- Preserve and enhance parks and green space in the city.
- Preserve existing agricultural lands.
- Protect the environment.
- Provide easily accessible public transportation.
- Fill in existing commercial areas before creating additional commercial areas.
- Build up, not out.
- Generate public places and activities that build community cohesiveness.

Summary of Discussion
Transportation
A major concern of the Youth group was transportation: enhancing access to public transportation, increasing frequency of service, reducing the time required to travel between the east and west sides of the county, and reducing dependency on the automobile. A mini-bus system would increase accessibility, frequency, and transit ridership. A car ferry between Myers Point and Taughannock Park could alleviate traffic at the octopus, reduce automobile pollution, and decrease commuting time between points on opposite sides of the lake.

Carpooling should be encouraged through incentives such as developing employer-based pools and carpool-only parking lots. Shuttles between Cornell and downtown Ithaca would enable employees to do errands and enjoy the downtown eateries on their lunch hour. Existing bikeways should be enhanced; installing buffers between highways and bikeways would make people feel safer and encourage greater use.

Agriculture and Open Space
The quality of life in the county is attributable, in large part, to the character of its agricultural and open space areas. Preserving agricultural lands would allow more reliance on locally produced agricultural products, reduce food costs, encourage greater agricultural self-sufficiency, and ensure jobs for farmers in the future.

Water Quality
Water quality is a primary concern in the southern end of Cayuga Lake, for aesthetic, health, and economic reasons. Pollution in this area is attributable to commercial and industrial sources; these uses should be directed away from the lake and toward the southern end of the county.

Environmental Preservation
As growth occurs in the county, environmental areas and parks will experience greater development pressures and pollution problems, making it necessary to permanently preserve some areas. Candidates for preservation should be prioritized so that areas of greatest environmental and ecological importance are preserved first.

Education
An increase in school crowding is possible as the population grows creating a need for additional schools. The group suggested having a centrally located school, such as downtown, where students could access amenities, such as fast food restaurants, and which could be attended by students from various towns. They also suggested that the school grounds encompass or abut a permanently preserved park area.

Commercial Areas
Commercial development should occur in areas with existing commercial development and infrastructure, in-filling the existing spaces and building up rather than out. Existing commercial areas, such as Pyramid Mall and The Commons, should be enhanced to increase their appeal to consumers.

Tourism
The county should enhance efforts to attract tourists to the area. Tourist attractions might include bike races and family bike rides, which would take place along current bikeways or the newly planned bikeway around Cayuga Lake. Transportation ferries could be used to conduct lake tours, dinner cruises, or boating murder mysteries. Music and art festivals should also be promoted to draw more tourism.

Targeted Development
It was suggested that population will remain stable in the city and that population growth and development will occur principally outside the city boundaries. The group targeted the southern part of the county for future development, and suggested that South Hill, with its proximity to Ithaca College, would be a prime location for development. Residential development should occur in small nodes along existing roads and utilize existing infrastructure.

Quality of Life
Community centers should be made appealing places for Tompkins County residents to live and recreate. Existing parks within the city should be enhanced to ensure that people have access to beautiful parks, and some thought should be given to connecting parks, open space, and environmental areas.

There should be more opportunities to get to know other county residents and to live in a community that is more interconnected. The group proposed a centrally located sports complex for county residents which would include sports fields and fitness trails and serve as a location for local festivals. Opportunities for intergenerational interactions would also enhance the quality of life.

Mapping Details
· Preservation areas should not include any future development. The intensity of land use in the forest and the agricultural areas should be significantly lower than in the low intensity areas.

"Vital Communities Workshop Report, 2000-2001", prepared by TCPD & ITCTC, June 2001