Planning & Zoning

The City of Poughkeepsie Planning Division provides research, advisory and administrative support for comprehensive and land use planning functions, federal and state grant applications, and highway, transit, and pedestrian/bicycle transportation planning projects.

Comprehensive Planning

An effort to update the city’s comprehensive plan was launched in June 2021.  Poughkeepsie’s new comprehensive plan is a long-range planning document that provides the City of Poughkeepsie with the following tools:

• A decision-making framework based on the community’s core values and planning principles
• A set of priorities and goals for focused attention by public and private sector partners
• Guidance on “what goes where” to shape future development and redevelopment in ways that support community goals
• Implementable strategies that will help the community work towards specific outcomes

Adopted by the Common Council in September 2022, the new plan replaces the previous comprehensive plan, which was adopted in 1998.  Please visit the project webpage at https://www.pk4keeps.org/ for more information and materials from the process of creating the plan.  

• PK4Keeps Comprehensive Plan (2022)
• Comprehensive Plan (1998)

Housing Needs Assessment

Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress worked with the City of Poughkeepsie to conduct a Housing Needs Assessment.  This study will help inform the City’s ongoing comprehensive plan update, and act as a foundational document and reference for future housing policy and programs in the City. 

Project documents including the public presentation from September 30, 2021 and the final report may be downloaded at the links below:

Housing Needs Assessment Public Meeting Presentation (9/30/21)

City of Poughkeepsie Housing Needs Assessment - Final (PDF)

Poughkeepsie Innovation District

The Poughkeepsie Innovation District (PID) is a collaborative land-use planning initiative aimed at the revitalization of Poughkeepsie's Central Business District (CBD). The City of Poughkeepsie partnered with Pace Land Use Law Center and Kevin Dwarka Land Use and Economic Consulting to update zoning regulations that govern the preservation, rehabilitation and development that occurs in Poughkeepsie's Central Business District (CBD).

Learn more on the Poughkeepsie Innovation District Project page.

The Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan (LWRP)

The LWRP provides policy guidelines to help guide land use decisions along the Hudson River waterfront and Fall Kill area. In 2018 the City began the process of updating its historic 1998 LWRP. Materials related to the update can be found on the LWRP update project webpage.

• Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan - Final (Nov 2022)

Land Use Planning

Advisory and administrative support to the City's Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, Waterfront Advisory Committee, and Shade Tree Commission.

Poughkeepsie City Center Revitalization Plan

The Poughkeepsie City Center Revitalization Plan (PCCRP) was launched in September 2013 and consists of three working papers covering Existing Conditions, Proposed Actions and Implementation Strategies. On the basis of preliminary land use and economic analysis, the Poughkeepsie Common Council adopted a resolution in April 2014 that endorsed the planning objectives proposed in the PCCRP and agreed to identify funding to support the additional planning and analysis required to advance these objectives toward concrete implementation. In May 2014, the City identified three specific planning initiatives that would build upon the PCCRP: the Main Street Economic Development Strategy, the Poughkeepsie City Center Connectivity Project, and the Poughkeepsie City Center Vacant Property Redevelopment Plan.

• Poughkeepsie City Center Revitalization Plan (PDF)
• Poughkeepsie City Center Revitalization Plan - Overview (PDF)

Main Street Economic Development Strategy

The purpose of this strategy is to reactivate the entire length of the Main Street corridor and reassert Poughkeepsie as the economic and cultural center of the Hudson Valley. It will capitalize on all of Poughkeepsie's assets while redressing enduring concerns about building vacancy, crime, public safety, open space, and the under-utilization of land

To kick off the Main Street Economic Development Strategy, the City of Poughkeepsie, along with the Land Use Law Center, hosted a public outreach session on Tuesday, October 14th. A team of facilitators and urban planners from the Center reviewed preliminary planning concepts and took public comments.

• Main Street Economic Development Strategy Presentation (PDF)
• Main Street Economic Development Strategy - Public Responses to Proposed Actions (PDF)
• Main Street Economic Development Strategy - Draft Working Paper Number 2, Planning Strategies (PDF)
• Market Street Complete Street Presentation (PDF)

Poughkeepsie Waterfront Redevelopment Strategy & Waterfront Transit-Oriented Development District (WTOD)

The Waterfront Redevelopment Strategy is designed to generate new activities at the waterfront and attract residents to the river, additionally establishing the waterfront/railroad station area as a positive first impression for visitors to Poughkeepsie.

Visitors will be encouraged to explore the many upland city neighborhoods through the use of a shuttle bus up Main Street, pedestrian linkages to Mt. Carmel, and other streetscape connections. As a result, the plan will increase land values, encourage investment, and create jobs and for a much broader area. The waterfront will become a great front porch for the entire City.

The purpose of the WTOD District is to encourage a pedestrian-friendly, urban mix of public, recreational, residential, and compatible commercial uses within walking distance of waterfront parks, the Walkway Over the Hudson elevator, and the railroad station. This mixed-use district is designed to promote public access to the waterfront along a continuous greenway park and walkway system and to create a regionally connected destination.

• Poughkeepsie Waterfront Redevelopment Strategy Presentation - October 6, 2014 (PDF)
• Poughkeepsie Waterfront Redevelopment Strategy (PDF)
• Waterfront Transit-Oriented Development District (PDF)