City planning officials are most interested in what a new Rye comprehensive plan will say about flooding, pedestrian safety, and Rye’s business district, the officials said at a March 10 presentation before the local men’s group, Tuesdays at 10.
“In my last 25 years of being here, since 2000, there have been some outside forces that have applied themselves on Rye,” Rye City Planner Christian Miller told the group. “Between 1984 and 2004, there was no flooding event of significance. That’s a 20-year run. I get hired in 2000, then we had floods in 2004, 2007 twice, 2011, 2012.”
Joining Miller in the presentation were City Engineer Ryan Coyne and Planning Commission Chairman Nick Everett.
The City Council recently selected AKRP Planning to help modernize the city’s comprehensive plan, which has not been updated since 1985. The council hopes to have a new plan in place in 18 months.
Many existing homes and businesses in Rye were built more than a century ago, before the current zoning code was introduced, and it was not known they were on a flood plain. Now, the zoning board wants to make sure that doesn’t still happen.
The city’s flooding problem was highlighted recently when a six-story, 164-unit apartment complex was proposed for land along the flood-plagued Beaver Swamp Brook in Harrison. That plan was scrapped after residents of both Rye and Harrison objected.
“Flooding is a natural thing,” Miller said. “Putting us in harm’s way is a human thing.”
The area of Rye that has changed most frequently is the downtown business district, both for tenants and the residents who visit there.
“Just before I started, you could go to Joe Cox’s store (J.P. Cox Ltd. on Purchase Street) and buy socks, then walk down the street to the hardware store to get a hammer,” Miller said. “You can’t do that now. It is not a place where you buy your basic retail needs.”
Miller said that’s by design. He said people didn’t like it when chain stores, like the Gap, had storefronts on Purchase Street. The priority now is creating a communal gathering area, where people can walk the streets safely and at a leisurely pace.
“It’s about putting the car second and the experience first,” Miller said.
While the area remains one of the most heavily traveled in Rye, Coyne said the goal is to strike a balance that works for both motorists and walkers.
“People used to call it ‘pothole city,’” Coyne said. “Now, I think most people would say our roads are pretty good. Over the years, we’ve tried different experiments to manage traffic, from traffic lights to temporary stop signs, to bump outs for pedestrians. Making that corridor safe for walking is something we’ve worked to improve for 15 years.”
In addition, Coyne said, the city has made strides to improve its parks.
“We’ve added lots of walkways, whether it’s connecting paths to Milton Point or the Rye Rec or from Disbrow Park to Midland,” he said. “Putting in turf on Nursery Field was a big project that a lot of people talked about, but there have been lots of improvements to our parks outside of that, paving tennis courts and adding in walkways that connect different areas and parks within the city.”
While the city and its land-use boards have done their best to manage competing interest and needs in Rye, the officials said they eagerly await a new comprehensive plan, which is due to arrive in late 2027.
“The city is about to embark on a massive planning process with AKRF,” Coyne said, with several community-engagement sessions expected during the process.
“The city council made it very clear they want the community to be involved with what’s in this plan,” Miller said. “It’s a great starting-off point.”
