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County Plan Moves Toward Completion While The Lansings Struggle With Their Plans

The Tompkins County Planning Department held its fifth of six open houses at the Lansing Town Hall Wednesday to answer questions and receive feedback about its draft Comprehensive Plan update.  The County is nearing the end of a nearly two year process, creating a major update to the plan that guides county officials as they make decisions on growth and development.  Deputy Commissioner of Planning Joan Jurkowich says the meetings are part of an ongoing drive to solicit public input into the document that will craft the county's future.

"We're reaching new people," she says.  "We're quite happy with that.  Largely the people we're seeing now are people we haven't seen before, so that's a success for us.  We're not just hearing the same people saying the same thing."

Jurkowich was one of a handful of planners who came to Lansing to talk about the plan.  Displays that explained each topic covered by the draft plan were set up around the courtroom.

Attendance at these outreach meetings has been low, averaging around ten to twelve people.  But Jurkowich says that the sessions are bringing people who have not participated in earlier outreach efforts, that included similar meetings around the county last summer, and a public survey conducted about a year ago to learn what topics county residents thought should be addressed, and which are most important to residents today.

The last major update to the plan was completed in 2004.  The new update adds new material as well as updating existing issues.  New topics were added based on the survey.  They include climate adaptation, sustainability and healthy communities.

"The public identified the need to address healthy communities," Jurkowich says.  "They addressed the need to address fiscal responsibility, not just at the county level, but at all levels of government.  So those things have been incorporated into the plan in response to the public."


Jurkowich says the draft currently available on the Tompkins County Web Site is a complete draft, but not yet a final draft.  She says the deadline for public comment is October 31, and after that has been collated a final draft will be crafted.  She says the Planning Department hopes the final plan will be ready for a public hearing in January with an eye toward Legislature approval in February.

Both the Town and Village of Lansing are also in the midst of major updates to their comprehensive plans.  While Tompkins County has a department that includes a half dozen planners that drive their update process, the Lansings have taken different approaches.  The two municipalities shared a scientific telephone survey to gather data about current residents' concerns, but from there they went in very different directions.

In the Village officials divvied up chapters in the old version of the plan, with teams of one or two Trustees, Planning Board members and a few residents updating individual portions.  Mayor Donald Hartill expressed some frustration with the amount of time the process has taken when Village Clerk Jodi Dake reported Monday she has not many of the chapters for collation.  Trustee John O'Neil suggested a deadline of the end of November, but not all the Trustees were certain they will be able to finish by that time.  If they do it is likely that they will have a final draft to approve around the time the county plan is voted on by the Legislature.  But with no strong motivating force in the Village, it is uncertain when the update will be complete.

The Town formed a committee comprised of thirteen community members including Village of Lansing Deputy mayor Lynn Leopold, plus four Town and Planning Board members.  In addition to a detailed analysis of the telephone survey the committee had begun holding public information/input sessions to inform its work on the update.  It was guided by Town Planning Consultant Jonathan Kanter until he moved out of the area around March.  The committee lost much of its momentum without the guidance of a planner, and it wasn't until this month that Michael Long was hired to fill the part time position.  Long hopes to restart the process.  Before he left Kanter estimated the committee would need another year to complete the update.

"I am hopeful that we can get a draft together before that," Long says.  "Right now I am trying to assess how much has been completed, how much the committee assumes is complete, where there are gaps we want to try to fill in."

Long says that the Town plan will not necessarily be impacted by the County plan, but he has met with Tompkins County Commissioner of Planning  Ed Marx and other county staff to get up to speed with issues the County has identified as important.

"What's good for the county is good for the town, and what's good for the town is good for the county," Long says.  "As you look at the issues, primarily we've got transportation, housing and development, agriculture is a big part of our town.  Where is your growth going to happen? Are you going to expand your businesses?  Are you going to have different types of housing options? Those are things that the county is discussing in their plan."

Jurkowich says that there is still another week for community members to provide input before her department begins to craft the final plan.  She notes that while the current draft is complete, there is still time to amend it.

"It's a complete draft, but it is still a draft," she says.  "We are still looking for input.  Last year we did the outreach on what the topics should be.  Now this document lays out the background facts and figures and pulls it all together."

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