Comprehensive Plan

Town of Long Lake Comprehensive Plan Posted 10.8.20 by Alexandra Roalsvig on Scribd

2021.01.27
 
For the Long Lake Public Hearing on the Adoption of the Comprehensive Plan
Comments by Alexandra Roalsvig

Comprehensive Plan Summary

A comprehensive plan is a document providing direction for local government policy and future actions.  Opportunity to take stock of issues and opportunities and identify residents shared vision for the future and vision for the community. This is not a silver bullet – it is a planning document outlining goals, recommendations and strategies for meeting those goals.

“town comprehensive plan” means the materials, written and/or graphic, including but not limited to maps, charts, studies, resolutions, reports and other descriptive material that identify the goals, objectives, principles, guidelines, policies, standards, devices and instruments for the immediate and long-range planning.

Comprehensive overview and inventory of community assets

History of the Comprehensive Plan Development in the Town of Long Lake

After attending local government days in 2018 and speaking with other communities to find out the benefit of having a Comprehensive Plan, neighbors included surrounding communities of Tupper, Newcomb, Indian Lake and Inlet, I informed the town board of the benefits that other communities had seen after the implementation of their own comprehensive plans. The Long Lake Town Board recognized the value of looking into having a comprehensive plan and directed me to move forward on more research to see if this would be feasible for our community.  Recognition by the board that having a plan for our small, rural, Adirondack community would level the playing field in terms of opportunities for projects and the community as a whole. If Long Lake didn’t commit to the game, we would be left behind.

The Town Board approved applying for a grant through the NYS Consolidated Fund Application Process through the North Country Regional Economic Council to start the Comprehensive Plan Process. This process is necessary in today’s current competitive marketplace when it comes to the competition for funding for projects. Future opportunities for grant funding would be left behind and the advantage in the NYS Grant Funds would go to other communities. With the support of the Town Supervisor, Clark Seaman, and the Board it was time to garner the momentum and gain community input in an official capacity and the process to develop a Comprehensive Plan was launched.

July 2018 The Town of Long Lake applied for a grant via the New York State Regional Economic Development Council – North Country Region to Empire State Development.

December 2018 – New York State CFA awards announced, Town of Long Lake wins a matching grant for $35,000 through a grant through the Empire State Development for total project cost not to exceed $70,000. ** see attached 1.

January 2019 Scope of work is written and developed by Alexandra Roalsvig – outlined and submitted to Empire State Development ** see attached 2.

February 2019 – Ad hoc advisory committee list is developed with focus on including a variety of business owners, local residents from both Raquette Lake and Long Lake, seasonal residents and interested parties who have expressed an interest in the community by serving or participating in economic development committees and or meetings in the community in the past and had expressed an interest in serving.

The 2020 Comprehensive Plan Committee was an ad hoc advisory committee.  The committee was selected as an administrative decision by the Town Supervisor with the assistance of the Parks & Recreation Department. ** see attached for list. 3

March 2019 – Alex developed the Request for Proposal with guidance from Empire State Development

April 2019 – Request for Proposal approved by the Long Lake Town Board. RFPS were  distributed and advertised in through official town notice.  ** See attached. 4

JUNE
June 6, 2019 – 2 RFP’s are received from two separate companies.

June 18, 2019 – First Ad Hoc Advisory Committee Meeting convenes to make a recommendation on the selection of a planning company.

June 28, 2019 – Chazen is selected  and approved by the Town Board as the winning bid.

AUGUST
August 23, 2019 – Paul Cummings from Chazen pays a site visit to Long Lake and gets a tour of the community and sees the assets and layout of the community including Town assets and other recreational assets including Cedarlands, Northville Placid Trail to municipal buildings, businesses.

By the numbers –
4 — Steering Committee Meetings – including one that was streamed via goto meeting – open to the public.

1 On-line Zoom Presentation of the Draft Plan where over 45 stakeholders tuned in live to learn about the Comprehensive Draft Plan
2 – FOCUS group meetings one in Long Lake/ one in Raquette Lake in Jan/March with over 60 participants in hour long breakout sessions broken out by topics from infrastructure, tourism, schools, water, municipal, first responders/emergency

2- community outreach public events at the Long Lake Winter Carnival and Raquette Lake Winter Carnival – Over 300 people attended both events collectively.

2 Site Visit Tours  – 1 of Long Lake 1 of Raquette Lake

300 Public surveys – paper and digital – emails sent out with survey information to 2000 to alert Long Lake / Raquette Lake  stakeholders via town email collection list.

Over 73 people on the Stakeholder contact list developed by Ad Hoc Advisory committee – separated out into individual interviews in person or invited to participate in groups

End Result:  90 goals identified in the plan.  Goals are made for recreation, infrastructure, critical services, economic development and tourism, environmental resources, housing, transportation community services and municipal operations, beautification and quality of life.

Public Communications:
ANY PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS RE. THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN were shared via press releases to area media outlets, posters distributed in both Long Lake/Raquette Lake on community bulletin boards, social media channels and on the official town Comprehensive Plan page.   The Zoom Draft Comprehensive Plan invite was sent out via email to our email list with over 2000 contacts

Area Media Outlets
Tupper Lake Free Press
Adk Daily Enterprise
Lake Placid News
Ham Co Express
Adirondack Express
Sun Community News
Post Star
Schenectady Gazette
Adirondack Explorer
Adirondack Almanack
Watertown Daily News
Local ADK
Adirondack Life
Press Republican
Utica Observer Dispatch
McClary Media
ROOST
The Saratogian
Lake George Chronicle
North Country Public Radio

September 2019

Advisory Committee Meetings held on
–       September 4, 2019
–       September 27, 2019
–       November 18, 2019
–       April 30, 2020 – Virtual Meeting with stakeholders, open to public participation – Go to meeting platform
–       October 22, 2020 – Comprehensive Plan Zoom Meeting – Presentation of the Draft Plan to the public – presented by Chazen Companies

July 2, 2020
Draft Plan of Comprehensive Plan is distributed to the committee members for notes and review

August 20, 2020
Deadline for notes from committee members to be submitted to Chazen Companies

October 2020 –
The comprehensive plan adoption process begins
1.     Public Presentation Zoom Meeting – Public presentation of the DRAFT plan – was available online presented by Chazen Companies and still available online
2.     Draft Plan is uploaded and available for viewing online – PUBLIC meeting is slated for October 22nd via digital media platform Zoom  – access available via digital and telephone
3.     Hard copies of the plan distributed in the community at the Long Lake & Raquette Lake Library, Raquette Lake Post Office, Long Lake Municipal Town Offices – people were invited to submit comments digitally or hard copies via mail or dropping off.

41 Interested and Involved Agencies were contacted with the Lead Agency designation, transmittal letters requesting responses within 30 days *
Agencies Contacted / emailed and USPS Mail ** Link 5

November 2020
November 3rd, 2020 public announcement stating intent to adopt the Comprehensive Plan to plan as an official policy document to be used by the town board.

Following all steps per requirements of New York State Department of State – designation of lead agency, compliance with seqr, 30 day review, Formal review under 239, Public Hearing Announcement and review and that brings us here to tonight.

I, as the officially designated town representative, had on-going communications with Chazen Companies.  Chazen was always available for feedback, questions, input, making last minute changes – responsive to help us at any moment and made doing work during this Covid pandemic. Fortunately most in person information gathering was able to happen before the pandemic forced people into isolation and we were able to hold several outreach meetings as outlined above.

I want to thank former Long Lake Town Supervisor Clark Seaman for his partnership as we undertook this process.  I want to thank the Long Lake Town Board for their continued interest and support of this project and a thank you to Town Supervisor Clay Arsenault for picking up and navigating this process during a global pandemic which presented numerous unanticipated challenges.   Also a thank you to our ad-hoc steering committee for their commitment and input, feedback, investment of time and to guide this community process along and the residents and stakeholders who provided invaluable insight and to the success of this project.

The Long Lake Comprehensive Plan is detailed document, derived from data, collection, past plans, and inclusive public participation. We look forward to engaging with the community as we move forward into the future.  This will be a policy document to help plan, budget, anticipate future needs and be proactive as we move forward into the future.

It’s truly been an honor to participate in this process for the community.

Sincerely,

Alexandra V. Roalsvig
Director Parks, Recreation & Tourism
Town of Long Lake

Additional Information

6a. October 22 Press Release

6b: 2019 Press Release September 19

6c. Flyer for Public Outreach

6d. CFA Award Steps 2018

6e Google Results 1

6f Google Results Seach 2

6g Regional Council Contract

SUBMITTED PUBLIC COMMENTS

Link to Comprehensive Plan Public Plan Presentation Meeting held by Zoom on October 22, 2020.

Comprehensive Plan Public Presentation
October 22, 2020 6pm
Virtual Meeting Via Zoom

After a year of work, the Town is in position to begin the final steps of adopting the Comprehensive Plan. Please see the following link to the final draft of the Comprehensive Plan

This information and link to the plan is now available for public viewing and on
https://mylonglake.com/comprehensiveplan

This will be an opportunity for both the members the general public to get an overview of the plan, how it was prepared, what it contains, and how it can be used. Chazen will be able to answer questions from residents about the plan at this virtual meeting.

The Long Lake Town Board will now take the lead in the adoption of the plan as we move forward after the public presentation.

Funded by
New York State, Empire State Development
Project Consultants
The Chazen Companies
Behan Planning and Design

Topic: Town of Long Lake Comprehensive Plan: Public Presentation

Time: Oct 22, 2020 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

 Project Update Posted 1/8/2020

The Town of Long Lake (including the Hamlet of Raquette Lake) is continuing work on the Comprehensive Plan. The planning process began in late 2019 when a resident Comprehensive Plan Committee was convened. The initial stages of the planning process have included working with consultants from Chazen to identify big picture topics of interest and concern, site visits throughout the community, the drafting of an “Inventory and Analysis, and the development of a public engagement strategy.

We Want Your Input
Now, in 2020, the Comprehensive Plan Committee is reaching out to as many members of the community as possible to gather input and get ideas about the current and future state of the Town. The Committee has developed a survey to be taken by community members (linked on this page) please take the survey and share it with your friends and family- the more public input we receive, the better the plan will be.

Spreading the Word
To spread the word about the planning process and to gather input from the community, members of the Comprehensive Plan Committee and planning consultants will be at the Long Lake and Raquette Lake Winter Carnivals. Additionally, the Comprehensive Plan Committee is organizing stakeholder interviews and focus group sessions to delve into important community topics.

Project Materials
Please take a look at the newly posted Inventory and Analysis and Community Maps.

Comprehensive Plan Announcement
The Town of Long Lake has begun work on a Comprehensive Plan, a community driven plan that will articulate residents’ vision for the future and serve and as the Town’s official policy document. This plan is funded in part through an Empire State Development grant awarded to the Town of Long Lake in 2019 through the North Country Regional Economic Development Council.

The plan, which will be developed over the course of the next year, will provide an organizing framework to address issues including, but not limited to, economic growth, infrastructure, housing, transportation, environmental resources, recreation and quality of life.

Once completed, the Comprehensive Plan will be adopted by the Town Board and will help guide policy decisions and provide an invaluable tool for securing state grant funding to implement the projects and programs identified in the plan.

A Comprehensive Plan Committee will lead the process with assistance from planners with the Chazen Companies. The Committee consists of representatives from full and part time residents, business owners, elected officials, and town staff. Meaningful public engagement is crucial to the development of the plan and residents are encouraged to attend public meetings, participate in workshops and contact members of the Comprehensive Plan Committee and the Chazen Companies. Such public outreach events will be publicized in on the Town website www.mylonglake.com/comprehensiveplan and social media outlets including Facebook.com/mylonglake and facebook.com/raquettelake,

Residents interested in receiving updates on the Comprehensive Plan should visit the Comprehensive Plan page on the mylonglake.com website as well as submit their email address to longlake@mylonglake.com

If residents have any questions, comments or ideas please feel free to reach out to Paul Cummings, Senior Planner at the Chazen Companies (email pcummings@chazencompanies.com or phone: 518-824-1932)

Info posted 9/18/19