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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1_Intro & Vision_Final 5-14-2019 RedLine Southold Town Comprehensive Plan Update Chapter 1 Vision Statement & Introduction DraftFinal March 15, 2017 Updated March 18May 14, 2019 1 Vision Statement & Introduction Southold Town Comprehensive Plan Update 1-1 VISION STATEMENT The Town of Southold is a community of extraordinary history and beauty. Residents and visitors benefit from its diverse hamlets surrounded by pastoral landscapes and expansive natural resources. Our citizens cherish Southold’s small- town quality of life and wish to preserve what we currently value while planning for a productive and viable future. Future planning shall be compatible with existing community character while supporting and addressing the challenges of continued land preservation, maintaining a vibrant local economy, creating efficient transportation, promoting a diverse housing stock, expanding recreational opportunities and protecting natural resources. 1 Vision Statement & Introduction Southold Town Comprehensive Plan Update 1-2 INTRODUCTION H1 A comprehensive plan is the official public document used to guide the development of a community. In New York State, the comprehensive plan provides the rationale for the zoning and other land use regulations found in the Town Code. Southold Town’s Comprehensive Plan has recently undergone anThis update, to the comprehensive plan for Southold Town the second in its history. The newly revised Comprehensive Plan will help shape policy decisions regarding the appropriate use of the Town’s resources and may result in the examination and possible updating of the Southold Town Code. Essential to any comprehensive analysis is its vision statement, which guides the entire process. The Vision Statement, the collective product of town stakeholders, underpins Southold Town’s Comprehensive Plan. BACKGROUND PREVIOUS PLANS H1 This is the second comprehensive plan update since planning first began in Southold. A review of the history of cComprehensive planning projects in Southold reveals that, much like this effort, previous plans have been a multi-year process. The first plan, was comprisinged of a series of studies and plans begun in the mid- 1960’s, was and completed in the late 1970’s. The first update to that plan, begun in 1982, took about seven years to complete and culminated in an entirely new zoning map adopted in 1989. Since that time, there have been many other plans and studies, and the Town Board has implemented many of their recommendations. Completing an overhaul of the subdivision regulations that made open space mandatory and formalized the conservation subdivision and designating New York State Route 25 and Suffolk County Road 48 as scenic corridorsNew York State Scenic Byways are just two examples of many[AG1]. The Town Board has also amended the zoning code many times to follow through on the recommendations from those plans. Examples of this include changing the code to ensure “big box” stores were designed to fit in the community, restricting fast food restaurants to shopping centers, and making accessory apartments legal and easier to create. One goal present contained in just about every plan and study is to preserve land from development, and the Town has continued to make farmland and open space preservation a priority. Some of the more comprehensive planning efforts include the Southold Town Stewardship Task Force Final Report in 1994, the Blue Ribbon Commission for a Rural Southold of 2002, the Comprehensive Implementation Strategy of 2003, the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) completed in 2004, and the Hamlet Stakeholder work from 2005 to 2009undertaken to produce the 2007-08 Hamlet Stakeholder Initiatives[AG2]. These plans were all worthwhile efforts and provided an important focus for certain issues;, however, none was broad enough in scope to be considered a comprehensive plan update on its 1 Vision Statement & Introduction Southold Town Comprehensive Plan Update 1-3 own. Nevertheless, those plans, studies, and reports, completed over the past 20 years or more, have echoed similar visions and goals time and again, and have guided the Town in its decisions on land use. The vision and goals of these past plans, studies, and reports collectively generate a vision and goals that are carried forward into this document. Many Such goals from previous plans remain, includeing retaining the rural character that residents and visitors value and ensuring that farming continues as a major aspect of the Town, and retaining the rural character that residents and visitors value. The One benefit of this document as a single comprehensive plan will beis that it will consolidate the Town’s goals into one place, making it them easier to find those goals. This document also seeks to provides more detailed objectives forto accomplishing theose goals and assigns responsibility for those objectives to help ensure they can beare implemented carried out. This plan also carries more weight in that oOnce this plan is adopted as the Town’s comprehensive plan, all future zoning actions will need to be consistent with its goals and vision. The[AG3] catalysts for this most recent comprehensive plan update were the Hamlet Study (2005), and the 2007-08 Hamlet Stakeholder Initiativeswork, two planning initiatives that relied heavily on public participation were the catalysts for this newest comprehensive plan update. The Hamlet Study was completed in 2005, with a new emphasis on community participation, and in 2007, the Hamlet Stakeholders were reconvened and reformulated to include everyone that volunteered to participate. The 2007 Hamlet Stakeholders Initiatives’ mission work built on the 2005 Hamlet Study andwas to used community participation to transform the 2005 Hamlet Study document into actionable items recommendations for the Town to implement. This was accomplished, and iIn 2008, the Town formed a Hamlet Implementation Panel of town staff to take action on the recommendations, which were classified as either short-term goals or long- term goals. Many of the short-term goals were successfully implemented by early 2009,; however the long- term goals, however, were broader in scope and with many requiringed amendments to the zoning code to accomplish. Important as tThese long-term goals, although important, from the Hamlet Stakeholders were, they focused mostly on the hamlet centers, with many other areas and topics not addressed. Those areas outside the hamlet centers, as well as topics like affordable housing and agriculture also needed to be addressed. It became clear that an even more inclusive and comprehensive public process would be needed to identify the broader goals of the entire Town and continue implementation of the long-term goals of the Hamlet Stakeholder workInitiatives, and add to it the broader goals of the entire town. This was best accomplished through a new comprehensive plan. Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan The Town of Southold LWRP, adopted by the Town Board in 2004, is incorporated into the Southold Town Comprehensive Plan by reference. The Southold Town Comprehensive Plan has no effect or impact and is not intended to repeal or otherwise diminish the applicability of the LWRP. The Comprehensive Plan, although separate from the LWRP, may address some overlapping areas. In cases where there is a conflict between the LWRP and the Comprehensive Plan in terms of 1 Vision Statement & Introduction Southold Town Comprehensive Plan Update 1-4 policies, the Southold Town Planning Board, with recommendations from the Southold Town LWRP Coordinator, will determine the outcome. The resolution of conflicts shall not be interpreted in a way that renders the LWRP ineffective or invalid. THE UPDATED COMPREHENSIVE PLAN The significant difference between this and the previous comprehensive planning efforts is that previous comprehensive plans were written by consultants, whereas this one was written by Ttown officials and staff in collaboration with residents and other stakeholders. Experience has shown that plans produced by outside consultants, while professional, often do not seem to provide exactly what the Town wants in a plan. Neither of the previous two comprehensive plans, both completed by outside consultants, were formally adopted by the Town Board. More important, this plan was written in collaboration with the residents and other stakeholders through an unprecedented number of public input meetings. Beginningun in 2010 with a public input meeting about the Vision Statement, there have since been over 40 meetings, where hundreds of people have provided their thoughts on the early drafts of each chapter in the plan, both in person and online via email. Each comment was recorded, and then answered responded to publicly (i.e., posted on the website) and included such feedback as whetherto how the commentit was used to inform the plan, and if not, why not. By September, 2018, all of the chapters had been drafted, and vetted by the public in a series of public input meetings, and with public input incorporated into each chapter. Each completed draft chapter was presented to the Town Board, and posted online. By the end of February 2019, In 2018 all of the chapters were given a final review to identify where statistics could be updated and any revisions made where situations might have changed over time. For example, one goal in the Economic Chapter was to form an Economic Development Committee. The Town Board formed the committee in 2012, so the goal was revised to acknowledge this change. In early 2019, the statistics were updated where new data were available. Another difference between tThis plan and previous comprehensive plans is that this plan does not contain a new zoning map, or sweeping changes to the zones, uses, or bulk schedule. The reasons behind this are several. Zoning was a relatively new concept for the Town back when tOne is that zoning is no longer a new idea for Southold. The first zoning ordinance was adopted in Southold in 1957. , and the first comprehensive plan was written in 1967, only ten years later. The second comprehensive planning effort began only 15 years later. Zoning was still relatively new and so it makes sense that comprehensive changes were recommended as everyone learned more about how zoning works and affects development patterns. Now that zoning has been in place for over 60 years, and the current zoning map in effect for 30 years, it is clearwe have the experience to see that any future changes to zoning districts need to happen in a collaborative way, working with the communities that are affected. This updated cComprehensive pPlan update points the Town in a direction for considering potential zone changes, leaving the details to the implementation phase. Any changes to zoning that might result from this plan would happen later, after the plan is adopted and priorities for implementation of the plan have beenare identified. 1 Vision Statement & Introduction Southold Town Comprehensive Plan Update 1-5 Two other additional reasons behind for waiting for on making specific any zoninge changes until after the plan is adopted are time and funding. Experience has shown that any major change to the zoning map is best done in a collaborative process with residents and stakeholders. Theis collaborative process that would be needed for any meaningful and feasible zoning changes would involves numerous public input meetings, all of which require preparation, promotion, and follow-up. Also required are the detailed analyses that provide the backdrop of information everyone neededs to make informed decisions. To accomplish this necessary essential work would require time and funding beyond the internal resources of the Town. One way to proceed with such an effort would be to consider applying for Ffunding from grants to helpire help with future major zoning initiatives will be needed during the implementation phase. The implementation phase of the plan occurs after the plan is adopted. The advantage to waiting until this phase to work on the details such asof specific zoning changes is that it gives residents and their elected officials plenty of time to discuss and consider the proposals found in the plan, one by one. It also provides more time to conduct the information -gathering and analyses necessary to provide the information that can promptfrom which discussion can ensue and decision-makings made. Finally, because the reality of a comprehensive plan update is that it takes years to accomplish, it leaves the possibilities for exactly how any zone changes might be done open to adapt to changing times. Implementation of the Comprehensive Plan The Town Board is responsible for implementing the goals and ensuring they are accomplished. The Town Board will direct the priorities for which goals are to be pursued, and will decide whether to provide funding or staff to help accomplish any one goal. To organize the implementation of the plan, the goals must be prioritized. The Town Board will decide the method by which it will prioritize the goals and pursue implementation. To keep this document alive, there is a “Responsible Party” identified for each many of the goals and some individual objectives. The role of the Responsible Party is to bring the goal or objective to the attention of the Town Board, promote awareness that it exists, and gauge the interest of the Town Board in pursuing it. This could involve working with the Town Board on prioritizing the goals as time goes by and circumstances change. Where the Responsible Party is a Ttown committee, the goals can serve as guidance for the activities of the committee. The Town Board may re-assign Responsible Parties during the implementation phase. Updating the Future Comprehensive Plan This document is a living document in that updates will be done as needed to individual chapters or individual goals. Continuous updating of smaller portions at any one time will ensure the document stays relevant over time, and make it unnecessary to attempt an update of the entire plan all at once. Description of Southold Town[AG4] 1 Vision Statement & Introduction Southold Town Comprehensive Plan Update 1-6 Southold Town is located in the southeast of New York State, on the eastern end of the area known as the North Fork of Long Island. Southold’s mainland is a long and narrow peninsula, averaging 3 three miles in width in the western portion of the tTown, and narrowing considerably on the eastern end. The entire Town, including its five islands, is 54 square miles in size, with 163 linear miles of coastline. Town-Aadjacent waterbodies include the Long Island Sound, Fishers Island Sound, Block Island Sound, and Gardiner’s and Peconic Bays. There are tThree adjacent municipalities include, Greenport Village in the southeast, Riverhead Town at the far southwest end, and Shelter Island Town to the southeast (separated by the bayPeconic River). Southold Town is comprised composed of ten 10 hamlets, all 9 of which are located on the mainland (the exception is for Fishers Island). The hamletsy are Cutchogue, East Marion, Fishers Island, Greenport West, Laurel, Mattituck, New Suffolk, Orient, Peconic, and Southold. Each has its ownThese hamlets all have individual identityies, and variesy greatly in size, population and character. The ten hamlets are described in more detail in the Land Use Chapter 3, “Land Use and Zoning.” Southold Town includes numerous islands, many of which are inhabited, There are three large islands within itsthe jurisdiction. The largest of these are of Southold Town include Fishers Island, (at 3,200 acres), Plum Island (at 816 acres), and Robins Island (at 435 acres). , as well as a number of much smaller islands near Plum and Fishers Islands. Additional Ddetails of the physical aspects and historical context of the Town are not included in this plan update but can be found in many of the previous plans, including the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program Volume I, Section II (2004) which contains a thorough description. This plan can be found online through the Town’s website at www.southoldtownny.gov. Figure__ (to be created in GIS or by Graphic Designer): Basic map of Southold Town - Hamlets - Major Roads HOW THIS DOCUMENT IS ORGANIZED The plan is divided into chapters that handle the various topics that influence policy decisions about land use and zoning within Southold Town. Chapter 2, “Demographics,” introduces the Town’s inhabitants and provides perspectives and statistics about their characteristics including profession, age, housing, and income. Chapter 3, “Land Use and Zoning,” provides an overview of land use and zoning in Southold Town, and presents broad goals for future land use and zoning to achieve the vision in this plan. Subsequent chapters narrow the focus to specific land use topics, including the economy, agriculture, land preservation, community character, water 1 Vision Statement & Introduction Southold Town Comprehensive Plan Update 1-7 and land resources, housing, human services, recreation, transportation, infrastructure, and natural hazards.