City planning and development director Ed Lynch discusses some of the distressed areas of the city during a meeting last year.
By Nancy Peckenham
The city of Newburgh’s director of planning and development has handed in his resignation after one year on the job. Ed Lynch says that he is resigning for personal reasons, effective August 5, 2011.
Lynch came into the position in the city’s planning and development department from a similar position in the city of New Rochelle, where he was credited with stimulating that city’s development after years of decline. Lynch said on Wednesday that he has been able to contribute to helping the city of Newburgh get through the crisis it is in during his brief tenure.
“I feel very satisfied at what the department has been able to do over the past year,” Lynch said in a phone interview. “I am sorry that I was not able to do more for the community.”
During his year in the position, Lynch oversaw several projects aimed at changing the physical conditions of the city’s deteriorating properties. In the past several months he won council approval of a tax abatement for the cost of rehabilitating mixed-use commercial-residential properties and also convinced the Newburgh school district to extend a tax abatement for renovations of historic properties. Perhaps his most ambitious plan focused on soliciting developers for the mid-Broadway section of city-owned land. He also worked with Pace University planners on a future land bank and oversaw an auction of city-owned properties that is expected to generate about $500,000 in revenue for the city.
Mayor Nicholas Valentine confirmed that he received Lynch’s letter of resignation last week but could not comment on his reasons for leaving the position.
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