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Chappaqua is a hamlet in the town of New Castle. EMT and Fire services are provided by volunteer departments (that cover most of the town of New Castle) and the hamlet is serviced by the New Castle Police Department.
Geographical town, post office, and school district do not always line up in this area. When listing your address, mailing address/post office is the best to use (and the only way anyone will ever find your house on Google Maps), but you definitely can't assume anything beyond that. Your realtor should know/be able to find out the answers to any questions you have about various service districts.
thanks guys...so we fall under town of new castle for permitting etc for home expansion projects...anyone know how easy?difficult they are? theres some tree clearing we need to do and i confess i do not understand the jargon thats up on the site in regards to that...ideas?
Yeah this area is nuts with the districts. I'm Chappaqua mailing, Mt. Pleasant taxes, and Armonk schools. I can't speak for New Castle but Mt. Pleasant has been easy to deal with in permitting, and the garbage/recycling collection is quite good. That's basically the extent to which I've dealt with the government but so far, no complaints aside from the taxes, of course.
Tree clearing- are you going to DIY? If DIY, I probably wouldn't bother with permits. If you're going to use a contractor, the contractor will help you sort it (or won't, but in that case maybe you're fine too?).
Yeah this area is nuts with the districts. I'm Chappaqua mailing, Mt. Pleasant taxes, and Armonk schools.
This is going to sound like a really stupid question for people familiar with Westchester, but in this case, how do answer the question "where do you live?" By that I mean, what town do you identify with? Assuming Armonk since you're in the school system?
Where I grew up in MA, and now in NJ, we have very defined town borders, with all services (police, fire, school, etc.) inside the 4-walls of the city/town. Anyway, always been curious about this!
Yeah this area is nuts with the districts. I'm Chappaqua mailing, Mt. Pleasant taxes, and Armonk schools. I can't speak for New Castle but Mt. Pleasant has been easy to deal with in permitting, and the garbage/recycling collection is quite good. That's basically the extent to which I've dealt with the government but so far, no complaints aside from the taxes, of course.
Tree clearing- are you going to DIY? If DIY, I probably wouldn't bother with permits. If you're going to use a contractor, the contractor will help you sort it (or won't, but in that case maybe you're fine too?).
Don't follow this advise. Some municipalities have local laws that prohibit tree removal without municipal approval. It does not matter who cuts the tree down. Also, don't exclusively rely on a contractor to handle permitting issues. If you hire a contractor, and he or she cuts down a tree without necessary approvals, you are the one who is prosecuted, not the contractor. You can let a trusted contractor handle the leg work on permit applications, but make sure you stay on top of it.
This is going to sound like a really stupid question for people familiar with Westchester, but in this case, how do answer the question "where do you live?" By that I mean, what town do you identify with? Assuming Armonk since you're in the school system?
Where I grew up in MA, and now in NJ, we have very defined town borders, with all services (police, fire, school, etc.) inside the 4-walls of the city/town. Anyway, always been curious about this!
It depends on the particular customs of the area. There probably is no real way to summarize it. Using Armonk as an example, the school district there is Byram Hills, and this is the name of the HS as well. But I don't think anyone says they live in Byram Hills. They will say Armonk. That's because Byram Hills isn't a place.
But for areas where the name of the SD and the HS match the name of the local zip code/town, its quite common for people to self-identify with the SD/HS even if their mailing address is something else. Also, some SDs are regional in nature. There, people will usually identify with their mailing address.
Places in Rockland I think illustrate these concepts well. Clarkstown is a Town, as well as the name of a large regional district with two large high schools. Most people don't say they live in Clarkstown. Instead, they will say they live in New City, West Nyack, Congers, Bardonia, ect. In large part because these places each have their own identity/vibe along with their own things like churches, little leagues, ect. Clarkstown is your classic regional district. But Pearl River is a much smaller district with just one smallish HS with very much a single-community feel to the district - most people can walk to most areas of the district if they had to. There, everyone self-identifies as Pearl River, even if they have a non-PR mailing address, which some do.
This is going to sound like a really stupid question for people familiar with Westchester, but in this case, how do answer the question "where do you live?" By that I mean, what town do you identify with? Assuming Armonk since you're in the school system?
Where I grew up in MA, and now in NJ, we have very defined town borders, with all services (police, fire, school, etc.) inside the 4-walls of the city/town. Anyway, always been curious about this!
This is a cheesy response, but it's the truth- I tailor it depending on who is asking. In general, I just say "Chappaqua", but if I'm trying to get work done on my house or otherwise don't want people to think my house is expensive (because it's not), I say "Mount Pleasant".
For people who are from the same area, I say "Chappaqua with Armonk schools" since sometimes, people are trying to figure out if their kids can be friends with yours, which is when the school matters. "Chappaqua with Armonk schools" is also an easy way to describe where you live geographically since that narrows it down to a small radius. If you said "Chappaqua", you could be anywhere within about 5 miles, but if you say "Chappaqua with Armonk schools", you're only talking about the southernmost portion of Chappaqua.
Same holds true for Pleasantville with Armonk schools, or Mt Kisco with Chappaqua schools, etc.
It's nuts! I used to live in NJ too and it was so simple.
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