Starting in September 2025, first-graders of the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns will attend the Tappan Hill School. Kindergartners will follow at a later date.
Located on Ichabod Lane in the Crest neighborhood of Tarrytown, the Tappan Hill School is surrounded by busy commuter thoroughfares (Altamont, Highland, Marymount, Rosehill, and Union Avenues, and Crest Drive). None of these streets have sidewalks or bicycle lanes, making them inhospitable to pedestrians and cyclists.
When the school opens, increased traffic in the neighborhood will make the existing situation even more dangerous. For this reason and more, concerned parents and Livable Tarrytowns have been in dialogue with officials in the Village of Tarrytown for almost a year to bring about infrastructure changes that will allow for walking and biking safely in the area surrounding the Tappan Hill campus. Thus far, such changes have not happened.
Only a little more than 3 months remain before school opens in the fall. As such, Livable Tarrytowns is pushing the Village of Tarrytown to implement low-cost, interim solutions by the end of August. The goal is to provide an alternative to transportation via school bus or private automobiles (and clogged roads and increased air pollution) for students and their caretakers.
Such a goal is consistent with the school district’s “Student Wellness” policy. The policy calls for, among other things, the promotion of “walking/biking to school (with proper storage of bicycles), safe routes to school, and ‘walking’ school buses.”
In this spirit, Livable Tarrytowns has proposed the implementation of various measures—ones that are within the purview of the Village of Tarrytown.
One entails the making of “quick-build” walking lanes by appropriating some of the space now fully dedicated to motor vehicles. This would involve the installation of concrete or plastic delineators.
Such changes, by narrowing the roads, would have the added benefit of slowing down drivers. (See image below.) It is well documented that wide roads encourage speeding
There are also things that the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns can do to facilitate safe passage to and from the Tappan Hill School.
One is to widen the sidewalks on the Tappan Hill campus so that they allow for strollers to pass and comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Another is the moving of parking away from the edge of the sidewalk. Currently, vehicles parked on the campus often intrude on the sidewalk, creating a hazard-prone situation.
To bring about such changes, Livable Tarrytowns has called upon Tarrytown’s Board of Trustees to hire a planner to propose low-cost, short-term solutions as well as a long-term transformation of the area around the campus.
What can people do to help?
Please email the members of Tarrytown’s Board of Trustees (see the list of members below) and voice support for walkable schools!
Karen Brown <kBrown@tarrytowngov.com>,
Kenny Herzog <kherzog@tarrytownny.gov>,
David Kim <DKim@tarrytownny.gov>,
Thomas Mitchell <tmitchell@tarrytownny.gov>,
Becky McGovern <bmcgovern@tarrytowngov.com>,
Effie Phillips Staley <EPStaley@tarrytownny.gov>,
Paul Rinaldi <prinaldi@tarrytownny.gov>.
And please look out for future notices from Livable Tarrytowns as our campaign to ensure safe pedestrian passage to and from the Tappan Hill School continues to unfold.
Livable Tarrytowns 