The Town of Highland recently completed a draft rewrite of its comprehensive plan following a lengthy process that included 16 working sessions open to the public, as well as four community-wide visioning sessions. Members of the Comprehensive Plan Task Force, which was established in April 2007, presented the draft to town supervisor Andrew Boyar at the town meeting on October 11.

Task force chair Carol Roig provided an overview of the process, which involved updating the 2001 Comprehensive Plan. Such plans are traditionally updated every 10 years in conjunction with new U.S. Census data. The task force was assisted by Jill Weyer, assistant commissioner of planning for Sullivan County.

“The comprehensive plan is not a law, but rather principals, goals, policies and strategies relating to growth and development that form the basis for our regulations,” said Roig, who encouraged everyone to review the document and share their ideas with the task force. “We’ll take in those comments, there will be some revisions to the plan and another public hearing will probably be scheduled before adoption of the final plan.”

The plan is available for public review on the town website at townofhighland ny.com, at the town clerk’s office or Sunshine Library in Eldred, or at the government center in Monticello.

“I’ve seen other comprehensive plans and this is really a quality plan,” said Boyar. “It’s accurate, complete and thoughtful. By using the expertise of town residents, we saved the town approximately $15,000. We feel that people who worked on the plan know the town better than any outside consultant.”

The board has scheduled a public hearing for the draft Comprehensive Plan on October 25, immediately following a public hearing for the 2012 town budget at 7 p.m. The board also rescheduled its regular board meeting to November 1 at 7 p.m., due to a conflict with Election Day on November 8. The board will adopt its final budget at that meeting.

The board also passed a resolution establishing a Halloween weekend curfew beginning October 28 and ending November 1, with daily restrictions for youth under the age of 18 between the hours of 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.