Town officials attend training workshops

By TOM KANE

NARROWSBURG, NY - Over 50 members of planning boards and zoning board of appeals in Sullivan County attended two training sessions on March 26 that aimed to help them better fulfill their planning obligations.

The first session was a one-hour workshop on “Beautifying Your Community Through Property Maintenance” and a second two-hour session was on “Community Design Tools.”

The Visioning Committee of the Upper Delaware River Corridor and Sullivan Renaissance, in partnership with the Sullivan County Division of Planning and Community Development, sponsored the workshops.

Conducting the training were Peter Manning and Harry Willis of the New York State Department of State, Division of Local Government.

The workshops helped fulfill a new requirement by the state that calls for at least four hours of training for all local planning board and zoning board members.

“These were two excellent programs that contained vital information that we in local government need to hear,” said Jim Scheutzow, supervisor of the Town of Delaware.

The first workshop discussed such things as how to regulate junkyards, how to utilize litter laws, how to safeguard against blight and preserve property values and community standards and how to deal with abandoned and unsafe buildings.

“A community needs to protect itself from those who would abuse property and by so doing, lessen the assessed value of the whole community,” Manning said.

The two state trainers circulated model town ordinances that could be used by towns, as well as suggested ways to enforce local laws so that they have some teeth. The trainers also suggested some non-regulatory approaches, such as the establishment of municipal clean-up days and forming partnerships with business owners for the good of the community.

The second session explained what design tools could be used to help shape the appearance of their communities.

“Developers should be given guidance as to what the town expects of them,” Willis said. “It’s possible to control a franchise developer, such as a developer building a MacDonald’s or Burger King franchise, so that their constructions fit in with the character of the local community.”

One design that a municipality can demand is what is called conservation subdivision or clustering, which demands that 50 percent of a large development be given over to open space that could be shared by all the homeowners.

“More and more communities are looking to preserve dwindling open spaces that give a town a look of which they all can be proud,” Willis said.

Further, methods can be made to preserve town centers by using architectural features, such as in installation of benches and seating areas. Signs can be made to fit in with the look of a town and regulations concerning sidewalks and other landscaping amenities can be utilized.

“It’s important that you as officials know what you can demand from new development so that your community is attractive and will draw even more prosperity to your area,” Manning said.