, protect water quality, improve air quality, encourage recycling, combat climate change and promote sustainable development.

Climate change

The County Executive appointed a task force to produce a countywide action plan to reduce green house gas emissions and promote sustainable development in Westchester. The Global Warming Task Force, including representatives from municipalities, environmental organizations, businesses and schools in February 2008, unveiled the “Westchester Action Plan for Climate Change and Sustainable Development. Found on-line at www.westchestergov.com/globalwarming this comprehensive plan provides basic “how to” information for reaching the goal of reducing the county’s carbon footprint by 20 percent by 2015 and 80% by 2050.

Open Space and Farmland Preservation

Upon taking office, County Executive Andy Spano launched an aggressive open space program that has resulted in the expenditure of over $60 million to preserve open space, build ball fields and expand our trailways.  In partnership with local and state governments and non-profit groups, Westchester County has increased its open space by over 2,000 acres and now owns over 18,000 acres of parkland open to all county residents. Under his Legacy Program, Westchester has partnered with its municipalities on the development of over one dozen active recreation facilities ranging from skate parks to soccer and multi-purpose ball fields throughout the County.

In 2001, Andy Spano announced his plan for the Westchester RiverWalk, a continuous trailway linking 13 Hudson River town and village centers, parks and historic sites. When completed, RiverWalk will consist of over 50-miles of hiking and biking trails that parallel the Hudson River providing opportunities for recreation, tourism and economic development.  RiverWalk is a key component a countywide trailway master plan that calls for the existing network of 150 miles of trails to be expanded to over 300 miles of trailways and link to trailway systems beyond Westchester including the Hudson River Greenway system from NYC to Albany.

In 1999, the County also began to implement farmland protection programs to preserve our agricultural heritage, protect community character and promote best management practices that protect the water supply. These included the creation of an Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board, the establishment of a County Agricultural District and the preparation of Westchester’s first Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan.  Through these programs, the County has been able to secure almost five million dollars in state grants to purchase the development rights of two major farms thereby preserving them for generations to come.  

In 2003, Westchester purchased the 180-acre Hilltop Hanover Farm, a former dairy operation in Yorktown.  Approximately 50-acres of the site have been kept as a farm and are being developed as an environmental center for education and training in the areas of sustainable agriculture and alternative energy.  The remaining 130 acres, including an extensive network of trails, have been dedicated as parkland and are now being managed by the County Parks Department.

Land Use

Westchester County is fortunate to have a pattern of smart growth that includes over fifty city, town and village centers – many of which are built around train stations. In an effort to retain our community character and establish a common regional vision for our 45 municipalities, County Executive Spano asked the County Planning Board to update its comprehensive planning policies. In January of 2008, Westchester 2025 was launched. This interactive planning resource seamlessly integrates the Plan’s elements with new sections on 3D visualization, community overviews, regional partnerships, as well as planning tools and interactive forums for public comment.

Westchester 2025 considers a range of regional issues – transportation, sewers, flooding, affordable housing, water quality, air quality and climate change and acts as an umbrella under which other specific County efforts have been undertaken.  These include the Tappan Zee Futures Task Force

established by the County Executive in partnership with Rockland County. The Task Force was charged with monitoring the NYS-run study of what to do with the Tappan Zee Bridge and how to create a new east-west transit system across the I287 corridor, raise awareness of its regional importance and engage key groups and the public in the process.  Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and the identification of opportunities to promote development around trains stations, bus stops and transit hubs is a component of this effort and is intended to encourage transit use and reduce auto dependency.

Water Quality and Conservation

Spano has worked to make Westchester a national model for conserving and protecting drinking water and the Croton Watershed. He has also emphasized the importance of fighting pollution in the two waterways bordering Westchester County – the Hudson River and the Long Island Sound. Accomplishments in this area include allocating $30 million in sanitary sewer district funds to make repairs to municipal sewers to prevent overflows and protect County sewage treatment facilities; an on-going public education campaign on storm water run off; using federal grants to wetland restoration projects including projects in Echo Bay and Mamaroneck Harbor and a dune restoration project at Edith Read Sanctuary; and establishing systems at the county’s airport and sewage treatment plants that resulted in both facilities being independently certified to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standard. Under Spano’s leadership, the county switched to pesticide free pest management controls on all its property, including its golf courses and in its buildings and in 2008 switched to Green Cleaning products in all of its buildings.

Flood Mitigation

Dealing with the impacts of climate change and the devastating effects of major storms continues to be a major priority of Andy Spano’s administration.  In June of 2007, a countywide summit on flooding was held and the County Executive announced the formation of a Flood Action Task Force comprised of professionals with expertise in land use, storm water management and environmental issues.  At the same time, the County Executive established a $50 million capital program to help fund flood damage reduction projects proposed by local municipalities. To date, ten communities have submitted applications for one or more flood mitigation projects in their municipalities. Westchester is working with these municipalities to move forward on these projects.