"Parking assets are nearing capacity." That was the conclusion of the parking study North Castle commissioned from Nelson\Nygaard in 2018. It found that at peak demand, the lots behind the west side of Main Street were 85 to 95 percent full. The study also found the area often looks or "feels" full to drivers, which can make it seem like there's no parking at all.
Anyone who has circled behind the shops on a Saturday on the way to the North Castle Public Library or the post office knows the feeling. But the Town's own engineering report, dated April 9, 2026, puts the cause somewhere other than a simple shortage of spaces. The lot has never been run as a single lot. Fixing that is the main purpose of Armonk Parking District No. 2, which the Town Board approved this year and which now sits in Albany waiting for one last sign-off.
A parking field built from separate pieces
The Town's Armonk Parking District Map, Plan and Report describes the lot along Kent Place this way: shop owners, the library and the post office all share it, but it "is not clearly marked and lacks signage and a clear traffic circulation method." It's a few decades old and "has not been upgraded since the initial construction."
The report also explains why it has stayed that way. About 190 off-street spaces on the west side are controlled by individual property owners and by the Town. Each owner is responsible for its own section. You can drive from one section to the next only because of cross-access easements between the properties. Nobody regulates how long a car can stay.
So the lot is something like a dozen small parking areas stitched together. The striping, upkeep and layout depend on whose section you happen to be in. The report says maintenance done owner by owner has left "unmet maintenance issues." With no unified circulation plan and no limit on how long a car can stay, a lot running near 90 percent full at peak will feel full even when a space is open two rows over.
The first phase opened off Kent Place
The Town started at the edge of the lot. In April 2024, The Examiner News reported that the North Castle Planning Board had approved a 49-space lot on the former Verizon property, with access from Kent Place. A nearby resident told the paper they supported more parking but wanted assurances about runoff and refuse.
In his June 2025 update, Town Supervisor Joe Rende announced that "the expanded and improved Kent Place parking lot is officially open for business." He also said the Town was starting Phase 2 by "meeting with property owners to discuss improvements to the rest of the lot." In a 2025 interview with The Inside Press, Rende described the long-term goal as doubling the number of parking spaces in Armonk proper.
That phrase about meeting with property owners explains why the second phase is harder than the first. The Verizon parcel was one piece of land, and the Town bought it. The rest of the lot belongs to many owners, so the Town has to bring them all into one arrangement before it can repave anything.
What the redesign would build
The April 2026 report covers the main lot behind the Main Street storefronts. Here is how its own counts compare:
| Area | Spaces today | Spaces proposed |
|---|---|---|
| Existing main lot | 122, including 7 ADA | 138, including 7 ADA |
| Verizon expansion lot off Kent Place | 49 | 49 |
On paper, 16 more spaces in the main lot isn't much. Most of the improvement is in how the lot works. The plan reconfigures the parking field with better circulation, new lighting, landscaping and planted islands, and ADA access. The cost appendix lists 900 square feet of concrete walks and directional signage. The report says all construction would stay within areas already paved for parking.
The bigger change is in management. The report says forming the district would replace the "informal ad-hoc" upkeep with one way to pay for operations, and would let the Town "establish proper parking management strategies relating to parking duration." That points back to the 2018 finding. If cars can stay for any length of time in a lot that runs 85 to 95 percent full at peak, the spaces don't turn over. A single operator could change that. Supervisor Rende's October 2026 update adds two more points. Parking would stay free for residents and visitors shopping downtown, and the district is meant to draw more drivers into the rear lot, "which could help reduce traffic along Main Street."
How the cost is split
The report estimates the improvements at about $2.55 million, including construction, engineering, permitting, inspection and administration. The cost-sharing setup shows who the lot really serves:
- Who's in the district: commercial parcels at 375, 379, 381, 385, 387, 393, 399, 401, 407, 409 and 419 Main Street, plus 1 Kent Place, 12 Maple Avenue and two parcels on Whippoorwill Road.
- How it's financed: Town-issued bonds or notes, repaid over about 15 years through yearly assessments on those parcels. Each parcel's share is based on its assessed value and appears on its Town property tax bill.
- The library's share: the Town-owned library isn't a district member, but the Town would contribute 49 percent of capital and operating costs by contract. Of an estimated $241,104.78 in annual district costs, $118,141.34 would fall to the Town and $122,963.44 to the property owners.
- Upkeep: up to $27,500 a year for plowing, pavement repair, landscaping, lighting, sweeping and administration.
The split is almost exactly half and half, which fits a lot that serves the library's visitors about as much as the shops' customers. It also shows how the district solves the coordination problem. Today, plowing and repaving depend on each owner acting alone. Under the district, upkeep is paid as one bill shared across the whole block.
This is a summary of a public planning document, not legal, tax or financial advice. Owners of any listed parcel should go over the specifics with their own attorney or tax professional.
Where the approval stands this month
The district has cleared most of its local steps:
- April 22, 2026: the Town Board agenda included receiving the revised April 9 report and scheduling a public hearing for June 10.
- June 10, 2026: the public hearing was held. According to OpenNorthCastle, an unofficial site that publishes auto-generated meeting summaries, the board adopted the preliminary resolution establishing the district by a 3–1 roll-call vote. The same summary says the library board president, an attorney for adjoining property owners and the owner of 12 Maple Avenue spoke in support, and a North White Plains resident raised a concern about tax fairness between hamlets.
- Now: the October 2026 Supervisor's Update says the next step is approval from the New York State Comptroller's Office. After that, the project can go out to bid.
- Construction: Rende wrote that he hopes to pick a contractor and "begin the work late fall or over the winter, depending on weather conditions."
The OpenNorthCastle summary also says the project traces back to a 1967 study. If that's right, Armonk has been talking about this lot for close to 60 years.
The dates when the lot gets busiest
The approval still has a state step and a bid ahead of it, so the lot should look the same for the next few downtown events. The Armonk Chamber of Commerce's Halloween on Main is Friday, October 30, from noon to 2 p.m. It's trick-or-treating at Main Street businesses for children ages 2 to 6 with an adult, and the costume parade walk meets at Armonk Square at 1:30 p.m. The week before, the North Castle Public Library calendar has "Halloween's Coming!" for ages 1 to 5 on October 26 at 11 a.m. and a Kids Halloween Party for all ages on October 27 at 3 p.m. The party requires registration.
Frosty Day has moved this year, from Saturday, December 5 to Sunday, December 6. Festivities run around town from noon to 4 p.m. At 4 p.m. the Frosty Parade heads down Main Street and ends at Wampus Brook Park for the holiday lighting. The approach roads are in better shape this year: the Highway Department finished milling and repaving Maple Avenue as part of its 2026 summer paving program.
One of the district's parcels is also one of downtown's most anticipated projects. Wren of the Woods, a planned farm-to-table restaurant with Executive Chef Roxanne Spruance, is slated for the long-vacant building at 12 Maple Avenue, the address the Town's district report uses for that parcel. In 2025, The Inside Press reported that the Architectural Review Board had approved plans to renovate the building and add onto it. The team's last public update, from May 2025, was aiming for a late-2026 opening, which makes it a project to watch rather than a dinner reservation. When it opens, its guests will park in the rear lot that the owner of 12 Maple Avenue spoke in favor of rebuilding.
If you own a home near downtown Armonk and want to know how a rebuilt rear lot and a busier Maple Avenue could change your corner of North Castle, Tara Siegel follows these Town Board decisions closely and is happy to talk them through with you. Schedule your Westchester consultation.
