Popular Searches
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Share
Comprehensive Plan ready for Town Board approval
By Francesca Olsen
ANCRAM — After years of discussion, surveys, public input and review, the Ancram comprehensive plan will make its way to the Town Board for final approval.
“We’re pretty much done with the entire plan,” said committee Chairman Art Bassin. “We have made revisions based on the community’s reactions.”
A final draft of the plan will be given to the Town Board at its next meeting July 16. When the comprehensive plan committee is completely finished drafting the plan, it will present it to the Town Board. As part of the Town Board’s review and approval process, board members will make any changes they feel appropriate. The Town Board is required to hold a public hearing on the plan within 90 days of receiving a final draft.
After the hearing is held and the board approves the plan, it must go to the county for review. The plan must also go through State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) before it is fully approved.
“You’ve got to review the potential actions of the comp plan,” said Bassin. “We’ve been told that comp plans are generally negative declarations.” A negative declaration states that there is no substantial evidence that a project has a significant impact on the environment.
“Barring some unforeseen events, the Town Board will probably be in a position to adopt it in the fall,” said Bassin.
After it is adopted, comes a “very large implementation challenge,” according to Bassin. Zoning and land use laws will need to be revised. “That can take 12 to 18 months, easily,” he said.
Right now, Ancram has a three-acre zoning minimum. The current draft of the comp plan recommends an average density system, with 3.5 acres as an average for zoning. A groundwater protection study indicated that this was consistent with long-term carrying capacity.
This means that if a landowner were to subdivide property, lots can be broken up into small parcels, as long as their sum averages out to 3.5 acres.
Bassin said the plan was based on “extensive community participation.”
“One of the messages that we got was that affordable housing is just not possible given our environment here,” he said. “You can make things more affordable by providing for more, smaller lot sizes.”
Another issue is the current size of Ancram’s commercial districts. “Our business districts were literally half a square block,” said Bassin. There is no way to have a “critical mass” of business in this small an area. “We pretty dramatically expanded the business districts in our hamlets,” he said. This may make Ancram more attractive to businesses.
To preserve open space, which ranked high among community concerns, the new plan requires that all major subdivisions, defined as subdivisions into five or more parcels, keep 60 percent of the subdivided land as open space. Bassin said the committee wanted to make sure to address concerns about keeping Ancram rural, “but we didn’t want to do that at the expense of development.”
Bassin said that participation in comp plan discussion from community members was high through the entire drafting process. “At every stage of the way, we’ve been getting everybody’s input,” he said. A survey sent out by the committee got a response of 430 people, and workshops and public hearings have had turnouts of about 75 people each session.
“I would say, generally the Town Board members are supportive. They are likely to adopt it. They may make some changes to it, but that’s ok. I think 90 percent of the people in the community support the plan, based on what we’ve heard,” Bassin said.
“We’re pretty much done with the entire plan,” said committee Chairman Art Bassin. “We have made revisions based on the community’s reactions.”
A final draft of the plan will be given to the Town Board at its next meeting July 16. When the comprehensive plan committee is completely finished drafting the plan, it will present it to the Town Board. As part of the Town Board’s review and approval process, board members will make any changes they feel appropriate. The Town Board is required to hold a public hearing on the plan within 90 days of receiving a final draft.
After the hearing is held and the board approves the plan, it must go to the county for review. The plan must also go through State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) before it is fully approved.
“You’ve got to review the potential actions of the comp plan,” said Bassin. “We’ve been told that comp plans are generally negative declarations.” A negative declaration states that there is no substantial evidence that a project has a significant impact on the environment.
“Barring some unforeseen events, the Town Board will probably be in a position to adopt it in the fall,” said Bassin.
After it is adopted, comes a “very large implementation challenge,” according to Bassin. Zoning and land use laws will need to be revised. “That can take 12 to 18 months, easily,” he said.
Right now, Ancram has a three-acre zoning minimum. The current draft of the comp plan recommends an average density system, with 3.5 acres as an average for zoning. A groundwater protection study indicated that this was consistent with long-term carrying capacity.
This means that if a landowner were to subdivide property, lots can be broken up into small parcels, as long as their sum averages out to 3.5 acres.
Bassin said the plan was based on “extensive community participation.”
“One of the messages that we got was that affordable housing is just not possible given our environment here,” he said. “You can make things more affordable by providing for more, smaller lot sizes.”
Another issue is the current size of Ancram’s commercial districts. “Our business districts were literally half a square block,” said Bassin. There is no way to have a “critical mass” of business in this small an area. “We pretty dramatically expanded the business districts in our hamlets,” he said. This may make Ancram more attractive to businesses.
To preserve open space, which ranked high among community concerns, the new plan requires that all major subdivisions, defined as subdivisions into five or more parcels, keep 60 percent of the subdivided land as open space. Bassin said the committee wanted to make sure to address concerns about keeping Ancram rural, “but we didn’t want to do that at the expense of development.”
Bassin said that participation in comp plan discussion from community members was high through the entire drafting process. “At every stage of the way, we’ve been getting everybody’s input,” he said. A survey sent out by the committee got a response of 430 people, and workshops and public hearings have had turnouts of about 75 people each session.
“I would say, generally the Town Board members are supportive. They are likely to adopt it. They may make some changes to it, but that’s ok. I think 90 percent of the people in the community support the plan, based on what we’ve heard,” Bassin said.
Share this Article
 |
 |
|
| Porreca announces for Council presidency | Valatie to host a variety of colorful community events |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of registerstar.com.
You must register with a valid email to post comments. Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here: |
Become a Registered User |
