The Comprehensive
Plan
Not To Be
At a recent candidates night at the Lake Hill firehouse the
town Supervisor, Jeremy Wilber, indicated that his administration
will be taking no action on the Comprehensive Plan. It's dead
in the water.
Guide for Future Development
At a cost of $50,000 and several years in the making the Comprehensive
Plan was to be the blueprint for Woodstock's future development.
Most towns have Comprehensive plans to guide future development
within a township. The Comprehensive Plan lay the legal groundwork
in terms of a development framework. The future zoning laws
should reflect the concerns outlined in the Comprehensive Plan.
Firehouse Meetings
The information for the Comprehensive Plan was developed from
a series of "firehouse meetings" held throughout Woodstock.
This information was used as a basis of a questioner sent to
town residents. 933 responses were returned for to the Town
for tabulation and analysis.
Citizen Input
This citizen input was the foundation on which the Comprehensive
Plan was built upon. It reflected a general consensus of how
the residents of Woodstock wanted to see their community grow.
Affordable Housing
As usual Supervisor Wilber and his minions (Wemp, McKenna and
Knight) have other ideas. His rational was that there were some
resident who objected to the proposed RUPCO affordable housing
project on the St John site behind the Bradley Meadows Mall.
Twisted Logic
In a display of twisted logic the Supervisor does not take a
position on the merits of the project itself, but he rejects
the Comprehensive Plan on the basis of opposition to the affordable
housing project by various neighbors.
Excellent Candidate
The Comprehensive Plan indicated that the site as an excellent
candidate for affordable and senior housing. It was in the middle
of hamlet within walking of the necessities. It did not however,
spell out the size and scope of such a project.
Too Large
Quite frankly, the project as proposed is too large for the
footprint. It was the town's Affordable Housing Committee's
process chaired by Councilman Wemp, that was faulty. By rejecting
other sites out of hand and not bringing in the neighbors to
hear their concerns before the project became a "fait accompli",
is not recipe for success or trust. Then again, "trust"
is not a hallmark of the Wilber Administration.