City News - 10/18/07 - City begins work on master plan

(As Published By Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

The city’s work on the new comprehensive plan is just getting started, and the project coordinator hopes to have the document finished by December 2008.

The 19-member project steering committee met for the first time Monday afternoon and went over the process for the plan’s development with Thoma Development Consultants, which will guide the process for the city.

On behalf of the city, Thoma applied for and received a $54,000 grant from the state for the plan’s development. The last citywide master plan was approved in 1991.

According to a presentation given by Wes Pettee, the project manager for Thoma Development, a comprehensive plan includes a municipality’s goals and recommended actions to achieve them. It provides an outline for orderly growth and continued guidance for decision making, and focuses on immediate and long-range protection, enhancement, growth and development of the municipality.

The plan development process will include input from the Common Council, the steering committee, members of the public, city employees, the county Planning Department, and other state and local agencies, in addition to Thoma Development.

The development of the comprehensive plan will be similar to that of the South End Strategic Plan, which was adopted by the Common Council in June after months of preparation — the recommended course of action in the South End plan would be included in the development of the citywide plan.

Surveys would be sent to random samplings of residents and college students, and business owners would also be given a survey.

Six community meetings would collect public input. Four meetings would be devoted to brainstorming the city’s problems and possibilities; one would focus on possible design recommendations, and another would examine mapping and land use.

Issues for consideration within the comprehensive plan include public facilities; health and public safety; infrastructure and utilities; energy; land use; intergovernmental cooperation; historic and architectural resources; transportation; open space and parks; and the natural and man-made environment.

Two comments here: one for the City, the other for the County-

1) I think the City should engage the County to get someone involved as sit in on the meetings. After all, the South Main Street deal could have been eliminated had someone at the County level been paying attention to the City's South End strategic plan. And that will also allow the County to feel the City's pain with lack of taxable property in the City, and maybe consider some facilities that could be built outside City limits.

2) County in general - ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?!?!?! This is the second announcement in a week about comprehensive master plans to take a look at all facilities! Homer first, now Cortland. Cortland got a grant through Thoma Development.