HomeMy WebLinkAboutCopy of e-mail sent by Chair M. Harms to Ithaca Journalcopy of e-mail sent by Chair of VCH Planning Board to Ithaca Journal reporter, July 17,
2012
Dear Mr Nutt,
Thanks for your inquiry.
It's important for your readers to understand that there are NO zoning changes
in the works at this point.
The village is in the midst of an ongoing planning process. The Village Planning
Board has been engaged for many months in developing a draft of a Comprehensive
Plan - a set of guidelines rather than laws to help current and future municipal leaders
chart the community's future. As is common in municipal government, the development
of this draft has involved a number of opportunities for public input. The
draft developed by the Planning Board was recently delivered to the Village
Board of Trustees for their consideration and to advance the process of
obtaining public input. At this stage in the process, the Village Board of
Trustees will seek in-depth public review and discussion of the contents of
this draft at two open forums in August, giving Village residents an
opportunity to express their views. Amendments to the plan will doubtless
be made based on that public input and discussions with the Village
Trustees. A formal public hearing on the draft plan is tentatively
scheduled for September, followed in all probability by further revisions,
and likely additional public hearings, prior to adoption of the plan by the
Trustees.
Public input is, and was from the start, actively encouraged and
invited as a key part of the process of developing the plan. Please also
note that any individual changes to the Village's Zoning Ordinance that
ultimately might be recommended in a final version of the Comprehensive Plan
will not occur automatically. Once a final version of the plan
has been adopted by the Village, any change in the Zoning Ordinance would
have to be proposed and discussed by both the Board of Trustees and the
Planning Board, then drafted, made available for public comment, and be
subject to public hearings. Needless to say, because the current draft of
the comprehensive plan remains subject to revision, and because any future
change in the Zoning Ordinance itself would be subject to a lengthy review
process, the outcome of consideration of any future zoning change may vary
substantially from the recommendations contained in the current draft of the
plan.
I hope this gives you a sense of the background to questions raised in recent
days by villagers about specific recommendations in the draft Comprehensive Plan.
The Planning Board is holding its July 2012 meeting on Monday, July 23 in Marcham
Hall at 7pm when we are inviting the public to participate in a question and answer
session about the draft plan and its current recommendations.
You are welcome to attend.
Sincerely,
Martin Harms
Chair
Village of Cayuga Heights Planning Board