Essex one step closer to finalizing comprehensive plan

ESSEX | Earlier this month, about 80 town residents of all ages filed into CFES Brilliant Pathways to learn more about the Town of Essex Comprehensive Plan. "This is just one small piece of a much larger puzzle," said Essex Town Supervisor Ken Hughes during the public workshop aimed at developing goals for the community's future while protecting its natural and cultural resources. "It's an essential document that helps elected officials like me understand the will of the people and where to spend their tax dollars." The last comprehensive plan was adopted in 2002. Since then, the town has established a sewer district to service the Essex hamlet, created the Essex Food Hub to support small farms, adopted a zoning ordinance to protect the historic character of the town, and restored the Whallonsburg Grange Hall. "We decided it was time to re-look at the comprehensive plan and re-do it," Hughes said. And so, the town requested the help of LaBella Associates and Clothier Planning & Consulting and established a committee, with co-chairs Steven Engelhart and Kristin Kimball. Community feedback from participants at the beginning of the year helped planners develop a set of recommendations for the town, including updating the town's zoning code to address inconsistencies and be more inclusive of contemporary farm life and agribusiness; establishing formal partnerships with local organizations to leverage existing regional housing programs and resources; establishing a business advisory committee with town board representation to coordinate regional economic development initiatives, such as arts, agriculture, and history; developing a detailed master plan for Beggs Park that includesvarious upgrades and repairs; creating an economic development strategy for the arts and cultural resources; and promoting programs and tours by marketing to ferry passengers. Marina restoration was identified as a transformative project — a large-scale, strategic initiative that aims to bring about significant and lasting changes within the community. For those who didn't attend the event held earlier this month, those residents are encouraged to submit input via the survey link by Aug. 18. The next Comprehensive Plan Local Committee meeting is scheduled for Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. at the Whallonsburg Grange Hall. "After the public input window ends, the committee is going to receive a summary of the work that was done at the workshop and online survey results, and on the 24th, the local committee is going to make some decisions," said Hughes, regarding the importance level of specific projects and if and when they should be tackled. "However, the public needs to know that there are a lot of parts that will be important to the final draft, whether it is historic preservation, climate resiliency, agriculture support, recreational endeavors, etc. "This is going to be a broad document that's going to help future supervisors, future boards, and future organizations that represent Essex to understand what the people want because it's the people's town." For more information about the comprehensive plan or to complete the survey, visit essexnewyork.com/comprehensive-plan.

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Essex one step closer to finalizing comprehensive plan

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