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The Tompkins County Planning Department is hosting a series of public meetings the week of June 18th to present the Conservation Strategy and the Development Focus Areas Strategy. Together, the two strategies are intended to identify areas where the county will support efforts to protect important natural resources and areas where the county will support efforts to promote new development.

The three meetings will be held on:

• Monday, June 18, at 6:30 PM at the Varna Community Center, 943 Dryden Road/Route 366
• Tuesday, June 19 at 6:30 PM at the Museum of the Earth, 1259 Trumansburg Road/Route 96
• Wednesday, June 20 at 6:30 PM the Tompkins County Public Library, 101 East Green Street

The Conservation Strategy and the Development Focus Areas Strategy are rooted in the Tompkins County Comprehensive Plan, originally adopted in 2004. That Plan identified specific areas of the County with concentrations of natural features as well as areas with concentrations of farming activities and valuable agricultural soils. The Comprehensive Plan also called for a nodal development pattern in order to build strong, cohesive communities and to contribute to the vitality of the local economy.

The Conservation Strategy identifies strategies to protect important natural resources in Tompkins County. These strategies include: establishing and maintaining stream buffers and trail corridors; acquiring conservation and agricultural easements on critical sites from willing landowners; and directing development away from vulnerable resources.

The Development Focus Areas Strategy identifies strategies to create and support a nodal pattern of compact mixed-use development. Specific strategies include: promoting designs that fit the fabric of established communities; improving existing water and sewer systems; and providing pedestrian and bicycle facilities within nodes and transit connections between nodes.

Both strategies identify the need to craft local land use regulations in order to protect important land resources, control sprawl outside of nodes, and otherwise promote a nodal pattern of development.

The meetings will start with a presentation by Planning Department staff followed by an opportunity for participants to ask questions and comment on the strategies.

Following the formal presentation and discussion, attendees will be able to participate in small group discussions about:

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Showcase Communities project, with an emphasis on the draft Request for Proposals to develop a highly energy efficient, pedestrian-focused neighborhood on County-owned property on West Hill near the Hospital.
• Funding opportunities to implement the Conservation and Development Focus Areas Strategies, including the Community Housing Fund, the Stream Corridor Protection Program, the Conservation Reserve Fund, and the Development Focus Area Implementation Fund.

Copies of the Draft Conservation Strategy and the Draft Development Focus Areas Strategy will be available on the Planning Department’s website in advance of the meetings.  Comments on the drafts will be accepted after the meetings through the end of June.

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