Comprehensive Plan
The City's existing comprehensive plan was completed in 1971 and has since been amended fourteen times by various neighborhood and strategic plans. Both local conditions and national and world-wide trends that affect Ithaca have changed dramatically since the adoption of the 1971 plan, resulting in the need to prepare a new comprehensive plan that addresses present-day issues at the local level. The City is undertaking a two-phase process for the preparation of the new comprehensive plan. Phase I involves the preparation of a city-wide plan that identifies a vision and goals for the future. Phase II will include the subsequent preparation of specific neighborhood or thematic plans, identified in Phase I.
Appointed by the Planning and Development Board, the Comprehensive Plan Committee is responsible for overseeing the preparation of Phase I of the new comprehensive plan. The Committee works directly with the consultant team and City staff and is actively involved with public outreach. The Comprehensive Plan Committee meets the third Monday of every month at 4:30 p.m. in the Common Council Chambers. Members of the public are invited to attend and public comment is welcome at the beginning of the meeting.
In September 2011, the City began working with Clarion Associates of Chapel Hill, North Carolina on the preparation of the Phase I plan. The Clarion Associates team also includes Trowbridge Wolf Michaels Landscape Architects and Martin Alexiou Bryson, a North Carolina-based transportation planning firm. Over the past few months, the consultants have been gathering information and input from the public that will inform an analysis of existing conditions and will be used to help formulate a vision and goals for the city. Clarion has conducted numerous stakeholder interviews and met with City boards and committees, as a first step in the public participation process. In addition, the first public workshop was held on November 14, 2011. Over 100 members of the community attended, to provide their input on a vision for the city of Ithaca's future.
Public participation is a key component of this planning process and the November 14th workshop was the first of many opportunities to provide input. The Comprehensive Plan Committee is currently scheduling a series of neighborhood meetings and focus groups to be held over the next few months. Clarion anticipates returning to Ithaca for the next large public meeting in the spring of 2012. Written comments are accepted at any time and should be submitted to Megan Wilson at: mwilson@cityofithaca.org or Third Floor, 108 E. Green Street, Ithaca, NY 14850.
Upcoming Meetings:
- Comprehensive Plan Committee: May 21, 2012, 4:30-6:00 p.m., Common Council Chambers, City Hall, 108 E. Green St.
The Comprehensive Plan Committee wants YOUR input on the City's new Comprehensive Plan! Please help us learn more about your ideas for how the City of Ithaca can be enhanced and preserved! Take a moment and fill out our online Comment Form Questionnaire, using the link you see below. If you prefer to fill out and mail in a paper copy, please download the "Public Comment Form," listed further below.
Documents:
- Scope of Work
- List of Completed Stakeholder Interviews
- List of Comprehensive Plan Committee Members
- Public Comment Form
- What is a Comprehensive Plan?
- List of Completed Public Meetings
- DRAFT Planning Influences Report (3/8/12)
Do you have questions or are you interested in receiving announcements about the comprehensive plan? Please contact Megan Wilson at: mwilson@cityofithaca.org or (607) 274-6560.