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Lansing's budget passed 3-2 Wednesday.  A bone of contention during budget talks in the past few months has been the addition of a full time municipal planner to the Town's employee roster.  At least one board member says that the Town has done just fine with part-time planner Jonathan Kanter, a professional municipal planner who retired from the Town of Ithaca a few years ago.  Kanter's contract ends soon, and while all the board members have said they have been quite impressed with the impact a professional planner has had on the development of the comprehensive plan and Codes Office operations -- and Kanter's work in particular --  Board members disagree on what to do next.

Lansing Supervisor Kathy Miller says that the Town needs a full time planner.  She made her case Saturday at a budget forum.   Miller made the point that the number of employees in the department has decreased from five to two and a half (Kanter is currently completing a part-time contract), but the workload has not.

"Without a planner developers can drive what happens in your town," Miller said.  "And that's what's been happening here.  It's been driven not by what we want.  it's been driven by developers.  That's not good for the Town."

Councilmen Ed LaVigne and Robert Cree have expressed concerns with the budget impact a new full time position brings, particularly because of escalating benefits costs.  Cree said Saturday that he understands the need for a planner, but has reservations about ongoing costs to the Town.

"It's fair to say a board isn't always going to be on the same page," he said.  "I don't disagree with the arguments that are being made.  It will come down to education.  The more people understand what a planner can do for this town, as opposed to another person on the payroll -- once you get a person on the payroll and they start to get benefits, that's where we tend to lose control, because now they're on state programs where everything is being dictated."

Lansing Planning Board Chairman Tom Ellis attended the public hearing on the budget Wednesday to express strong support for a full time planner position.  He said that Kanter's professionalism has added a level of professionalism the Planning Board did not previously have access to, and his participation has dramatically reduced the need for an attorney at Planning Board meetings, saving the Town significant dollars.

Ellis, a builder, has been on the planning board for eight years.  He noted this is the first time a municipal planner has been available to participate with the Planning Board, and said that Kanter already exceeds his contractual hours, but can't keep up with the need.  Ellis said that may mean a 30 or 60 day delay because of timing for public hearings or other state-defined procedures that end up costing significant dollars because the limited upstate New York building season pushes projects into the next year.

"I've seen the difference that a qualified planner makes in the last two years.  It's been phenomenal," he said.  "Materials have been brought to the board on a timely basis.  It has all proceeded in a very professional manner.  We have not had that in the previous six years I was on the board.  I know the 24-hour a week planner is exceeding those hours every week.  I also know there are things on his desk that he's not able to get to in a timely manner for a small town that would like to process projects as quickly as we can."

He also argued that the Town won't be able to attract a young qualified, long term planner who is likely to stay in the position and provide knowledgable, consistent input over a long term to follow through with the Town's vision as expressed in the comprehensive plan that is currently under review unless the job is full time.  He said a part time planner would either be at the end of his or her career and would stay for a few years and then retire, or be at the beginning of a career and leave for a full time job elsewhere, negating the benefit to the town of consistant stewardship of the comprehensive plan.

"It would have been impossible to have a Comprehensive Plan Committee without a planner," Councilwoman Hopkins said at Saturday's forum.  "Citizens could do it, but it wouldn't have the expertise."

Hopkins said that you need a certain amount of research, data gathering and information to run a town.  She said the planner is the one who gathers that information, which she said helps economic development because they know the local market.  That includes trends and what is likely to be needed in the town.

"Without a planner, who's going to do it?" she asked.  "Town Board members don't have the time.  So it's very important to economic development to have a planner."

"In the absence of that influence developers took up that ownership and we needed up with plans that were really developers' ideas, not the Town's." Councilwoman Katrina Binkewicz added.  "It wasn't reflecting the community's needs."

Miller handed out a list of seven developments that are in the planning stages or have been approved that will account for at leaset 471 units including townhouses and single family homes.  Two other developments were listed as 'sitting idle' and the Town is currently considering replies to Request For Proposals (RFPs) for developing the town center land across the street from the town ballfields. 

Past boards have implemented different approaches that make the Town appear to be swaying back and forth in philosophy.  When Steve Farkas was Lansing Supervisor the board came up with a rough plan for a future Public Works Department that would encompass the current Codes and Highway Departments.  The department outline called for a full time planner and an in-house engineer, among other changes to the then current structure.  As a first step they hired a planner.

But Cree notes that they hired an environmental planner, which was not necessarily a good fit for the Town then or now.  Town Bookkeeper and Deputy Supervisor Sharon Bowman agrees.

"The truth of the matter is that's not really what we needed," she said.  "Back then we really needed a true (municipal) planner.  We probably wouldn't be having this discussion if we had had a clear understanding in 2009 or 2010 of what our real need was." 

Under Scott Pinney, the next Supervisor, it was determined that what the Town really needed was a full time in-house engineer.  An engineer who was not certified was hired with the idea that he would become certified, which did not happen.  His position was eliminated under Miller's administration, and Kanter was hired.  The benefits of having a professional municipal planner on staff have not been lost on the board.

At its final meeting several members of the Sewer Committee agreed with that idea, saying that a planner might have made the difference in bringing sewer to Lansing, because a planner has the communication skills to explain the project as well as skills that would have better pinpointed needs in the Town and why a sewer would help reach those goals.

"Everybody on the committee except one person thought a planner would have helped that process go more smoothly," Hopkins noted.  "They are good listening posts for towns.  Planners tend to bring in community input on land use planning, just because they hear so much from the community."

Binkewicz said that in hiring a planner the Town will have to be careful to find a professional who will apply his or her expertise to the Town's own goals for future development.

"Some people may have a fear that a planner will bring in a new cookie-cutter approach to creating a town," Binkewicz said.  "Validly, we have a town and validly we want our planner to honor the town that we have.  They should become very familiar with it.  They should go out to the areas and meet people and really have that understanding of what our town is, and how you can take modern thought and planning practices to create something that people feel respected in."

The board voted 3-2 Wednesday to approve the 2014 budget, which includes $55,000 for a full time planner.  That figure includes benefits, and is pro-rated for 10 months based on the assumption that a planner will be hired by March 2014.

The future of that position may be in flux because of Tuesday's election.  The current board is comprised of three Democrats and two Republicans who questioned the need for a full time, rather than a part time planner in the coming year.  That is how the vote went, the all Democrats voting to approve the budget and the two Republicans voting no.  With the election of Doug Dake next year's board will have three Republicans and two Democrats.  While that is not necessarily a predictor of the future of the planner position, it will certainly influence the philosophical direction the Town takes on many issues.

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