I just had a very strange conversation that started with a complaint that Varna residents hadn't spent enough time discussing the future of the hamlet. That shocked me almost as much as someone else's claim that dense development was what the Comprehensive Plan recommended for the area.
Since I arrived here in 1999, I've seen Varna residents hard at work in conversations about:
The 1999 Varna Community and Commercial Revitalization Plan, done as part of a county grant, substantial pieces of which have been realized.
The 2005 Town of Dryden Comprehensive Plan, which was a much longer conversation over many years and meetings.
The Route 13/366 Corridor Study, a county-sponsored nodal-development-promoting project in 2007.
The Cornell-sponsored Transportation-focused Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which was much broader in scope but certainly received lots of Varna input and participation.
Recent zoning proposals, which seemed to reflect resident preferences up until about the last draft.
I can't say those projects were all of equal value, but there's certainly been no shortage of conversation. I've also heard enough stories from Varna folks about the earlier 1968 Town Comprehensive Plan, the earlier zoning, and various issues around mobile home development to feel certain that these conversations were going on long before I got here. For an unincorporated place with no way to enforce its decisions, it's a huge amount of ongoing conversation.
Update: Just for completeness, I should note the two most recent Varna planning results: the Varna 20-20 summary and the proposed alternate zoning.
Posted by simon at July 19, 2010 12:07 PM in Varna , planning and zoning