By Eileen Gallagher
During the town board meeting of Jan 14, the main topic was once again the master plan. Supervisor Rob Greenstein mentioned as part of his report that the town is considering hiring Pace to facilitate the next phases of the process.
This Tuesday, January 20, Pace will be presenting a proposal at the town board work session. Per Jill Shapiro, town administrator, they will be discussing a variety of strategies for the town, including, but not limited to, TOD (transit oriented development), which is a mixed use residential and commercial area designed to be walkable and highly accessible to public transportation.
Based on public outreach, Pace feels that the town should consider TOD as part of the master plan update, but they weren’t initially hired for that, per Shapiro.
Greenstein admitted that the board needs to do a better job of communicating to residents, saying that the master plan process has not stopped despite a slowdown in updates. “The public is not involved in every step of the process.”
Town attorney Nick Ward-Willis added, “There will be public hearings when the Master Plan Steering Committee proposes a plan.”
Resident John Ehrlich informed the board of the passing of longtime resident Penny Vane on December 27.
“She was an active contributor to so many projects,” Ehrlich continued, citing her involvement with the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, the Strawberry Festival, the former skating rink on South Greeley Avenue, and a popular soup bowl project making and selling ceramic bowls, proceeds of which went to feed the homeless.