Town board seeks additional feedback
By Hayleigh Gowans
Staff Writer
The town of DeWitt is coming to an end of a process that began in 2014 — updating its comprehensive plan, which will be a guide for town government when making decisions for the future.
At the Jan. 23 town board meeting, a public hearing on the draft comprehensive plan was held.
The last time the comprehensive plan was update was in 2002 and in 2014 a committee was formed to review the 2002 document and what factors may have changed since then, such as demographics, traffic statistics and land use data, and how this affects the town and goals for future projects and development. This committee included DeWitt Director of Planning and Zoning Sam Gordon along with representatives from other boards and committees within the town.
Gordon said a comprehensive plan helps municipalities assess and identify projects and policy decisions that are in the best interest for the future of a municipality. Having a comprehensive plan in place is a positive tool in grant writing, said Gordon, because it allows the organization that is issuing the grant to see the municipality has identified problems and solutions for the future.
Review of demographic studies done by the comprehensive plan committee shows that, since 2002, the population of DeWitt has stayed fairly stable, though the number of housing units between 2000 and 2010 changed from 9,191 to 10,967. Land use data shows there is still a possibility for expansion within residential areas of the town, said Gordon.
Some strengths of the town of DeWitt, the draft comprehensive plan states, is that there is ample shopping, a good value in home prices, diversified real estate tax base and preservation of open space areas, but lists some weaknesses that include limited pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, inadequate buffering of residential area adjacent to commercial/industrial areas and pass-through traffic using DeWitt as a corridor.
Goals and actions proposed in the draft comprehensive plan include developing a long-range comprehensive use plan, identify areas of the town’s sewer and water systems that are deteriorating or obsolete and implement studies to fix or expand those systems, maintain owner-occupancy as the main form of tenancy, undertake a housing study, encourage neighborhood identity and develop manuals that provide guidance for neighborhood design, explore potential mixed-use zoning opportunities, undertake a comprehensive inventory of natural resources in the town, to name a few. Many of these goals have implementation profiles that outline time frames and steps to completing these tasks.
“This was a big project to undertake,” said Gordon. “A comprehensive plan is an important policy tool and it also informs land use visions. … It’s a prescribed path for the town to take moving forward.”
The town’s committees and boards have had time to review the draft document and have given feedback, said Gordon. The DeWitt Town Board decided to keep the public hearing open until the next meeting on Feb. 13 to allow members of the public more time to review the document and give feedback, though the document will be sent to the Syracuse Onondaga County Planning Agency (SOCPA) for review.
To review the draft comprehensive plan, go to townofdewitt.com/ComprehensivePlanUpdate.aspx. Comments can be submitted in writing to Sam Gordon, [email protected] or at the next town board meeting, 7 p.m. on Monday Feb. 13.
