The statewide coalition of 35 member organizations that's been leading the citizen effort to improve New York's economic and civic potential through Smart Growth -- Empire State Future -- is now in its third year!

With planning, environment, and business groups who are interested in advancing the many principles of Smart Growth, the new coalition is working to turn them into reality in cities, towns and villages all across the Empire State.

The coalition builds on the generally accepted Smart Growth ideas that cities need nurturing, suburban sprawl has been straining local services while consuming our landscape, and it's no longer possible to build our way out of traffic congestion.

Empire State Future compliments and expands on efforts to bring progress and sanity to the way we plan our future. And a big element of our work involves communications: we work to provide the Smart Growth constituency and the general public with a lively Web site that is current, informative, and easily used.

We strive to help establish a better public understanding of the links between land development patterns and the high cost of government services -- as well as the contribution of sprawl to ongoing environmental degradation.

People visiting our site for the first time might ask, "What do you mean by Smart Growth, and why is it important?"

To us at Empire State Future, it's the effort to build a healthy economy that offers real choices in transportation, housing, and education while respecting farmlands, open space, and our many natural and historic resources. By building more homes and businesses in already-existing communities, we can save valuable open space and conserve money spent on our roads and costly utility infrastructure. All of which makes Smart Growth important for our future, and for our children's future.

Linking land use decisions with existing development is good because it can take advantage of a multitude of public investments that are already in place, avoiding the need to duplicate them. Sprawl is bad because it tends to reward land speculation in the marketplace without regard to areas where development may be better suited -- and oftentimes much preferred.

Why shouldn't it be simpler for us to work toward a more attractive and economical civic future? A future where

• new development is constructed in places that maximize existing public investment in schools, roads, water and sewer service, transit facilities and information infrastructure.
• workers have good jobs that are within walking distance or an easy commute by bike, bus, rail or automobile
• farm land is protected from encroachment so it can continue to be used to raise livestock and crops, providing a continuing and strong agricultural sector, and rivers, lakes, streams and ponds are pollution-free and provide recreational opportunities for residents and tourists alike
• people can choose to live in older, thriving communities that are beautiful and unique, and that validate the reality that this is still the Empire State!

Empire State Future is striving to reach these values through public education, citizen action, and petitioning our government. Working together, especially during this period of significant economic challenges, our coalition has high hopes for New York's future!

 By Peter B. Fleischer

 

      Over the past five weeks, beginning in late January, I have made several visits across the state to meet with community and civic leaders and Empire State Future coalition members.  In each case, I learned a great deal about distant parts of the state and new matters of policy.

 Mohawk Valley Visit

      In Fonda I met with Doug Greene, chief planner for Montgomery County. Doug is also a key player in the American Planning Association's Upstate Chapter. He showed me GIS maps of how Montgomery County (population 47,000) is trying to build around its town centers using the Mohawk River as both a theme and a connector of much of the county's population. He is also leading efforts to develop the town of Fonda around a state-supported waterfront revitalization effort. I met Doug in the County offices, which are located in a wonderful, 1840's classical-revival building which unfortunately is cut-off from the rest of Fonda by the fences and tracks of the Albany to Buffalo rail line. The train, btw, does not stop in Fonda. 

 Sullivan County

       On a very cold and snowy day, I addressed the economic development advisory council for Sullivan County (population 75,000), at the restored barn that was the beating heart of Yasgar's farm in Bethel Woods. Yes, I went to "Woodstock."  I toured an exceptionally well-done museum dedicated to that seminal event of 40 years ago. The displays were excellent, as was the music, by the way. Bethel Woods is now both an outdoor, seasonal concert venue and a state-of-the-art conference center.  Luiz Aragon, formerly a housing and transportation official in New York City, has relocated to the area.  He is attempting to bring smart planning, sophisticated GIS, and his characteristic high energy to the task of growth in the Monticello/Delaware River area. Monticello has a struggling main street, and is to some extent dominated by the "Racino" at the edge of town.

       The proposal from the Peace Bridge Authority that would replace an elevated ramp blocking views of the waterfront with an underground replacement may be just what's needed to get the project moving, according to a report in the Buffalo News. The change was reportedly designed to gain the support of the Buffalo Olmstead Parks Conservancy, whose leaders said they would drop their long-standing opposition to the project if the tunnel plan is adopted.

 

      U.S. Representative Brian Higgins of Buffalo said the cost of the tunnel should come from $25 million in Federal aid he helped secure for community enhancements in the Peace Bridge neighborhood.

 

            The article quoted Conversancy chairwoman-elect Anne Harding Joyce as saying "We have an opportunity to correct a historical wrong, and those opportunities don't come along very often."

 

      Read the full article at http://www.buffalonews.com/cigpbin/

      As a major environmental cleanup commenced at the former Matt Petroleum site in Utica recently, local officials heralded the work as another breakthrough in reclaiming sites that have long been stalled in bureaucratic or funding never lands. According to a story in Utica's Observer Dispatch, the action opens up the 4.7 acre site along the Mohawk River for commercial or industrial development in a prime location for such activities between the state Thruway and Downtown.

 

      The Matt site was the location of several major oil spills over the years, according to the paper, some of which reached the river. Major contaminants in the land at the site will be removed to a landfill, and minor ones will be buried and capped, according to officials.

 

      This site now joins two other significant environmental remediation areas in Utica that local officials say have the potential for significant economic development in the city: the 145-acre Harbor Point site in Utica's inner harbor, and the 6.9-acre Bossert Manufacturing site along the North-South Arterial in West Utica.

 

      The story credits recent movement on long-stalled Brownfield sites to improved relations between the city and state, with Mayor David Roefaro pushing for action and state DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis focusing stronger agency efforts on urban areas.

 

      Read the entire Observer Dispatch article at:

The RevitalizingNY statewide summit on sustainable development, sponsored by Empire State Future and the New York Department of State, was held October 7, 2009 at downtown Schenectady's historic Proctors Theater. Almost 200 participants--including over 40 expert, experienced presenters and panelists-- attended from across the state and across professional and political persuasions. Here, you can download a document containing the event proceedings; it includes an executive summary as well as complete transcripts of the summit's ten panel sessions.

      Changes to plans for a large truck plaza in Buffalo that has dominated the debate over a new Peace Bridge has produced some support among its detractors, but others say they will continue the fight to preserve the Prospect Hill historic district and Columbus Park area. The changes are the result of public hearings held in 2007, and include a reduction in the number of homes to be taken for the project t0 108 from 120, according to a story in the Buffalo News.

 

      The nearly $20 million environmental review for the new bridge that has taken a decade is nearing its end, according to the Peace Bridge Authority and the State Department of Transportation. The newspaper quotes Marie A. Corrado, director of major projects for state DOT as saying, "Part of what we're doing is creating a green ribbon around the plaza in order to protect the park and the neighborhood from the plaza."

 

      Others maintain their opposition to the project, including Kathleen Mecca, president of the Niagara Gateway Columbus Park Association, who said "This is the wrong project in the wrong place. It doesn't belong here. Anything of this magnitude cannot fit into an urban setting."

 

      Read the entire Buffalo News piece at:

      Managing the growth that is certain to arrive with the opening of the massive Global Foundries plant in the Saratoga County town of Malta is on the minds of many townspeople, officials and developers these days, and much of the debate hinges on a push to change existing downtown zoning laws that would scale back development there. Developers, on the other hand, say that doing so will lead to the sprawl that most people want to avoid, according to a story in the Albany Times Union.

 

      A local coalition called "No More Sprawlta" has been formed to oppose zoning changes in the town of about 15,000 people that is sure to grow dramatically with the opening of the computer chip foundry beginning in 2012. The proposed changes would not allow for a major new development being proposed for the town's center which would resemble many large projects in nearby Saratoga Springs, but would be well out of scale with existing structures in Malta. Thus an unusual debate has shaped up with developers and others wanting larger development downtown, and officials seeking to limit it.

 

      Town board member Maggie Ruisi is quoted as saying, "Most people want to see the downtown downsized...A lot of people moved here because they wanted to be close to Clifton Park and Saratoga, but they didn't want to live there."

 

      Read the full Times Union article at: