One of my favorite expressions is “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” It gets right to the heart of the idea of having only one solution despite a diversity of problems.
“Development” is one such hammer. It is an overly broad term because not all development is the same.
Development Needs Input from Everyone
I’ve been talking to Yorktown residents about the growth we’re seeing. What worries them is whether our town is growing for them or past them. Right now, it feels like the latter.
I’ve also been speaking with developers and commercial real estate professionals. Their concerns are mainly about being able to rely on the consistent application of rules and regulations. Labor leaders are concerned about fair pay and safe working conditions for workers. Business owners want to see foot traffic coming through their doors.
These concerns are often at odds. A real comprehensive plan brings them together instead of treating development decisions as one-off transactions.
The Cost of “Yes to Everything”
Our current supervisor has treated development like a supply-side problem. Say yes to enough projects, the thinking goes, and tax revenue will follow. But the math hasn’t worked out for residents.
Yorktown residents faced a 7.4% tax increase in 2025. Last year, the supervisor announced a zero-increase budget (in an election year, conveniently). The estimate for the next budget? Over 6%.
Since 2016, tax breaks, disguised as incentives, handed out under the Town’s commercial tax exemption program have cost Yorktown residents nearly $1.7 million in lost revenue. That’s an exemption given regardless of the type of development. And homeowners are making up the difference, paying more so developers can pay less.
This type of budgeting yo-yo with tax giveaways is not conducive to consistent maintenance and investment in our infrastructure.
What Smart Development Actually Looks Like
I want developers to succeed. What I don’t want is for them to succeed at the expense of residents. That’s not pro-development. That’s pro-developer. Those aren’t the same thing.
I am pro-smart-development. That means saying yes to projects that work for the community and the developer. It means prioritizing the adaptive reuse of existing buildings over sprawl. That’s where our incentives belong. Without focusing these incentives, residents are simply subsidizing developers.
Getting Back to Comprehensive Planning
A recent article in 914Inc, Westchester County’s business magazine, focused on mixed-use development and the importance of intentional planning. Michael Ramito, CEO of the Westchester County Association, made a crucial point: “A [comprehensive] plan means that new developments aren’t considered on a case-by-case basis, but instead evaluated based on how they fit within that community’s cohesive long-term goals.”
Yorktown hasn’t updated its comprehensive plan in years. I’ve been calling for an update for a long time, and we’re finally seeing some movement. What matters now is making sure all stakeholders are heard in that process. Not just developers. Not just the town board. Residents. Labor. Business owners. Everyone who has a stake in what Yorktown becomes.
The Real Question
Real leadership means setting a vision for where Yorktown should be in five or ten years, then making the decisions, including the hard ones, to get there. It means asking whether a variance serves the community or just the developer’s bottom line.
Yorktown is my home. I raised my kids here. I see both the challenges and the opportunities. I also see that we’re capable of doing this better, of growing in a way that strengthens us rather than strains us.
That’s the choice in front of us.