By
Jim Hanson, Commissioner of Planning
Why
doesn’t Tompkins County have a Comprehensive Land Use Plan? The main issue up until now was there did
not seem to be any consensus of public opinion to support it.
Many
people were in the ideological predicament expressed so well by American
columnist Sydney J. Harris, “Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at
the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.” But now it seems that the tide has
changed. People are ready to start
making intelligent choices necessary to make things better.
The
Tompkins County Planning Department has been seeking a way to gather public
input that leads to consensus on comprehensive planning.
Many
area residents may not be aware that county governments in New York State have
only minimal authority over land use decisions. The law of “home rule” in New York State dictates that local
municipalities (i.e., towns, cities and villages) have the power to make land
use decisions within their boundaries.
Therefore, county planning departments are often put in the role of
advisors, educators, and facilitators.
To
make a county comprehensive planning process something more than just a
document that sits on the shelf, it is important that the community be fully
involved and that a consensus be reached on how, where, and what kind of
development should occur. The County’s
Vital Communities Initiative strives to do just that. Through an intensive effort of gathering input and educating the
public on key planning issues, we hope to identify a set of development and
preservation principles that most people in this diverse community can agree on
as important to maintaining and creating vital communities.
Some
of the impetus for developing this initiative came from innovative land use
planning efforts that were implemented throughout the nation in the 1990s to
combat sprawl and improve the vitality of existing communities. As professional planners, Tompkins County
Planning Department staff felt that they should be leading the County in an
effort to improve the quality of life for its citizens. There was a sense among the group that, even
though Tompkins County has been experiencing only a low rate of growth, it is
suffering from development patterns which do not make the most efficient use of
its public facilities, do not enhance its existing communities, and may
unnecessarily detract from its natural features. Staff was also responding to concerns with the existing
development patterns, as expressed by a variety of local organizations
throughout the 1990s, including: the
Environmental Management Council, Tompkins County Area Development, Citizens
Planning Alliance, Advocates for Sensible Area Planning, the Northeast Sub-area
Transportation Study Working Group, and the Tompkins County Greenway Coalition.
In
October 2000, and January 2001, the County Planning Department hosted
participatory workshops for groups of people representing various community
planning-related functions in the private, not-for-profit, and government
sectors to actively participate in creating future land use maps as a first
step in this Vital Communities Initiative.
In the October session, participants worked a full Saturday on deciding
the importance of various land use activities such as the environment,
agriculture, economic development, land development, neighborhood quality and
local planning. Persons concerned with social, land use, and infrastructure issues
here in Tompkins County attended the second workshop, which was held on
Saturday, January 20, 2001. Attendees
of this workshop included representatives from area youth, education, and human
service agencies/organizations, as well as local elected officials. Participants served as “futurists for the
day” and, together, came up with ideas as to what Tompkins County might be like
in 50 years time. In doing this, they
were asked to consider those aspects of current life in Tompkins County that
they valued and felt were important enough to preserve or improve upon in the
future. Participants were also asked to
take into account modest growth projections for population, housing, retail
space and employment needs for the County in that same 50-year time span. Each workshop table was staffed by a
professional facilitator from “Interface” of the Community Dispute Resolution
Center, as well as a planner/technician from the County Planning Department to
assist them in their efforts.
The
upcoming activity scheduled for the Vital Communities Initiative is a public
kick-off meeting on June 14 from 7:30 – 9:30 PM at the Ramada Inn near Pyramid
Mall. The insightful Mayor of
Rochester, William Johnson Jr., will speak about some practical alternatives to
sprawl; and local residents and former workshop participants Bruno Schickel and
Fred Wilcox will discuss the history of the Vital Communities Initiative and
highlight the goals of the project.
This
meeting will be the first of many public forums to gather ideas and feedback
from the public on planning in the County, as well as provide an opportunity to
report on the work already completed at the two previous workshops. A written report summarizing these
activities will be available at this public meeting, and at the Planning
Department offices on 121 East Court Street, Ithaca.
The
Vital Communities Initiative Steering Committee members, Sharon Anderson, Sue
Cosentini, John Forester, Sonya Hicks, Jean McPheeters, Tom Parsons, Monika
Roth, John Schroeder and Fred Wilcox III, will guide the staff in its Vital
Communities Initiative for 2001. The
main objective is to gather input from the public and local governments in
order to prepare a set of Development and Preservation Principles for the
County. These documents will assist local governments, private, and non-profit
entities in guiding future land use decisions throughout the County.
Long
term plans for the Vital Communities Initiative beyond the June 14th
meeting include:
·
public
education on issues having to do with growth, preservation, and quality
neighborhoods;
·
analysis
of the economic and non-economic costs and benefits of various possible
development scenarios;
·
a
“toolbox” of land use measures for public and private entities to use to
implement the Development and Preservation Principles;
·
pilot
projects in key communities to work with local residents and municipal
officials to tailor land use measures so they are appropriate for the
community.
Ultimately,
the Board of Representatives will be able to use the Development and
Preservation Principles to assist in the review of the County’s various
programs for consistency in adhering to the goals and objectives of a County
Comprehensive Planning Effort.
I
thoroughly believe the time has come for Tompkins County to solidly address the
planning needs of this community comprehensively. With public input and technical advice from professional
planners, Tompkins County can intelligently plan for future growth.