GREENE – After decades of compiling the details, a comprehensive plan for the town of Greene was delivered to the town board Tuesday night and unanimously accepted.
Town Supervisor Jack T. Cook credited his town and planning board members this morning for delivering a “just a real good plan” that “everyone accepted 100 percent.” The last master plan for the town was written in 1972.
Chenango County Planning Board and Greene Planning Board member Joe Woerter credited Cook “for pushing it through” at a meeting of the county board yesterday morning. He said after two years of hard work by the town planning board, Cook and other councilpersons put their weight behind the working document with $6,000 in support to hire a consultant to complete it.
Woerter said few questions were raised during the first public hearings on drafts of the plan, and that most in the town were supportive of it. “The only concerns we had were from people wondering why there weren’t more details about land use regulations. We had to say that a lot of it was too controversial to include,” he said.
Chenango County Planner Dan Behiniak said Greene’s master plan includes many features regarding commercial development and zoning that could be referred to when other towns update their own plans. “I like the fact that any new franchises have to fit into the character of the town,” he said.
“We want to keep the character - the rolling hills and mountain sides - the way it is while at the same time encouraging growth,” Cooks said.
County planning officials have encouraged municipalities to develop or update their comprehensive plans in order to apply for grants and other project funding opportunities. Cook said his town didn’t have anything in mind yet, but he hoped the plan would serve as a roadblock to the power line being proposed for the region, some of which would pass through Greene.
“This could help us in the sense of the powerline fight,” he said. “That would change our rolling hills character.”