FLY CREEK - Much has changed in the nearly 15 years since the town of Otsego's comprehensive plan was written and the planning board believes it is time to review the document to see if it still accurately reflects what the majority of people envision for the community.

It's been 15 years since we looked at the plan," said town planning board chairman Tom Breiten. "They tend to get outdated. There are things happening in town that people wouldn't have imagined 15 years ago."

In February, the planning board wrote a letter to the town board asking for its approval to establish a planning committee to review the town's comprehensive plan.

"Recent attempts to update the town's land use regulations have identified a split in our community between those who would like to see more development in the township and those who wish to preserve the town's rural character and way of life," the letter stated. "We on the planning board believe these goals are not incompatible and can be achieved by updating the town's comprehensive plan."

Otsego County planning director Diane Carlton said comprehensive plans are long-range documents that offer brief snapshots of a town. A plan typically lists many attributes of a municipality and could include its strengths and weaknesses, community values, and a vision for the future.

Plans are good for seven to fifteen years and Carlton said she believed it was a good idea for municipalities to periodically review their comprehensive plan. "They're not cast in stone forever," she said.

Town supervisor Bill Gates said the planning board instituted the look at the comprehensive plan on its own and the town board is supportive of their effort, but will not get involved in the process as it did when recent changes were made to the land use law.

"We'll look at it when it's complete," Gates said. Changes to the comprehensive plan would have to be approved by the town board.

The supervisor said he didn't know if the review would result in changes to the comprehensive plan or not. It is possible they will take a look at the document and conclude it still is an accurate reflection of the townspeople's feelings.

"I think it is still a good statement about how the town feels about itself. As a vision, it holds up pretty well. It's a good statement," Gates said.

In 1999, the town enacted a moratorium on new special use permits while it reviewed and made changes to its land use law, but that won't be the case while the planning board looks at the comprehensive plan.

There is no need for a moratorium this time, Breiten said, because there is nothing on the table that might not be allowed if changes are made.

"We want to get ahead of the game. You can't do land use revisions when you're under the gun. You have to do it when there is nothing happening; when you have the time to sit down and do it right," he said.

The planning board envisions the process being divided into five steps.

The first would involve the identification of land use issues and the development of goals and objectives. It may also involve drafting a "vision statement," but would begin with a review of the current plan to "reaffirm its relevance or to modify it if needed," Breiten said.

Goals and objectives are often identified through the use of a community survey. "This process insures the comprehensive plan will reflect the opinions of all the property owners in the township, not just the most vocal," the letter stated.

In the second step, information is collected to form a factual base on which to build the plan. Breiten said there is much more information available to the planners now and geographic information systems can put the raw data into much more readily useable forms.

"We can use this information to outline the town's strengths and weaknesses, as well as, identify possible future threats to our community and also opportunities to make it better," Breiten said.

The third step is make the updates to the plan which would be followed by the adoption of the changes by the town board.

Finally, changes to the comprehensive plan could result in revisions to the town's land use regulations and zoning map.

With the go-ahead from the town board, the planners will now prepare a more detailed outline, a draft of a community survey and an estimate of the costs which would also have to be approved by the town board.

Breiten said the entire process could take a year and maybe more.

The planning board will hold workshop meetings to discuss the revisions on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the town office building in Fly Creek.