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NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
TOWN OF NEW BALTIMORE
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN COMMITTEE
PROPOSED UPDATE TO TOWN OF NEW
BALTIMORE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
September, 2006
Dear New Baltimore Resident:
The Town of New Baltimore
Comprehensive Plan Committee cordially invites you to attend a Public
Hearing to be held on Wednesday,
September 27th, at 7:00 pm at the New Baltimore Town Hall,
3809 County Route 51, Hannacroix
for a presentation and an opportunity to offer comment on a Draft
Comprehensive Plan for the Town of New Baltimore. This Draft
Comprehensive Plan is an amendment and update to the Town of New
Baltimore Comprehensive Plan adopted in 1974. This Draft
Comprehensive Plan has been prepared by the Comprehensive Plan
Committee, consisting of twelve Town of New Baltimore residents
selected by the Town Board to represent the many varied interests and
areas of our Town.
In addition to the brief outline
of this Draft Comprehensive Plan presented below, you may review the
entire Draft at any of the following locations:
Town Clerk’s Office, New
Baltimore Town Hall, 3809 County Route 51, Hannacroix
Ravena Community Library, 15
Mountain Road, Ravena
Heermance Memorial Library, 1
Ely Street, Coxsackie
Greenville Public Library, Route
32, Greenville, NY
On the internet at
www.townofnewbaltimore.org
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Town’s current Comprehensive
Plan was adopted in 1974, and has not been updated in the last 30+
years. While this Comprehensive Plan has served the Town well,
the Town Board decided in late 2003 that it would be advisable to
undertake an effort to review and update the Town Comprehensive
Plan. In January, 2004, the Citizens Planning Advisory Group
(CPAG), consisting of 15-20 town residents was formed by the Town Board
to adopt a Vision and Goals Statement for the Town, to provide the
framework for an update to the Comprehensive Plan. The CPAG met
for 18 months, during which time many public meetings were held to
solicit public input, and a questionnaire was sent to every household
in the Town in which a variety of questions were asked regarding the
Town. Over 30% of all households responded to the survey, which
is considered to be an excellent response rate. On the basis of
these public meetings and survey results, the CPAG presented its
proposed Vision and Goals Statement which was accepted by the Town
Board in July, 2005.
(over)
These stated goals are as
follows:
• Preserve and protect the rural character
and environmental quality of the town.
•
Promote and encourage business development that is consistent with the
rural and historic character of the town and that contributes to the
town tax base.
•
Promote agriculture and protect farmland by recognizing the unique role
that agriculture can play in supporting economic prosperity and
protecting the things that make New Baltimore special.
•
Advance the administration and understanding of local laws and
ordinances.
In September, 2005, the
Comprehensive Plan Committee was appointed by the Town Board to build
on the work of the Citizens Planning Advisory Group to complete the
preparation of an updated Town Comprehensive Plan. To assist in
this effort, a professional planning company, Elan Planning and Design
was retained by the Town Board. Elan’s experience includes the
preparation of Comprehensive Plans in other rural towns such as Sand
Lake (Rensselaer County), Bolton (Warren County) and Copake (Columbia
County). The Comprehensive Plan Committee has met monthly over
the past year, and is now ready to present this Draft Comprehensive
Plan for public review and comment. Following this Public
Hearing, the Comprehensive Plan Committee will vote on forwarding the
Draft Comprehensive Plan to the Town Board for its approval. The
Town Board, by law, must hold another public hearing before taking a
vote on adopting this updated Comprehensive Plan.
THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
A Comprehensive Plan is a
document that sets goals and strategies and makes recommendations for
the future of the Town. A Comprehensive Plan is NOT a law.
The Comprehensive Plan DOES NOT change any existing laws in effect. It
is a plan that the Town Board can use to consider adopting or changing
laws to carry out the recommendations and strategies that are included
in the Comprehensive Plan. After the updated Comprehensive Plan
has been adopted, any proposals to create new laws or to change
existing laws will be subject to a full public review before any
decisions are made by the Town Board regarding any such proposal.
In preparing the Draft
Comprehensive Plan, the Comprehensive Plan Committee has spent its time
reviewing each goal set forth by the Citizens Planning Advisory Group,
and considering those strategies that can be evaluated by the Town
Board for further action after the updated Comprehensive Plan is
adopted. The Comprehensive Plan Committee has also prepared an
Implementation Plan for moving forward with these strategies. A
wide array of maps are also included, which help to provide information
that was used by the Comprehensive Plan Committee in developing
strategies and recommendations.
The strategies put forth in the
Draft Comprehensive Plan are focused on addressing the potential
impacts of large scale residential and commercial development.
The Plan makes no recommendations that would impact upon normal
residential building activity and does not impact minor subdivisions
which create less than 4 building lots.
Please take any opportunity you
may have to review the entire Draft Comprehensive Plan prior to the
Public Hearing, and we look forward to seeing you on September 27th.
Town of New Baltimore
Comprehensive Plan Committee
David Louis and Arlene McKeon,
Co-Chairs
Eugene Albright, John Cashin,
Paul Court, Jr., Warren Curtis, Lee Davis,
James Eckl, Barry Guptill, Meave
Tooher, Alta Turner, Louise Warner
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