It was never ‘just a job’ for John Tegeder

After 28 years guiding the town’s growth and development, Director of Planning John Tegeder is retiring, ending a tenure that helped shape some of the community’s most recognizable landmarks.

Over his career, Tegeder worked under nine supervisors, including a brief three-month period when Alice Roker served as acting supervisor, while overseeing projects such as the restoration of Railroad Park, the transformation of Patriot Park into The Veteran Memorials Circle, the Shrub Oak memorial gazebo and multiple streetscape improvements that continue to define the town’s character.

“I never treated it as just a job. I just hope that I made it a little better, that we improved it, that we moved it in the direction that makes some people pleased with the way things look, and the areas that they use and move around in their public life,” Tegeder told Yorktown News while sitting in the planning office. “I hope we did a little bit better job than otherwise would have happened.”

For Tegeder, serving as director of planning has always been more than jut a profession and he considers his colleagues more than just coworkers.

His retirement comes with emotion, reflecting a career he described as “rewarding, challenging, vexing.”

“It's not easy being a boss sometimes,” he said. “My view on the way to do things is in a collaborative way.”

Before coming to Yorktown in the late 1990s, the now-65-year-old architect by trade worked in architectural design and construction management. A colleague was serving as planner under then-Director of Planning Magnus Sjoberg. There were two openings — his friend was leaving the planner position, and there was also an open assistant planner position. Tegeder’s friend encouraged him to apply.

He served as assistant planner, working alongside an environmental clerk and a clerical staff member. A little more than a year after Tegeder started, Sjoberg abruptly left the department, leaving Tegeder to take on additional responsibilities. From January 1999 until he was named director several years later, Tegeder assumed leadership duties without formally holding the title.

In the early years, he said it took time to fully understand the town’s issues.

“They're not really written down—they're embedded in people's experience,” Tegeder said.

But he did not expect in those early days to spend so much of his career in Yorktown, but he grew to love the work.

“It became a pleasurable way to spend my time,” Tegeder said. “It became an interesting job and an interesting set of issues, an interesting gaggle of people that were moving the issues around.”

What kept him in the role, he said, was the mission that “Yorktown deserves to have high quality development, to uphold high standards, to pay attention to how things lay on the land, and how the architecture—whether it pleases us, or not.”

To honor his service and contributions, the town has declared his official retirement date of March 20 as "John Tegeder Day."

And while's retiring from his day-to-day role, he's not stepping away entirely. Tegeder, who lives in Mahopac, will serve on the newly formed steering committee, which will conduct a review to update the town’s comprehensive plan, adopted in 2010. As he begins retirement, the Town Board approved an agreement March 17 allowing him to continue working up to 18 hours a week at $105 per hour under a six-month contract, which will be reviewed at that time.

“This is quite overwhelming and quite an honor,” Tegeder said at the March 17 Town Board meeting.

“When I came here, I shut my mouth and tried to learn a little bit for quite a while,” he said. “And then I wanted to continue what was laid before I got here — a lot of good [work] from people that went before all of us. I tried to build on that using my architectural knowledge and my love of history, intertwining all that. I hope that I made it a little bit better.”

Town Planner Robyn Steinberg will begin serving as provisional director of planning beginning March 23. At the time of this interview, Tegeder said he would ask the board to “strongly consider” Steinberg, who has been in Yorktown for almost 24 years, as someone who knows the town well and the responsibilities of the position.

Development applications, Tegeder said, were among the most engaging parts of the job.

“With all the people involved and all of the competing agendas and issues, and needs and desires made for an exciting process,” he said. “Frustrating, but exciting.”

He credited his architectural background with helping him evaluate proposals, particularly site layout, building design and how structures fit into the surrounding environment.

“You have to be respectful of where they want to go always,” he said. “Being confrontational doesn't work.

“It’s a matter of knowing how to compete with a lot of different things that are out there and try to get what you think should happen, or what your mission is, as much as possible.”

Tegeder said his calm, explanatory presence at Town Board meetings and other meetings over the years was simply the way he operated and helped ensure that everyone felt heard.

He worked with numerous town boards, advisory committees, residents and regional partners, what the proclamation described as “demonstrating professionalism, and a steadfast commitment to public service” that guided Yorktown through consequential decisions.

“The Town of Yorktown has benefited greatly from John Tegeder’s leadership on key initiatives, including improvements to planning processes, protection of natural resources, revitalization efforts, and the promotion of sustainable development practices," the proclamation said.