Published: August 06, 2008 09:33 am            

PENDLETON: Town plan keeps open space protection

PENDLETON — The town has a new Comprehensive Plan to guide future development.

The plan, which increases the amount of commercially zoned area within the town, was adopted by the town board on Tuesday.

Planning Board member James Sacco presented the document at a public hearing beforehand.

Conservation Board member Valerie Janik said the previous master plan, which envisioned the town’s direction through 2010, had mentioned open space conservation, but no action was ever taken.

Open space conservation is in the current plan for 2025 and Janik asked the board to fund it.

Supervisor James Riester agreed it should, saying open space is something that matters to a lot of people in Pendleton.

“I think residents in town view it as a priority issue,” he said. “They talk about maintaining the rural atmosphere.”

Chapter 8 of the plan deals with the possibility of creating an open space committee, Sacco said.

Chapter 9 contains an outline of how the comprehensive plan can be reviewed every two years for issues that need to be addressed.

Sacco said the plan will be reviewed every two years, but any changes that the town board wants to make can be brought up at the next planning board meeting. The planning board then could ask the town board to change the plan. Sacco said changes can be made to the document after adoption when the need arises.

“The board is very open to working with (any proposed changes),” he said.

The process of updating the plan started in 2003, when the planning board sent out questionnaires to residents in an effort to find consensus on town issues such as open space and traffic management.

The plan can be read on the town’s Web site, www.pendletonny.us, or at the town hall on Campbell Boulevard.

        

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