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The Shawangunk Ridge Coalition is
sponsoring a Smart Growth Workshop on May 18 from 8:30 am to 12:30
in Wurtsboro. We are inviting all officials from all the 11
Shawangunk Ridge towns to attend. If you are interested in coming,
please save that date on your calendar. We will be sending out more
detailed information shortly. Also if your organization would like
to be listed as a co-sponsor on the flyer, we are asking for a
contribution of $50 to help defray some of the costs of putting on
this event. Please email me by March 28 if you wish to co-sponsor as
we are sending out a mailing very soon. So far we have the following
co-sponsors:
NY Planning Federation
Catskill Center
NYNJ Trail Conference
Town of Mamakating
John Myers
Land Acqusition Director, NYNJ Trail
Conference
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT JOHN MYERS (845) 434-7179
New Planning Tools Presented at Shawangunk Smart
Growth Workshop
More than 65 public officials, activists and
interested citizens met in Wurtsboro May 18 to learn more about how to
respond to burgeoning growth in the Shawangunk Ridge region. The
workshop, APlanning for the Coming Surge of Growth,@ rewarded
attendees with tools that ridge-area towns in Orange, Sullivan and
Ulster counties can use to encourage sensible growth while controlling
unwanted sprawl.
The recent rapid surge of growth in the Shawangunk
Ridge area is the result of the approval of gambling in Sullivan and
Ulster counties, the coming conversion of Route 17 to Interstate 86,
and the general wave of residential and commercial sprawl roaring up
from further south in the Hudson Valley, noted John Myers of the New
York-New Jersey Trail Conference and conference organizer. While large
tracts of the northern Gunks have been protected, most of the
three-county portion of the ridge from Route 52 south to the New
Jersey state line is still without protective zoning or land
acquisitions. This beautiful area, an attraction for local residents
and a cherished destination for outdoors lovers from throughout the
region, is thus threatened by major changes.
Planning strategies
At the workshop, Patricia Salkin, associate dean and
director of the Government Law Center of Albany Law School, described
planning and zoning tools available to help encourage well-planned
development while protecting important resources like the Shawangunk
Ridge, the Bashakill wetlands, and the region=s aquifers. Kevin
Crawford, counsel of the Association of Towns of New York State,
emphasized the need for coordination between municipalities in order
to make coherent regional development a reality. And Graham Cox,
coordinator of forest and wetland programs for Audubon New York,
promoted the idea of boosting local economies by encouraging a wide
diversity of businesses and nurturing a region=s natural and cultural
assets. David Church, the new Orange County Commissioner of Planning,
moderated.
A second set of speakers focused on approaches
specific to the Shawangunk region. Fred Harding, Supervisor of the
Town of Mamakating, pointed out the economic wisdom of encouraging
small businesses, which, he said, are and should continue to be the
mainstays of the Hudson Valley economy. Other panelists addressed
policies that encourage restoration of village downtowns, a greater
focus on the needs of the area=s vital ecosystems, and grassroots
activism that crosses town and county boundaries.
The half-day event was sponsored by the Town of
Mamakating and the Trail Conference, along with the Shawangunk Ridge
Coalition, the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development,
Audubon New York, the Appalachian Mountain Club, Friends of the
Shawangunks, the Basha Kill Area Association, and the Nature
Conservancy.
The workshop, said Mamakating Supervisor Fred Harding,
Awas a great way to get local people and officials focused on the
ridge. Everybody got the message that with all the growth coming this
way, we can=t just take the ridge and its beautiful valleys for
granted.
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