Consultants leading Envision Mount Vernon and city staff told the stakeholder committee on a Dec. Zoom call that the project website has been updated, a Phase 2 public survey is live with just over 100 responses, and the final round of in-person outreach will include two citywide open-house meetings on Jan. 11 (11 a.m.–1 p.m.) and Jan. 15 (6–8 p.m.) and an industrial-area business luncheon on Jan. 29.

The meetings are intended to be the last major public engagement events before the consulting teams begin writing the draft comprehensive plan at the end of January. Pat Cleary, identified on the call as the consulting lead coordinating the project teams, said the citywide sessions will use an open-house format with five stations focused on priority corridors to encourage neighborhood-specific feedback rather than repeating prior engagement topics.

Consultants described recent outreach and early results. They reported two earlier community conversations—a senior meeting that drew about 60 seniors and a smaller Spanish-language session—and said the Phase 2 survey, which was designed in collaboration with Mount Vernon youth, has received a little more than 100 responses to date and the team aims to at least double that number. Project staff said the survey link now appears prominently on the Envision Mount Vernon website and that a Portuguese translation of the survey has been produced for outreach to Portuguese- and Brazilian-speaking residents.

The consulting team acknowledged one engagement with industry stakeholders had low turnout and will be rescheduled as an in-person business luncheon on Jan. 29 in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Council of Westchester to increase attendance and provide networking value to companies. Organizers said the industrial meeting will be marketed directly to businesses but will be open to advisory-committee members and others.

The Jan. 11 and Jan. 15 citywide events will feature five staffed stations focused on corridors the consultants identified as priority areas—Fleetwood, Sanford Boulevard, Mount Vernon West, Columbus Avenue and Lincoln—and will include a separate station run by New City Parks to gather input on parks and park connections. Spanish-language translation will be available at the citywide sessions, organizers said. Staff also described targeted outreach to youth, seniors and non-English-speaking communities and noted existing collaboration with the Portuguese American Club for Portuguese-language promotion.

Committee members and attendees suggested additional outreach channels and stakeholder organizations to broaden participation. Jane Curtis urged inviting Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site to the industry conversation and named local environmental and watershed organizations as important partners; she noted recent air monitoring work and the impaired condition and limited public access to both the Bronx River and the Hutchinson River. Janice Richardson and others recommended direct mail and robocalls to give residents more advance notice. Participants also suggested outreach through Black Westchester, neighborhood associations, churches, PTAs, laundromats, restaurants and property managers at housing complexes.

Organizers outlined marketing tactics that will be used in combination: social-media ads, Facebook and Instagram promotions, text messages to residents, flyers distributed at city facilities and events, school-based outreach and stakeholder-to-stakeholder promotion. Project staff asked advisory-committee members to sign up to staff one of the two January meetings and to each invite at least one other person to attend.

Looking ahead, consultants said there will be two stakeholder committee meetings in the spring to review and clarify feedback and at least two public review presentations (one in person and one online) after the draft plan is prepared. The team indicated the draft would be circulated for public comment in late spring, with a target to deliver a revised draft to City Council by late summer or early fall for potential adoption before year-end.