Dobbs Ferry trustees consider next steps after New York Forward declines funding for several local projects

At the end of a June 16 workshop, the Chair announced that New York Forward did not award funding to several projects the village had submitted, including Cedar and Main Plaza, a High Street park proposal and a public art fund.

"New York Ford did not choose to fund in any capacity our Cedar And Main Plaza, our High Street Go And Main Plaza, or public art fund," the Chair said.

The Chair told trustees the village must now decide whether to reprioritize those projects, supply partial local funding, or pursue additional grant opportunities. "And now we need to decide as a board what you wanna do with these projects... we're willing to, you know, fund the thing partial... and start to think about either applying for more grants for these projects... or that we could just submit them again," the Chair said.

Why it matters: the rejected applications leave near-term capital projects without the anticipated external funding, forcing trustees to decide whether to reallocate local resources, scale projects back, or pursue alternative grant sources.

Trustees did not vote on funding at the workshop. The board agreed to consider priorities and potential partial funding at upcoming meetings and to discuss whether to resubmit applications or seek other grant programs. Staff indicated these options will be reviewed alongside the comprehensive plan work and project prioritization.

Next steps: trustees will place project-prioritization and funding-sourcing options on a future agenda for formal consideration; no adoption or funding decision was recorded at the June 16 workshop.