Town of Essex Comprehensive Plan Update

Comprehensive planning is an attempt to establish guidelines for the future growth of a community. As the term “comprehensive” suggests, this is an all-inclusive approach to addressing the issue of a community’s future growth. A comprehensive plan is the formal document produced through this process. The document is official in nature, meaning that it is designed to be adopted into law by some form of local government. The document should then serve as a policy guide to decisions about community development.

New York State Town Law § 272-a defines the requirements set forth for all municipalities to participate in comprehensive planning

The key principle in the concept of the comprehensive plan is that it is an instrument to be used by community leaders who establish the policies and make the decisions regarding physical development. The plan document should fulfill six basic requirements:

• It should be comprehensive.

• It should be long-range.

• It should be general.

• It should focus on physical development.

• It should relate physical design proposals to community goals and social and economic policies.

• It should be a policy instrument first, and a technical instrument only second.

https://web.extension.illinois.edu/lcr/comprehensiveplanning.cfm

Comprehensive Plan Local Committee

• Kristin Kimball - Co-Chair

• Steven Engelhart - Co-Chair

• Tom McGuire

• Scott Hurlburt

• Kevin DeLaughter

• Lauren Murphy

• Jim Shannon

• Ellen Cormier

Town of Essex Comprehensive Plan History

• 2002 Comprehensive Plan

• 1989 Trancik Study of the Essex Hamlet

• Dateline: December 12, 2024 - The Comprehensive Plan Committee recently met on December 5th to continue the work of informing the consultant on local topics and issues that need to be addressed when the public-at-large becomes fully involved in the conversation. A summary of that meeting is now available. Additionally, the Committee first came together officially on October 30th, 2024 to kick off their work together. A summary of that meeting is now available. And finally, the Committee would like to share work that the consultant has done to review all of the past plans that the Town of Essex has been commissioned and/or authored. That review of past plans to help identify where the town has been and what the town has done is available here.

• Dateline: November 15, 2024 - The Comprehensive Plan Committee continues their work with LaBella to prepare the groundwork for two public meetings that will take place with the first over the winter months, and the second over the summer months. As these meetings are open to the public, they are designed primarily to facilitate committee work sessions. The dates of the next two meets will be December 5th at 6PM and January 7th at 6PM at the Whallonsburg Grange Hall.

• Dateline: October 30, 2024 - The Comprehensive Plan Committee and representatives from LaBella met for a “get-to-know-you” meeting at the Whallonsburg Grange Hall. The kick-off meeting allowed for committee members and the consulting team to review the project scope of work and preliminary schedule as well as to learn from the committee what they felt were their priorities, issues and concerns (to help the committee understand the general direction of conversation that will take place with the public at large). The Committee approved a draft public participation plan (the plan that identifies how the general public will be involved) and reviewed a community profile of data and maps. A summary of this meeting will be available here once finalized.

• Dateline: September 9, 2024 - Last week, the Core Team met with LaBella to organize next steps for the larger committee meeting. The plan is to have the entire Committee hold their first meeting with LaBella in October so we can plan our first (first of two) public meeting in November/December time period.

• Dateline: August 19/20, 2024 - LaBella representatives met virtually with Core Team members to discuss roles and responsibilities, determine logistics and review the scope of work, A kick-off meeting between LaBella representatives and the larger Committee will take place in late September/early October.

• Dateline: August 9, 2024 - The Town Council approved the Professional Services Agreement with LaBella Associates at their meeting last night. We look forward to moving this process along with LaBella at the helm!

• Dateline: July 17, 2024 - The Essex Town Council appointed Martha Smiles to the Local Steering Committee upon recommendation from the committee co-chairs. Additionally, the Town Council, upon unanimous vote approved LaBella Associates of Glens Falls to serve as the professional planning organization for the Town. The Town is excited for both of these appointments as we work to get this process underway. The Town is now working with New York State Department of State to determine next steps in the process.

• Dateline: July 9, 2024 - The Town has received 5 qualified responses to our RFP which was due on June 27. Committee co-chairs are working with the committee consultants to score the RFPs so a recommendation can be made to the Town Council this week for the consideration and possible approval.

• Dateline: June 21, 2024 - The Local Steering committee met on the 19th to introduce themselves to one another and learn about the process ahead of them. Chairman Todd Goff laid out the details of the process which can be seen here in its presentation format.

• Dateline: May 31, 2024 - The Local Steering committee will hold their first “get-to-know you” coordinating meeting on June 19th at 7pm at the Whallonsburg Grange Hall. The purpose of this meeting will be to introduce the committee members to the upcoming process and to each other. No discussions about the upcoming plan will be discussed at that time.

• Dateline: May 21, 2024 - Request for Proposals – The Town of Essex is seeking proposals for the preparation of a Comprehensive Plan update, pursuant to New York State Town Law §272-a, which grants municipalities the authority to prepare and adopt comprehensive plans. The project is being funded by a 2022 Smart Growth Comprehensive Planning Grant from the New York State Department of State. The Town of Essex is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs), as well as Section 3 businesses, are encouraged to submit responses to this request. Proposals are due by 3:00pm on June 27, 2024. A copy of the full RFP can be found on the Essex County website: https://www.co.essex.ny.us/bidders/publicbids.aspx; the NYS Contract Reporter: https://www.nyscr.ny.gov/agency/index.cfm; and here.

• Dateline: May 12, 2024 - The Town Council approved, by resolution the following community members to serve as voting members of the Local Steering Committee: Tom McGuire, Scott Hurlburt, Kevin DeLaughter, Lauren Murphy, Jim Shannon, Ellen Cormier, Don Hollingsworth, Kat Moser, Scott Lawrence, Tom Duca, Oona Hall, Bradley French and Jay Fiegl. Supervisor Hughes and Planning Board Chairman Goff will serve as non-voting consultants to the committee. Additionally, the RFP for a planning consultant was approved and the Town will now proceed with seeking qualified bids for that work.

• Dateline- April 12, 2024 - The Town Council appointed, by resolution Steven Engelhart and Kristin Kimball of Essex to serve as co-chairs for the Comprehensive Plan Committee. Over the coming weeks the co-chairs, in consultation with the Town Supervisor and the Planning Board Chairman will craft a committee of ~15 Essex residents ensuring a maximum amount of diverse backgrounds on the committee.

• Dateline - March 6, 2024 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr8NPlnbZ_M is a terrific link to a 2-hour webinar put on by the New York State Department of State Division of Local Government Services that addresses all aspects of comprehensive planning.

• Dateline - February 1, 2024 - Town officials Todd Goff and Ken Hughes met with NYSDOS and Essex County officials to conduct a kickoff meeting for our comprehensive plan process. One of the first steps in this lengthy process will be to establish a local committee to provide leadership to the community on this process. Chairman Goff and Supervisor Hughes are working collaboratively to prepare a list of individuals from all walks of Essex life to volunteer for this responsibility, which will require Town Council approval to be officially formed.

• Dateline - January 26, 2024 - The Town received notification from the NYS Department of State that they have fully executed the contract between the Town and the State and we can now begin to move forward with the process under the guidance of our Department of State liaison.

• Dateline - September 15, 2023 - The Town has learned that our contract package (C1002339) has been accepted by NYS Department of State. It now must be countersigned and executed by fiscal officers for the NYS DOS, the Attorney General and the Office of the State Comptroller. This can take approximately 2 months.

• Dateline - February 1, 2023 - The Town has been advised by Essex County Grant Administrators that the responsibilities of next steps now lie with the Department of State, which can take a few months to execute. Until then, the Town awaits word of what it is required to do to move the process along.

• Dateline - January 23, 2023 - The Town received word from the New York State Department of State of the following grant award (applied for with help from the Essex County Community Resources):

  • Applicant: Essex (T) CFA number: 118111 Award Amount: $67,500 Project Name: Town of Essex Comprehensive Plan Update Project Description: The Town of Essex will develop a Comprehensive Plan update based on Smart Growth principles. Town residents, local stakeholders, and businesses will be involved in the identification and evaluation of existing local conditions, issues and opportunities, and the development of a community vision. In addition to describing and analyzing local conditions and issues and opportunities, the update to the comprehensive plan will also reflect community goals and include an implementation strategy.