The Economic Health and Heritage Committee has completed its draft design guidelines for the Village Edge South zone development, and intends to have a draft zoning amendment completed and ready for public presentation by early January.
After nearly two years of work and the recent completion of a visual preference survey of village residents, the committee presented an update on its progress during a public hearing at the Dec. 2 meeting of village board.
“The zoning law will not be written tonight, but we wanted to keep the public updated,” said Mayor Kurt Wheeler, who is also a member of the EHH Committee.
Dan Kwasnowski, principal planner with Applied Planning, who was hired by the committee recently to help with the final phase of the program, explained the committee’s work to date and offered a timeline for the future.
The EHH committee has been working to amend the village zoning law in order to prepare VES for future development that preserves and protects the land while also allowing for smart economic growth, according to the committee’s original establishment resolution.
Kwasnowski said the main idea of the committee’s work is to “make it easier for the area to be developed the way the village wants it to be developed.”
The current plan is to have a “commercial core” with retail shops, a hotel and a public green space, surrounded by residential single-family houses, condominiums, town houses and possibly senior housing, all of which will be characterized by “lots of sidewalks and front porches” with parking and garage space in the rear of buildings and homes, Kwasnowski said.
Current planning also calls for a pedestrian pathway along Route 20 inside a double aisle of trees and greenery that would also act as a barrier between the road and the development. “We’re trying to provide a buffer, something people would actually use,” Kwasnowski said.
All of the EHH Committee’s meetings have been open to the public, and all of its meeting minutes, work and concept maps are currently on the village website. Drafts of both the committee’s design guidelines (with map) and zoning recommendations also will be posted on the village website at villageofcazenovia.com/planning-and-zoning by Jan. 1, Wheeler said.
The village board has scheduled a public hearing on the continuing VES process for 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 6, to seek input on those draft design guidelines and zoning recommendations. The board also will hold a public hearing and special meeting of the board on this issue at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21, to allow more time for careful review and input without other agenda items.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
