Good morning. ☕ This is your Thursday, July 30, Rye Record newsletter, curating some of the latest headlines across the city of Rye.

Today’s Weather Channel local forecast is mostly cloudy with a high of 75 degrees. ⛅ Check out the forecast for the rest of the week here.

A small percentage of the city’s population regularly attends government meetings. However, the new comprehensive plan that’s in the works will impact every Rye resident in some fashion.

For that reason, the 15-person committee steering the plan’s creation aims to get more of the community involved, beyond just the handful who keep a close eye on the city council and other political action.

In the committee’s second meeting Monday, the group walked through a public engagement strategy with consultants Tiffany Zezula, deputy director for the Land Use Law Center at Pace University, and Corey Block, of AKRF Planning.

“We are here, in the visioning phase, gathering feedback from you all, from the public, we’ll be synthesizing that, we’ll be doing our own research,” Block told the committee. “From there, we do the preliminary recommendations … the whole time we’re getting feedback from you all.”

Using a “hub-and-spoke” model of engagement, the steering committee will be the central cog in the plan’s creation, surrounded by input from six technical advisory groups (TAGs) focused on topics like housing, economy, transportation, environment, parks and rec, and history/community.

While any resident can participate in a TAG, the city council, steering committee, and project team will also engage boards, commissions, neighborhood and civic groups, nonprofits, business owners, and many others throughout the process.

“There will also be opportunities for additional community-wide engagement workshops, as well as smaller, intimate kitchen table conversations,” the comprehensive plan website says. “All these engagement efforts combined ensure that everyone has a seat at the table.”

Rye residents can submit their email addresses on the website to stay informed of future meetings and opportunities to assist in the planning process.

Click here to read Miranda Ferrante’s full report.

-Today’s newsletter is curated by Chris Marshall

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DOCK & A HARD PLACE. Forest Avenue neighbors are feuding over one homeowner’s plans to build a gangway over protected wetlands into the Long Island Sound to connect with a pier and dock. The owners of the $15 million home first submitted the proposal in late 2023, and have since made several changes. — David Hessekiel

PRIVATE PARTY. The decision to bar private schools from Section 1 postseason play was overturned Monday. On June 16, Section 1 member schools voted 69-4 to exclude private schools from the playoffs, but a NYSPHSAA appeal panel decided to preserve the four schools’ postseason opportunities.

GOOD SHOWING. Rye Neck and Rye Country Day each won two 2026 Metropolitan High School Theater Awards. Rye Neck earned Outstanding Achievement in Direction and Outstanding Performance by a Chorus for “The Prom.” RCDS students earned Outstanding Performance awards for their roles in “Les Misérables School Edition.” — Laura Schiller

THE RYE FINDER. Test your RyeQ with this Rye-centric word search puzzle. This week’s challenge is to find the names of seven words associated with flooding. Answers run vertically, horizontally, and diagonally.

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When Annabel Monaghan’s publisher texted her last September and casually suggested they “jump on a quick Zoom call,” the former Rye resident, Rye Record columnist, and author didn’t expect the news that she was about to receive.

“There is my entire publishing team, screaming into the laptop that I was the ‘GMA’ pick,” Monaghan recalled.

That’s how she learned her newest book, “Dolly All the Time,” was selected as the “Good Morning America” recommended read for June. Monaghan’s fifth romance novel has emerged as one of the summer’s biggest publishing successes. In addition to the GMA recognition, “Dolly” has spent five weeks on The New York Times Best-Seller list.

For Monaghan, who lived in Rye for 22 years before relocating to Greenwich, Conn., and St. Petersburg, Fla., the breakthrough has been years in the making.

— Laura Schiller

A crowd of more than 50 people gathered early in the morning July 3 near Barley Beach House in Rye Town Park, expecting to see a parade of tall ships traversing Long Island Sound on their way to New York Harbor for the nation’s 250th celebration.

Some spectators arrived as early as 8:30 a.m. Some stayed late into the afternoon, even as temperatures approached triple digits. But the ships never came.

Crowds experienced similar letdowns at Playland Beach, the Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Marshlands Conservancy — all locations expected to offer prime viewing of the ships, according to a Sail4th 250 Watch Guide published by Westchester County.

“It may have been a mistake by the publication,” said Peter Himler, founder of Flatiron Communications, the firm that handled public relations for Sail4th 250. “We never published the routes that any of the ships would take en route to or from NYC.”

— Rhonda Barnat

Rye police confirmed a sighting of a bobcat in the city and said they will provide an update about the status of the animal and its location.

Rye resident Terry Caridi posted a photo and video of a bobcat walking through foliage near Summit Avenue and North Street. She said the footage was captured around 2:50 p.m. Sunday.

Rye PD Detective Sargant Chris Salguero said Monday that he’d seen photos and video of the bobcat, and that the department planned to post on social media this week.

While many of the comments on Caridi’s Facebook post admired how beautiful the bobcat is, residents should avoid any interactions with the animal. If you spot a bobcat, the best course of action is to stay calm and avoid running away, which could trigger the bobcat’s instincts to chase.