A new steering committee meant to craft a plan mapping Cortland's future met Wednesday – and it wants your help.
The City Comprehensive Plan Update Committee held its first meeting Wednesday.
“We’re creating a document to guide decision making at a city level.” said Sam Gordon, the planning practice leader for Environmental Design & Research, which the city hired to oversee the process, with subcontractor Prospect Hill of Buffalo, which specializes in GIS mapping.
Last year, Cortland received a $90,000 state Smart Growth Community Planning grant to update the city’s 2012 comprehensive plan.
“The timing of this is perfect because the Downtown Revitalization Initiative is going to be wrapping up, and what we recommend to communities is that they do comprehensive planning before undertaking a DRI so they know what needs to be done and after the DRI so that they know what’s next,” said Lissa D’Aquanni, a revitalization specialist for the state Department of State.
The city assembled a team to guide the decisions on future land use. Focus areas include mixed-use neighborhoods, housing diversity, construction and redevelopment, public spaces, open space, alternative transportation, climate resiliency and mitigation, sense of place and community engagement.
“The county recently approved a strategic plan; does that come into play with what we’re doing here?” Older Americans Advisory Board Member Karen Knauerhase asked
“The county can’t tell the city what to do, but the county does have resources and what that plan is attempting to do is align county resources with the needs of the cities and towns,” Gordon said. “There are things in that document that could absolutely and do overlap with things we’re talking about in this process but we’re looking at a different scale.”
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Public engagement is the initial focus, Gordon said.
“We want to reach as many people as possible including students at SUNY Cortland, including students in the city school district. As many people, as broad participation as we can through this process,” Gordon said.
The committee will develop a public participation plan including a survey, focus groups, a project webpage, social media and visioning workshops.
The focus groups will discuss housing and downtown development, transportation and mobility, public health and social services, open space, recreation and cultural resources.
Members of the group brought up concerns that the focus group needed more categories. “We need to agree on what the focus groups should be and then who should be invited and involved,” Gordon said.
MIXED-USE NEIGHBORHOODS
Mixed-use neighborhoods, rather than traditional building zones, came up as a goal.
“Because of the pandemic we’re seeing more mixed-use happening in residential neighborhoods, where people are tele-commuting and running businesses out of their houses, so how do we want to allow that?” D’Aquanni said. “You probably don’t want an auto-body shop but are you OK with an accountant, a seamstress, things like that.”
Gordon added, “These are the kinds of things we need to look at in Cortland and because it’s an older city you may already have a lot of that mixed-use character, some of it you might not be able to do anymore because of local zoning and things we’ll need to look at for that process.”
HOUSING DIVERSITY
Encouraging a diverse mix of housing was another focus. “You have young people who might just want an apartment, you might have older folks who are downsizing who want a townhouse,” D’Aquanni said. “Senior housing is really important, the ability to age in place.”
“When you have all of these different types of housing, it creates a more vibrant community, because you don't have that segregation,” D’Aquanni said. “I think you’re already doing it but it could be expanded.”
“We're all familiar with affordable housing but I want us to think about housing affordability, and that’s also where having diversity in housing types is really important,” Gordon said.
WHAT’S NEXT
The planning process will take about 18 months. The completed document will be subject to a public hearing before the City Council considers adopting it.
“We want this plan to be very representative of Cortland and not something that you can get in any other community,” Gordon said. “You have a sense of place, we just need to help you brush off some of the rust and let it shine.”
