Town updating its master plan

Monroe - Burgeoning population growth, increasing taxes and growing traffic congestion, along with more stringent state and federal environmental regulations, has prompted the town of Monroe to assess how these impacts will affect the future of the community. The town, which formed a committee in 2004 to update its master plan, is in the midst of public meetings on the document. A public hearing was held in June to enable the committee to receive and review public comments on the plan and incorporate any necessary changes. The committee which drafted the update also held a public meeting on Dec. 8 to discuss Geographic Information System mapping issues and to receive comments from the Orange County Department of Planning. County Planning Commissioner David E. Church said the proposed Draft Plan is consistent with the concepts and principals embodied within the Orange County Comprehensive Development Plan. “It is also evident that a great amount of time and thought was devoted to drafting the new plan given that it is well written and comprehensive in scope,” he added. Another public meeting was scheduled for Dec. 15. The goal of a master plan is to function as a guidepost document that defines the philosophy and general direction of community growth, land use and conservation while providing guidelines and controls for various community board decisions. The master plan should identify suitable locations within the community for commercial and residential development, recreation and open space with consideration for cultural and historic heritage. The Monroe committee assigned to this task was formed in 2004 and consists of eight members who represent various boards and citizens within the community: Both Peter Martin, who servers as chairman, and James Rogers represent the Town Board, Mary Bingham from the Conservation Committee, Alicia Vaccaro from the Planning Board, Michael Lofstedt from the Zoning Board of Appeals and community citizens John Collins, Rick Walls and John Broderick. Town Planner Leslie Dotson from Garling Associates, Town Engineer Alfred Fusco Jr. and David Washburn serve as technical consultants. The 117-page draft document is based upon a plan originally written in 1973 which was updated in 1996 and corrected to 1998 and then adopted. The goal of the current update committee is to present the draft master plan to the Town Board by the end of 2006. The scope of the comprehensive plan covers a wide range of community related topics from natural resources and transportation issues to recreation, housing and emergency services. Additionally, the plan addresses topics such as demographics and population growth. Although the Town of Monroe is comprised of the Villages of Monroe, Harriman and Kiryas Joel and the unincorporated Town of Monroe, the plan excludes land use issues that are governed by policies of the various village governments. A high-tech part of the committee’s project is to create a Geographic Information System (GIS) for the community. The GIS is a computer database that contains digitized data describing various land features such as topography, road mapping, wetlands and development. The goal is to make the database available to any resident of the town with Internet access. Detailed comments from the county include the consideration of performance zoning and conservation subdivision regulations, visual buffer strip requirements and access management standards along major roadway corridors. Following the receipt of public comments and completion by the committee, the Town Board will review the plan in accordance with the State Environmental Quality Review Act, examine potential environmental impacts and release a finding statement prior to adopting the plan. Upon adoption, the plan will become official town policy. A copy of the Master Plan Comprehensive Update 2005 - DRAFT and the preliminary comments from the Orange County Department of Planning may be accessed at the Town of Monroe’s Web site: www.monroeny.org.