Village of Fayetteville comprehensive plan update eyed by board

VILLAGE OF FAYETTEVILLE – During its June 28 meeting, Fayetteville’s board of trustees discussed the possibility of revising the village’s comprehensive plan.
The most recent update to the municipal road map was approved by the board in 2014, the ensuing gap propelling Syracuse-based landscape architecture firm Environmental Design & Research (EDR) to develop a proposal centered around an overhaul.
“It’s about time to refresh,” Jane Rice, the director of planning for EDR, said.
The firm’s work would extend through December, and the proposed update would involve assurance that the plan’s vision is up-to-date for the community—inventory, analysis and all.
Viewable via a link included in the online copy of the board’s June 28 agenda, EDR’s proposal also mentions the development of a public engagement plan. Such community outreach would potentially materialize by way of meetings with an advisory committee, stakeholder interviews and in-person workshops, the document reads.
Mayor Mark Olson said a major revision is necessary at this point for the guiding statement, which he called a “valuable tool” for both earning grants and formulating a checklist of what to accomplish in the foreseeable future.
“A lot has changed over the last 18 months in our country and our village, so I thought it was the time to go ahead and update our comprehensive plan,” Olson said.
He said the heightened dependence on teleconferencing and livestreaming, the move to increased remote work, and the added sidewalks and trails leading to local parks and other connected areas should be changes touched upon in the re-evaluation and later codified in the plan.
The mayor also said that Fayetteville’s comprehensive plan is supposed to serve as its own standing document while acting as an appendix or subsection of the Town of Manlius’ plan.
To allow continued public examination of the proposal, the board decided to momentarily rescind the approval of the agreement with EDR.
The board’s next meeting is scheduled to take place on July 19, when it is expected to discuss the matter further. The public hearing on outdoor storage is set to resume on that date as well.