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Welcome to LansingThe Lansing Town Board adopted the Town's Comprehensive plan at it's regular meeting Wednesday.  The plan is an approach to guiding future growth and development within the town. 

"We have over 200 residential properties or subdivisions that are in the process now, or coming to the planning board to be talked about in the near future," Deputy Supervisor Bud Shattuck said.  "We've had senior citizens complexes approach us about being able to move into this community.  And we've had hotels.  Banks, restaurants, and grocery stores are all part of that mix."

As the fastest growing community in Tompkins County many factors make Lansing a prime spot for development now and in the future.  Tompkins County has the distinction of having a growing economy in an economic atmosphere where other counties and localities in the northeast are shrinking.  There is a great need for housing in the county, where in 2000 13,737 people commuted from other counties to work here.  The County Legislature want approximately 3,000 new residences over the next ten years.  Many of them will be in Lansing.

With 60.7 square miles of territory, Lansing is second in size only to Dryden.  The mall complexes and businesses in Lansing Village, the Cornell Business & Technology Park, the airport, Cornell, Borg Warner and other large employers in or near the town, Lansing's proximity to Ithaca, and the availability of land all make Lansing a prime candidate for growth.  "Lansing has many features that make it a desirable place to live and raise a family," Councilwoman Connie Wilcox said. "The Town recognizes the importance of a balanced community."


Shattuck said that over time the Town is looking at the prospect of building a town center in the area near the Town Hall.  He said that the plan can help channel growth into this area to create a community with a grocery store, banks and other businesses when the number of people living there are sufficient to attract such businesses.  The Town owns about 150 acres across the street that could be developed into residences and stores.  

On top of that he said that the Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower organization, which owns the more than 500 acre Kingdom Farm about a quarter of a mile north of the area has been in contact with him as recently as this week to explore the future of the property, which is for sale.  "They've approached us and asked what's a reasonable way to look at the property that they have," he said.  "Right now the whole property is zoned Rural/Agricultural.  That was done in 1999 when the Town first zoned.  In the current situation they would like to think that the bottom part of their land could get the Mixed Use designation."

"You have to be very careful about how you embark on something that will significantly impact property taxes in particular," said James Sullivan, one of a handful of residents who attended the public hearing.  "Any development should be kept in line with the current characteristics of the area, and be cost justified on its own without direct or indirect public subsidy."  He argued that imposing projects like the currently proposed sewer project force current residents to pay for something many of them don't need, while making properties more valuable for developers.  "Development that enhances the value of the area can be development that pushes out current residents," he said.


Shattuck noted, "The incentives that are spoken of in the plan are the incentives to keep that haphazard thing from happening," saying that if development is going to happen anyway, controlling is is the best approach to maintaining the characteristics of the community while trying to benefit the community as a whole.

While the plan does talk a lot about the impact of future growth and goals like creating a viable town center, it also covers such things as a tree planting program, public transit and bicycle routes, off street parking, and road improvement.  It addresses community life, greenways and parks, the town's historical resources, protection of farmland in the north, and promotion of alternative energy sources such as the solar power installation used to power the Highway Department building.  The plan is phrases in objectives and goals, and includes information such as historical demographics and maps.

The Town of Lansing had the highest percentage of growth in the county between the 1990 and 2000 censuses.  The Town, including the Village experienced 13.2% growth as compared to the Town of Ithaca (6.3%) and Dryden (2.1%), far exceeding the rate of county-wide growth of 2.6%.  If you take the part of Lansing that does not include the Village, growth was 18.1%.  At that time the population of the Town including the Village was 10,500.

If nothing else, the plan is like a crystal ball, offering a look at Lansing's future, even if it is a bit of a foggy look.  The board accepted the plan in a 5/0 vote.

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