Community Planning
"Preserving community character and environmental quality while accommodating growth."

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Matthew Bialecki Associates provides design, planning, and community development services for both public organizations and private development companies. Specializing in the design and development of conservation-based residential communities, MBA links structures to the land and the community by extending the architectural concept into the site, merging it directly with nature

Matthew Bialecki, AIA, has long been active in the regional politics of the Hudson Valley. His focus has been the preservation of open space and the protection of the rural character that makes the towns of this valley special.

Matthew Bialecki’s approach to conservation land planning clearly show in his planning work of the 1980s and 90s – Outlook Farm, River Park and Stonykill are all examples of his efforts to accommodate the inevitable growth of the region while preserving the landscape that brought people to its towns and cities to begin with.

In 2003 Matt Bialecki became active in the ultimately successful fight to save the majestic Shawangunk Ridge from development. Through a grass roots movement that consumed the region for over four years, the construction of a gated community of 350 homes and a golf course on the slopes of the Ridge was halted.

In 2004, galvanized by the fight to Save the Ridge, Matt joined two other pro-Ridge candidates, mounted a successful election campaign, and was elected to the Gardiner Town Board in a landslide election that swept three new members onto the board.

After winning office, Matt was appointed Chairman of the 2005 Town of Gardiner Zoning Advisory Committee. In that capacity he applied his knowledge of community and environmental planning to Gardiner’s ARR-200 zone, which is comprised of the foothills, slopes, escarpments, and plateau of the Shawangunk Ridge. The zoning proposal protected over ten miles of pristine escarpment and over 9,000 acres of Shawangunk Ridge landscape. The proposed laws strictly limited overall density, prohibited construction on the upper elevation of the Ridge and implemented comprehensive development standards for the lower elevations.

The law proposed by the Zoning advisory Committee was passed unanimously by the Gardiner Town Board in 2006. The new law was a significant reason for the State acquisition of the lands that had been slated for the gated community and effectively ended, on a happy note, the battle to “Save the Ridge.”

Following the success of the ARR-200 zoning revisions, Matt chaired the 2006 Zoning Advisory Committee to tackle the remaining zoning for the Town of Gardiner. That proposed law, aiming to protect the diverse character of the town while also giving landowners a range of options and choices for the use, development, and conservation of their land, was presented to the Town Board in (month?) of 2007 and is under review.