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The Lansing Town Board did not cancel a public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan update that is scheduled for next Wednesday.  At a meeting last month the Board voted 3-2 to scheulde the public hearing for December 20.  Councilwoman Katrina Binkewicz expressed strong objections to holding a public hearing so close to Christmas and then potentially voting to accept the plan immediately afterward.  In response to that and strong public outcry Lansing Supervisor Ed LaVigne called a special Town Board working session Wednesday to cancel the public hearing in order to give the Board and the public more time to consider the final draft.  While LaVigne agreed not to hold a vote on accepting the plan next week, the Board adjourned without cancelling the public hearing.

Town Attorney Guy Krogh recommended not cancelling the December 20th public hearing on the grounds that it would allow the Town Board to meet a New York State requirement to hold a public hearing within 90 days of receiving the draft plan from the Planning Board.  Krogh said that puts the deadline at February 11th, but warned that if a bad snow storm were to postpone a hearing set for late January or early February, it could force the public hearing to be cancelled, which would push the plan back to the Planning Board.  That would mean more delay, including another public hearing in front of the Planning Board before the plan could be considered for final approval again by the Town Board.

Instead he recommended keeping the public hearing for next week, saying the Board could then schedule further informational sessions, discussion periods, or even more public hearings once the State's 90 day requirement had been met.

"If you get a recommendation from your planning board are you required to have a public hearing within 90 days?  Yes," Krogh said.  "Once you adopt it are you supposed to refer to it when you do your subdivision reviews and your local laws, and your policies?  Yes.  Is it set in stone?  No.  It's supposed to evolve."

Planning Board Chairman Tom Ellis made a case for accepting the plan sooner, saying that his board had spent nearly a year on the plan, making the language more concise, and trimming the plan to nearly half its original 200 page size.  A 239 review of the plan by the Tompkins County Planning Department had only yielded a few minor changes to the Planning Board's draft.

"In the end the professional planners at the County said this is a pretty good plan, except for two items that they changed some words on," he said.  "I am looking forward to moving forward.  The Planning Board and this town needs to update zoning maps, and the land use ordinance.  We can't do it unless the Comprehensive Plan is finalized.  We are anxious to get moving on this.  This starts the new year in a new direction."

	In the Lansing Planning Board's response to the Tompkins County Planning Department's 239 Review, the Planning Board adopted suggested language from the County Planning Department on residential mixed use moderate density areas.  A statement saying impacts would be analyzed in detail before any zoning amendments are adopted.  A statement regarding natural gas infrastructure in Lansing was changed from using the word 'expand' to 'enhance', referring to a NYSEG plan prompted by the County to make current natural gas delivery more reliable without expanding capacity, and at the same time encouraging the transition to alternative forms of energy.

Ellis noted that some people in the Town perceive contention between groups of people, and that disagreement on the process of getting the plan approved had fed those flames. 

"As a lifetime resident, I don't see that," he said.  "There are some differences in how we view this document and how we should proceed.  If you want to ask the people who were involved in this, did it happen properly?  Is it a good plan?  I think you're going to get a good opinion of it.  We would like to move forward as a planning board.  In the end we've got a good document and we've proved it.  If we drag this thing back next year and start over again it's going to exacerbate the differences in the town that some people think exist."

Councilman Doug Dake agreed with Ellis that the plan should be approved sooner.  He said seven years of deliberation is enough, and that because the plan is a guide, but not a law, that it would not be a matter of rushing changes to zoning and planning.

"We can still talk about it even if it's adopted," he said.  "Nothing's going to change."

LaVigne echoed the thought.  He said nothing tangible changes when the plan is approved, and when tangible changes are made to zoning laws and ordinances there is plenty of opportunity for the public to weigh in built into the process, including public meetings and required public hearings.

"This a great opportunity now, since we have people stimulated here and this is a teachable moment for me, get you input as fast as you can, because then it's easier for them to incorporate it, as opposed to everybody piling on at the end, saying 'we didn't have a chance'," he said.  "Well, you know, you do have a chance."

But Binkewicz argued that a little extra time should be spent to allow thoughtful deliberation among town board members, with input from the community.

"I was told when we turned this process over to the Planning Board that it would come back to the Town Board to review further.  And we would have more conversations with people, and have our own hearing after we have gone through those processes.  So I feel like the time frame is overly compressed.  Yes, you had it a long time.  it came to you needing a lot of work.  That's not the Town Board's fault and I feel like some of you have attended the Planning Board meetings but I was told 'why weigh in more until we get the final result?'  So I backed off.  And I am begging for myself and for the town some respect to be able to process it, talk about it, do a little more public connection -- not conflict -- connection.  I believe that in a few more months -- I do not feel it should go into the summer -- but I do think we should give it it's due time."

LaVigne asked Krogh how many public meetings had already been held at which the public did or could have made comments.

"If you include the Ag Plan there have been four public hearings so far and the Town Board's will be five," Krogh said.  "If you include the Ag Plan there have been four public information sessions.  if you include the work with professional planners and the Town Center (Committee) there was some work there.  I think the count since October, 2014 is over 50 public meetings.  It's closer to 65, but I haven't done an exact count."

Krogh continued to advise that next Wednesday's public hearing should take place, simply to meet the 90 day requirement.  LaVigne and Binkewicz agreed that the public hearing could be held if the Board does not vote on acceptance of the plan, leaving a few months for a series of informational meetings and further deliberation by the Town Board before approving a final draft in the Spring.

Some of the public expressed disappointment that they were not able to speak at the working session, not realizing that while the public is invited to attend working sessions, the purpose is for the Board to talk among themselves.  Some even created their own speaker sign-up sheet, but the Board kept to the accepted format, for the most part.  The public will have the opportunity to speak next week and potentially at further meetings in the first few months of 2018.

"We have a lot of great minds here," Binkewicz said.  "A lot of great work has been done.  I'm not disputing that.  But I think the collective conversation, and by that I mean a stimulating back-and-forth with people in a group... I think the proposal that we have on our plate is a possible one to go into the New Year, not make a huge extension of the process, but to go out to areas of the Town and say 'these are some major changes and proposals.  Let's talk about it.'"

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