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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-09-23 - CPC Town of Ulysses Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee Meeting Minutes September 23, 2008 Approved October 9, 2008 Present : Sue Poelvoorde, Chair; Roxanne Marino ; David Tyler; Liz Thomas ; John Wertis ; Rod Hawkes ; Bob Brown Absent: Deirdre Cunningham, Heather Filiberto, Sue Ritter, Bob Weatherby Roxanne Marino moved to accept the meeting minutes from August 26, 2008 , seconded by David Tyler. Approved unanimously without changes . The committee discussed the timing and sequence of the remaining steps in the process of transforming the Preliminary Draft Comprehensive Plan (PDCP) into a final adopted Comprehensive Plan. With the assistance of Bergman Associates, the committee will present the PDCP to the Town Board on October 1 , 2008 , at 7 P . M . Also invited to attend the presentation are the Town Planning Board, the Village of Trumansburg Board and Planning Board. It is projected that after the presentation on October 1st , the Town Board will have the month of October to review and react to the plan . Based on the Town Board ' s comments, Bergmann Associates will produce a Final Draft Comprehensive Plan that will be presented at a public hearing to be scheduled perhaps in early December. Sue Poelvoorde said that at the September 9, 2008 , Town Board meeting she discussed a potential schedule with the Board. The revised draft could be released around November 13th to allow the public enough time to review the document before the public hearing in early December. After the public comments are incorporated into the Final Draft Comprehensive Plan, Bergmann will produce the final Comprehensive Plan . Also discussed was the point at which the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee ' s (CPSC) official role ends and the committee will be disbanded. Sue Poelvoorde clarified that the CPSC ' s role and charge end with the presentation of the final draft document to the Town Board, unless the Town Board requests that the committee make changes to the final draft plan as a result of additional input through the public hearings . Committee members can still have input throughout the process until the updated plan is adopted by the Town Board. David Tyler said the SEQR for the comprehensive plan should be presented to the Town Board by October 13th to ensure that the SEQR process timetable does not delay the adoption of the comprehensive plan. The Town Board needs to declare lead agency status, which requires a 30- day period for interested agencies to respond . A lengthy discussion of the current status of the PDCP ensued with Sue Poelvoorde stating that all of the committee ' s suggested changes should be sent to Bergmann before the October 1st presentation to the Town Board. Roxanne Marino expressed concern that the PDCP does not reference the 1999 Comprehensive Plan sufficiently to convey that the PDCP is an update of the 1999 Plan, as is the intent of the current process and product. Liz Thomas echoed the sentiment that there are many good features of the 1999 plan that should come forward in the new plan . The committee agreed that significant linkages should be made in the text of the PDCP to reinforce that it is an update of the 1999 comprehensive plan, especially but not solely in the executive summary at the beginning of the PDCP . Roxanne Marino also mentioned a conversation she had with Rebecca Schneider of the Planning Board and subsequent email from Rebecca citing concerns with and suggestions for changes in the PDCP . Many of the changes suggested in Rebecca' s email were already addressed in the revised Existing Conditions section emailed to committee members by Kimberly Baptiste of Bergmann Associates . The committee further discussed concerns Rebecca raised that were not addressed in the revised Existing Conditions section. Rebecca also suggested that the many action statements presented in the PDCP would be more valuable if they were prioritized in the plan. This committee agreed with this observation and Sue Poelvoorde distributed a memo from Bergmann Associates that included "Early Action Implementation Recommendations", essentially a prioritization of action steps that should Comprehensive Plan 2 09/23/2008 happen in the first three years after the plan is adopted, with responsibility for the implementing each action step assigned to the appropriate board or committee. Roxanne Marino reviewed additional revisions she recommends for the plan . The committee concurred with her recommendations and they will be included in the memo to be shared with the Town Board and others on October 1St. Roxanne will compile a list of the changes discussed by the committee and send it to Sue Poelvoorde to forward to Bergmann Associates before October 1St Sue Poelvoorde suggested that the committee should meet after the October 1St presentation to the Town Board but before the next scheduled committee meeting in late October. The committee agreed to meet on Thursday, October 9th at 7 P .M. at Town Hall . A notice was posted on the Town Hall bulletin board announcing the October 1st meeting with the Town Board. Liz Thomas will check with Marsha to see if she sent the notice to the Ithaca Journal. Sue Poelvoorde will e-mail Marsha a notice for the October 9th committee meeting and request Marsha to forward it to the Ithaca Journal . Liz Thomas raised the question of whether the Water Needs Survey results would be referenced in the final Comprehensive Plan. The survey is not likely to be completed before the final comprehensive plan is adopted but the committee agreed that the survey should be referenced in an action statement in the plan and the appendix to the plan could be appended when the survey results are compiled. Likewise, the Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan will be treated in the same manner, referenced in an action statement in the plan and as an appendix to the plan and appended upon completion of the Agriculture Protection Plan. The meeting was adjourned at 8 :45 p .m. Respectfully submitted, Rod Hawkes Committee Member