Mount Kisco Form Based Code

The Town of Mount Kisco commissioned a vision plan and Downtown District Overlay Ordinance to realize its placemaking and economic development goals for their primary commercial district. This overlay ordinance is a model for embracing community visions, economic development, and placemaking and applying form-based code techniques to realize these goals.

The innovative ordinance created during this process applies market-flexible ordinance provisions to create incentives for civic spaces, on-street parking, shared parking, and mixed use development while protecting the character of the historic neighborhood surrounding this district. Along key commercial corridors this code requires storefronts to ensure a walkable pedestrian-friendly commercial corridor while incorporating pedestrian walkways and trails through the district. The code has been instrumental in realizing a public private partnership to transform two municipal parking lots into mixed use development in the downtown.