Welcome to the Cooperstown Crier
Home Page   Local News   Local Sports   Community Calendar   Opinion   Editorials   Columns   Letters to the Editor   Archives   News Archives   Sports Archives	Plan group begins work By CASEY CAMPBELL Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD _ A citizen’s committee formed by the Springfield town board met Monday night to begin the lengthy process of developing a comprehensive plan for the town. Town supervisor Tom Armstrong said Tuesday the committee consists of Clyde Goodrich, Bob Weaver, David Monahan, Mark Christman, Todd Schroeder, planning board chairman David Staley and Armstrong. He said everyone except for Schroeder attended Monday’s meeting with the town’s planning consultant Nan Stolzenburg. Armstrong said the meeting was designed to set up the committee and get everyone up to speed on what a comprehensive plan is and how the process of developing one works. He said Stolzenburg spoke for about an hour and provided some information to the committee members, as well as answered any questions they had. "She was very, very thorough," Armstrong said. "Nan told us everything that should be done, could be done, and ought to be done." In July, Stolzenburg told the town board that a comprehensive plan does three things: identifies current issues, conditions and demographics in the town; explains the long-term visions and goals the people would like to see for their town; and describes what is necessary to accomplish those goals. The first part of the process consists of surveying town residents and using focus groups to determine what residents want for their town. Armstrong said developing that survey would be the focus of the committee’s next meeting. "That will be the most important part of knowing what the town wants," he said. He said Monday’s meeting went well and that "from here on out we’ll try to get something accomplished." The committee will elect a chairman at the next meeting and is still looking for a business owner to join the committee to represent the business community’s interest, Armstrong said. Staley said he was "really encouraged" by the committee’s attitude Monday and that it seemed everyone wanted to get busy and get started on developing the plan. He said the committee will next meet Monday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. Town councilor Daniel Rosen attended the meeting Monday, but is not on the committee. He said he felt the committee members were a good representation of the town He wanted to remind residents that the committee meetings are open to the public. He said the process typically takes about 18 months under optimal conditions and that it’s an important step for a town like Springfield _ a "transitional agricultural community under enormous pressure from development" _ to take. "Five percent of the land in this town is being subdivided," he said. "There are going to be more (subdivisions), you just know it. This is a major effort. I hope they can pull it off."
The Cooperstown Crier is published by Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. (CNHI) Copyright 2007, Cooperstown Crier, Cooperstown, NY All rights reserved