And so it went for a year-and-a-half with “volunteers working slavishly, often late at night or very early in the morning, as we would meet twice a month at 7:30 a.m.,” he said. What they came up with is a much more detailed Comprehensive Plan that not only lists objectives and goals, but also spells out what action or actions need to be taken and by what agency.
“We thought that was important,” he said. “Each agency knows what they’re responsible for, what timeframe they’re allotted to complete the actions. And if something is not done, we can say, ‘Hey, Town Board, we asked you to put together an Open Space Committee. Why was that not done?’”
The visions of the 2005 and proposed 2013 Comprehensive Plan are almost identical, but the avenues to get to various desired growth, preservation and implementation ends are more direct and explicit. The Vision Statement reads as follows: “Preserve the rural, residential and agricultural character of the community and the town’s rich tapestry of environmental resources while encouraging commercial development that enhances the tax base without detracting from historical settlement patterns and desired quality of life.”
For the first time, the plan attempts to identify exactly what the “hamlet” is, where its boundary lines are and how exactly it wants it to grow. “We enlarged the hamlet, the downtown area, which used to be the epicenter of town, and then came up with a table of objectives, goals and actions that would help revitalize the hamlet, bring in more tourism, greater density, infill and the reuse of existing structures. We want this to remain the denser part of the town, as well as bring more people and businesses to it to keep that important foot traffic going and also find ways of making it more visible to tourists and others in the region.”
The second chapter is an interesting read, summarizing the history of growth in Highland as well as pointing to demographic trends, most notably that the town’s population is aging, with more 55-and-over residents, while its childbearing workforce demographic aged 25 to 45 is shrinking. “Residents of traditional child-rearing age are leaving Highland in search of jobs, so that they can support their family,” said Barton. “This requires two things of us in terms of planning: to work on creating jobs and bringing in industry to keep our younger residents here and to prepare for the services we will need to provide for our aging population.”
After working with school superintendent Deborah Haab, Barton and the committee realized that the population of the schools “has really not changed in 20 years, while our overall population growth has increased by approximately one percent per year.”
The committee called for an Open Space Committee to work on creating conservation overlay districts to “protect areas we know are environmentally sensitive: riverfronts, large woodland tracts, streams, wetlands, Illinois Mountain and other rich, biodiverse areas.” It also suggested an Agricultural Farmland Protection Committee to help guide the town toward ways that it could strengthen its rich tradition of farming through better zoning and marketing.
Tourism was a big part of the proposed Comprehensive Plan, particularly with the jump-start that the town has had since 2005. “We now have the Walkway Over the Hudson, an expanded rail trail, a riverfront landing park…. We’re here. We have trails, the Black Creek, parks, the Walkway, our pick-your-own farms. The challenge is promoting the resources we have.” Again, the plan sets out detailed ideas for doing this via signage, advertising and working with other regional and county agencies.
The plan calls for greater development in the hamlet and more preservation outside of the hamlet through zoning, purchase of development rights and conservation easements.
There are 11 chapters, with a wide range of proposals, schedules and timetables laid out and all residents are encouraged to read through the document and provide any comments, questions, concerns or suggestions to the Town Board, in writing, on or before Aug. 28. To learn more, go to www.townoflloyd.com.
