This morning's Ithaca Journal front-pages Thursday night's Town Board vote on the Town Comprehensive Plan. The article mentions the eminent domain controversy which appeared in a letter to the editor last month. Supervisor Steve Trumbull says on the trails that:
"They're afraid we're going to put in the 40 miles of trail and take their land away, and that's crazy," said Steve Trumbull, the town supervisor.
In the proposed plan, there are 20 miles of finished trails suggested along with another 19 miles of unfinished trails. If the town adopts the comprehensive plan, as Trumbull expects, there is no obligation for the town to pursue creation of the recreational trails.
In the short term, the likely first implementation of the plan's recommendations might give the Planning Board more options in creating subdivisions:
According to Barbara Caldwell, chair of the town's planning board, the first item likely to see action, after the plan is adopted, is the municipality's subdivision regulations. Right now there is no reference to clustering, a planning tool the town would like to encourage. When developers cluster homes, the intent is to concentrate development on a site, leaving larger swaths of open space.
The warm weather we've had may dim fall foliage, though I'm still enjoying what we have.
I also missed an article yesterday, which visits the Greater Ithaca Art Trail, starting in Eva Capobianco's studio on Turkey Hill Road.
Posted by simon at October 11, 2005 8:43 AM in Ithaca Journal , art , planning and zoning , politics (local)