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The principal goal of the Development Plan is to maintain Rye's present character as an attractive single family residential
community, which is served by a central commercial core, a full range of public facilities, a high quality educational system and
extensive recreation facilities and open space areas, all within a setting that maximizes the City's historic and architectural
amenities and its natural assets, particularly its coastal location and extensive marsh lands.
The following are excerpts from the 1985 Rye City Development Plan.
Copies of the 1985 Rye City Development Plan may be purchased at the City Planner’s Office in City Hall for $10.00.
(The Plan is currently being reviewed by the Rye City Council, Planning Commission and City Planner for the purposes of
keeping this critical document current and to reflect recent changes in State Law.)
This Development Plan is a long range statement by the City's Planning Commission about its goals and policies for the use of
land within the City for a projected period of time, in this case until about the year 2000. The Plan is also a set of
recommendations for implementation of the Commission's goals. It does not change the City's zoning ordinance or map; that
can be accomplished only by the City Council. The Plan does, however, provide to Rye's citizens and potential developers
information as to what Rye regards as its most important assets and how it intends to protect and develop them. The
Commission intends this plan to be a framework for future zoning and development decisions in the city.
The Development Plan includes a text supported by the Land Use Plan map. The Land Use Plan map (part of this report) is
not a proposed rezoning of Rye. It is the broad view of the Commission about the present status of land use and development
in Rye and the desirable uses and growth for various areas. The accompanying text includes a written description of the Plan
categories, the goals and policies of the Plan, and recommendations for various actions which can not be mapped.
The Development Plan presented here is part of a planning process begun many years ago in Rye. In 1929, the Village of Rye
adopted its first master plan. In 1945, On Our Way: The Rye Development Program was adopted by the City Council as City
policy. This Plan was updated in 1963, when the Rye City Development Plan was produced. In these previous plans, the
maintenance and enhancement of Rye as an attractive single family residential community was a primary goal. The City remains
committed to this goal today. Other goals pertaining to the environment, historic preservation and business are considered to
be of increasing importance.
This master plan is not a static document to be followed without regard to changing conditions, but rather should be viewed as
a dynamic policy instrument to be reviewed periodically and revised as necessary. Implementation will be a continuous
process.
The current master plan effort began 1982 with a series of meetings with other City agencies and Rye citizens and analytical
memoranda prepared by the Planning Commission. Since that time, work on the plan by the Commission, its staff and
consultants, Raymond, Parish, Pine & Weiner, Inc., has focused on summarizing the planning factors highlighted in the Planning
Commission memoranda and those addressed in further studies, identifying issues and opportunities, exploring various planning
and zoning options and finally on creating the Development Plan itself. This report is a discussion of the City's recommended
Development Plan, including the various factors, issues, development trends and philosophies that influenced the planning
decisions and recommendations. The more detailed background studies are included in a separate volume of the Plan; on file in
the Office of the City Planner.
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