We have had extensive participation in the public process concerning the proposed annexation and redevelopment of commercial parcels at the village’s eastern edge. The town and village boards will carefully weigh all of the issues raised as they consider the annexation.
An important element in the discussion is the history of planning and zoning for the area in question. A thorough understanding of that history is important for all involved in the process. I have been involved in the community’s planning process for 19 years, beginning as a member of the Cazenovia Advisory Conservation Commission (CACC) in 1997 and most recently as chairman of the Joint Town-Village Comprehensive Plan Committee in 2007-08 and the Economic Health and Heritage Committee (EHH) that studied the village’s eastern edge from 2012-14.
A comprehensive plan is a framework outlining a community’s vision for the future. It contains guidance for future decisions and a foundation for the more detailed zoning laws which flow from it. The current comprehensive plan is more than 200 pages in length and covers a wide range of important issues from lake health to farmland protection to infrastructure and economic development. A number of clear themes emerge when one reads the plan in its entirety, including the desire to focus both commercial and residential growth into the village to preserve the community’s overall agrarian character, the desire to maintain a “hard edge” between the open space of the town versus the more dense form of the village and the broad goal of carefully balancing economic growth with preservation of community character.
Some input during the recent public hearings sought to correlate the community’s resistance to Wal-Mart in 1999 to the 2008 comprehensive plan and to the current proposal. Both assertions are inaccurate. The impetus for the joint planning effort which was initiated in 2006 was primarily residential in nature; promoting historic neighborhood character in the village and preserving open space in the town. The comparison of Wal-Mart to the current proposal is also misleading; the first being greenfield development of an area that had always been agricultural and the second being redevelopment of existing commercial parcels in an area clearly identified for annexation.
Village zoning in what is now known as Village Edge South (VES) was residential only prior to 2008. The 2008 plan allowed commercial uses but limited building size. By 2012, only the two most accessible parcels in the zone had been developed (undermining the zone’s full economic potential) and the village planning board had also raised concerns that it did not have the tools needed to fully promote the desired character in the area. Those dual concerns led to the creation of the Economic Health and Heritage Committee which conducted a two-year planning effort under the guidance of a professional planner with the goal of striking an “effective balance between preserving its rural heritage and historic character while also fostering an environment that promotes economic health for the community.”
The town of Cazenovia was well-represented in that process with both the current supervisor and the chairman of the town’s CACC serving as members of the committee and countless town residents participating in the multiple public hearings and meetings over the course of two years. The outcome was an extremely rigorous analysis that led to one page of revisions to the Village Comprehensive Plan, new zoning for two distinct areas (VES-Mixed Use and VES-Residential) and detailed design guidelines to both enhance the potential value and protect the important qualities of the VES zone.
Some input during the current public process has also questioned the importance of economic development and its role in maintaining both financial and demographic vitality in our community. After more than 200 years, the total assessed value of taxable property in the village of Cazenovia is just over $200 million with an average growth of approximately $1 million per year over the past decade (.5 percent per year). Anyone who has followed the budgeting process in recent years knows that costs are rising faster than revenues. A proposal which could add $5 million of assessed value generating $30,000 in property tax annually (for the village alone) plus potential increases in sales tax revenue cannot be ignored by any responsible municipal board.
Of equal importance for the boards to consider is the potential demographic impact which new jobs and the addition of the project’s affordable housing component could have. Our school district’s enrollment has declined significantly in recent years. Future students may not have the same range of opportunities as current ones if that trend continues. These are among the factors that must be weighed in the process along with the important issues of community character and quality of life for our residents.
The town and village boards will carefully review all elements of the proposal before them. They will consider the guidance and priorities of the entire 2008 Comprehensive Plan as well as the opportunities and protections created by the EHH analysis. As lead agency, the village board will also conduct a detailed examination of the application under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Based on that rigorous process, each board will then make a decision on the annexation request as to whether it is in the overall public interest.
Kurt Wheeler is the mayor of the village of Cazenovia, chair of the current village/town joint committee on the proposed Route 20 land parcel annexation and former chair of the Joint Town-Village Comprehensive Plan Committee in 2007-08 and the Economic Health and Heritage Committee (EHH) that studied the village’s eastern edge from 2012-14.
