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Trustees considered the final questions Monday to be included in a poll they will distribute to 300 businesses in the Village of Lansing.  The poll is part of an effort to get information from residents and businesses to help direct the direction a comprehensive plan update will take.  Trustee Julie Baker presented a draft of a survey, which Trustees edited in their meeting Monday.

"When you get all the information you need, that's just the start of the process," said Village Attorney David Dubow.  "The surveys are simply a tool to provide information to the Village Planning Board and Board of Trustees.  As long as everybody understands that somewhere in the comprehensive plan you want to have a basis upon which you may make some zoning decisions."

The new survey is based on one that was conducted in 1989.  While many of the questions are still relevant, others were deleted from the new version.  Some new topics were added including questions about whether sidewalks are adequate to promote walking traffic to stores, how stores would like to handle the theft and dumping of shopping carts, and whether businesses would benefit from mixed use zoning.

The Trustees and Planning Board members have long thought in terms of 'buffer' areas that provide a transition between the voluminous commercial businesses and residential areas.  More recently a limited approach to mixed use has become a big issue in the Village, even in high traffic commercial zones.  The idea is that a segment of the population would like to live where they can easily walk to where they shop.  While this has been motivated in part by the high cost of gasoline, it also addresses segments of the population that have trouble driving or walking a distance.

A few years ago Ithaca Mall officials were considering rows of outdoor shops with apartments upstairs that would have been placed at the southern end of the mall near the old movie theater location.  At that time officials were interested and encouraging of that kind of mixed use.  While that project never came to fruition, an integral part of the mall's BJ's Wholesale Club project was the development of senior housing units north of BJ's, along Oakcrest Road.  That piece of the project has undergone several changes since it was first proposed, increasing the number of units.  It has been held up by approvals needed by the Army Corps of Engineers relating to wetlands on the property.

The survey will also ask business owners whether their employees live in the Village or commute, how important renewable energy initiatives are to business owners, whether business is expected to grow, support for more commercial and/or industrial development

Deputy Mayor Lynn Leopold noted that the Village has seen significant changes since the last survey was conducted.  The business and technology park near the airport is one example, and the medical segment of the Village on Warren Road is another.  Dubow warned that survey questions should have practical applications in determining future development, zoning and laws in the Village.

"In creating the questions you want to make sure you are addressing the issues that are set forth in your comprehensive plan," he said.  "A human health district, for instance -- that was all developed after 1989.  It's expanding significantly so you want to include questions as to that whole area.  Do you want to continue to develop that?  Has it been good?  Has it been bad?"

The Trustees plan to personally deliver copies of the survey to business owners and managers, splitting the businesses between the five board members.  Recognizing that the retail segment of Village businesses will be focussing on 'Black Friday', the most important day in the retail year, they plan to distribute the survey in early December.

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