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Comprehensive Plan
New York statutes define a comprehensive plan as the "materials, written and/or graphic, including but not limited to maps, charts, studies, resolutions, reports and other descriptive material that identify the goals, objectives, principles, guidelines, policies, standards, devices and instruments for the immediate and long range protection, enhancement, growth and development of the [locality]."
While there are no required components of a comprehensive plan, the statutes suggest fifteen elements for inclusion. To view the 15 elements click here.
The New York State Court of Appeals noted in Udell v. Haas that "the comprehensive plan is the essence of zoning. Without it, there can be no rational allocation of land use." The statutes require that all land use regulations must be made "in accordance with a comprehensive plan." Therefore, planning should precede any adoption or amendment of a land use regulation.
New Baltimore has a Comprehensive Plan that was adopted in 1974. This plan provides the basis for zoning in New Baltimore. However, the fact that it has not been updated in 30 years suggests that it is the time to look at it again.
The process that New Baltimore is pursuing has a Vision phase and an Action phase as indicated in the Plan to Plan section. The Vision phase would do a lot of the background and public participation work that would support development of a Comprehensive Plan. Actually preparing the plan would be a part of the Action phase.
Example of Comprehensive Plan
Looking at examples of plans from other communities is interesting but does not tell much of the story. All you see is the plan document. The document is often less important than the process used to develop it. If in your process you have reached consensus and built momentum the plan will begin to come alive even with a simple and brief document. If not, even the best plan document will gather dust on the shelf.
Nevertheless, looking at a sample is can be very informative. To view a sample of a comprehensive plan click on the link below. This is the final draft of a plan for the Town of Plattekill. It looks like a good job, and is about the order of magnitude that New Baltimore might want to undertake. The content, of course, would be different for New Baltimore. The fact that this plan is posted as an example on the New York Planning Federation web site suggests that they think it is a good example also. To view the Master Plan for Plattekill click here.
Population and Economic Data
According to the 2000 Census the population of New Baltimore is 3417. We have 57 more women than men. We are 97% white. Our median age is 40.9. We live in 1269 households. 85% own our own homes.
Our median income is $48,135. That compares with $36,493 for Greene County. It is the highest for any town in Greene - yet 50 families, 5.3% live below the poverty level (compared to 8.6% for the County).
Our unemployment rate at the time of the census was 1.4%. 80% of those of us who were employed drove to work. Our average commute time was 30 minutes.
All of the Census 2000 is available on-line. For more information about Population and Housing try clicking here - for more on Employment and Income try clicking here. These are complicated links. If they do not work it is easy to get this data from the census. Click here for access to the census. Select the data you want to see from the drop down, then select "for a city or town" then select NY then New Baltimore and click go. Its easy.
Smart Growth/Quality Communities
Smart growth is an concept in planning that is gaining momentum, particularly in more urban areas that are already experiencing the downsides of rapid growth. In New York, a parallel Governor's initiative is called Quality Communities.
In communities across the nation, there is a growing concern that current development patterns -- dominated by what some call "sprawl" -- are no longer in the long-term interest of our cities, existing suburbs, small towns, rural communities, or wilderness areas. Though supportive of growth, communities are questioning the economic costs of abandoning infrastructure in the city, only to rebuild it further out. Spurring the smart growth movement are demographic shifts, a strong environmental ethic, increased fiscal concerns, and more nuanced views of growth. The result is both a new demand and a new opportunity for smart growth/quality communities.
To view Principles of Smart Growth click here.
To visit the New York State Quality Communities website click here.
Hudson River Valley Greenway
According to its website, the Hudson River Valley Greenway is an innovative state sponsored program created to facilitate the development of a voluntary regional strategy for preserving scenic, natural, historic, cultural and recreational resources while encouraging compatible economic development and maintaining the tradition of home rule for land use decision-making."
While many resources and programs of the Greenway are available to all communities, some technical and financial assistance, particularly for planning, is reserved for communities that have passed a resolution supporting the Greenway Criteria and have been accepted by the Greenway Board as Greenway Communities.
The Greenway criteria are: natural and cultural resource protection; economic development, including tourism, agriculture and the redevelopment of our urban areas and commercial waterfronts; public access; regional planning; and heritage and environmental education. To view more detail about the Greenway Criteria click here.
Becoming a Greenway Community requires passing a resolution supporting the criteria. So far, 200 out of 259 eligible communities have joined. While all are free to withdraw at any time so far none have done so. To view a sample resolution to become a Greenway community click here.
To visit the Greenway Conservancy website click here. To check out the excellent technical assistance "toolbox" click on the "tech assist" button at the bottom of each page.
Community Economic Development
The Community Economic Vitality initiative of the Community and Rural Development Institute (CaRDI) at Cornell offers a "toolbox" that they believe will be of help to anyone interested in community development.
This toolbox is intended to support the many communities where decision-making is constrained by limited understanding of the problems facing them, their information needs and the potential solutions for meeting community goals. And in many communities, the breadth of problems faced eclipses the training, knowledge, or experience of most local officials. Often times, rural isolation exacerbates the difficulties of meeting Community Community Development needs where staff, training, and resources can be especially limited.
By using these community and economic development tools, communities can be empowered to improve residents' economic opportunity and quality of life.
To view the Cornell toolbox click here.
To visit the Community and Rural Development (CaRDI) website at Cornell click here.
Land Use
Pace Law School
The Land Use Law Center at Pace University has a lot of information with a strong emphasis on New York State. A good starting point is "What is Land Use Law?"
One of the points that comes across clearly is the need to have an up to date plan as a legal underpinning for zoning and other local land use decisions. Even if we had no other reason for planing this would be reason enough. Click here for excerpts from two articles from the Pace Land Use Law Center that deal with this.
There is much more on the Pace website on specific tools and techniques:
Overlay Zoning - Moratorium on Development - Cluster Development - Transfer of Development Rights - Variances - Official Map - Using SEQRA to Preserve Open Space - Zoning Ordinance and Its Amendment
And there is still much more on this interesting site - check out the Table of Contents for Pace Land Use Law Center
Property Rights
One of the potential issues that may come up when discussing comprehensive planning is the perceived affect on "property rights". As part of a lecture series on smart growth, David System, a real estate developer, gave his views on why comprehensive planning and land use control are not inconsistent wit property rights. Here are a couple of comments he made:
By itself, Comprehensive Planning does not affect property rights because the planning effort itself does not change land use controls. However, changes in zoning or other land use controls are often seen as ways to implement goals or as a solution to problems identified in comprehensive planning - so we need to think about how to respond to challenges based on perceived "property rights".
Perception: "It's my land, I have a right to do with/on it whatever I want."
Comment: All of our "rights" come with limits. The constitution guarantees the right to keep and bear arms - but we enjoy that right with limitations to protect the public. There is an old legal saying "My right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins". What you do with your property affects the property around you.
To download the text of the full speech, or to listen to it on line, click here then scroll down through the list of speeches till you get to June 13 2001 and then click on either the text download or the audio.