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Village of Homer Comprehensive Plan

The Village of Homer is undertaking the development of a new Comprehensive Plan. Information concerning the development of the Plan will be posted here during the planning process, so check back often.

Thoma Development Consultants has been hired by the Village to guide this comprehensive planning process and to write the plan.  Ken Teter, PE, and Cindy Teter, Registered Landscape Architect will be assisting Thoma Development.  Oversight is provided by the Steering Committee.  Members of the Committee include:

            Mary Alice Bellardini, Resident

            Jeremy Boylan, County Historian/Resident

            Andy Brush, Village Trustee

            Ward Dukelow, Business Owner/Housing Developer

            Mike Harter, Village Employee/HFD 2nd asst chief

            Doug Larison, Superintendent, Homer Schools

            Renee Neiderman, Village Business Owner

            Alexandra Mulvihill, Village Zoning Board of Appeals

            Genevieve Suits, Village Trustee

            Bruce Weber, Village Code Enforcement Officer

            Kevin Williams, Business and Rental Property Owner

            Margo Yager, Village Planning Board

If you have any questions regarding the plan or its development please feel free to email us, or call us at 607-753-1433.

Upcoming Meetings

There are no meetings currently scheduled.

February 27 Steering Committee Meeting

Steering Committee members met with Thoma Development Consultants on February 27 in the library of the Homer High School.  The following issues were addressed:

1.  The Steering Committee finalized the Vision Statement which is listed following:

The Village of Homer, rich in heritage, will continue to be a safe and attractive small town community where successful businesses and residences co-exist, and goods and services are easily accessible.  Our quality of life is enriched through community involvement, strong leadership, educational and recreational opportunities, well-maintained infrastructure, and thoughtfully managed development.

2.  The Committee discussed how to handle requests from several persons to allow the public to speak to the Steering Committee.  It was decided that the Committee would schedule a meeting for this purpose.  This meeting would be scheduled after the Steering Committee had developed a draft of the plan’s recommendations.  The Steering Committee thought that scheduling a meeting at this point in the process would provide additional input before a draft of the plan was developed.  There would be a time limit for individuals to speak.  This meeting is unscheduled.

3.  The Steering Committee started a discussion on the various topics that will be included in the final Plan.  The first topic was housing.  This is such an important topic that it consumed the rest of the meeting.  Steering Committee members expressed their individual opinions on existing housing and areas of the Village where there are opportunities for new housing development.  The results of the mail survey and the public visioning sessions related to housing were also discussed.

Steering Committee Meets With Planning Board And ZBA 

            Members of the Homer Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee invited members of the Village’s Planning and ZBA Boards to a meeting on January 23. Thoma Development Consultants Program Managers, Wes Pettee and Ann Hotchkin, discussed current land use and zoning in the Village and Village zoning regulations.  In particular, the west side of the Village has some vacant parcels that are ripe for development and this concerns the group.  The Village’s site plan review process and PDDR and PDDC zoning designations were also a topic for discussion, in addition to minimum design requirements.

Community Design Meeting (December 5th)

At the public meeting on December 5, Wes Pettee, Planner/Program Manager, of Thoma discussed the results of the visual preference survey.  He spoke to the audience about community design features that most people find appealing such as great architecture, tree lined streets, big box development that blends well with the character of the community, walkable areas, and attractive signage.

Cindy Teter, Registered Landscape Architect and Village resident, looked at the visual preference survey results and at the photographs that were taken previously by the Steering Committee.  She used these as the basis for her presentation.  She focused on seven key areas/attributes in the Village including historic preservation, community gateways, the Tioughnioga River, the Route 281 corridor, Main Street, etc.  Through photos, she was able to show the audience the features they must strive to protect such as historic buildings, and which areas need to be improved such as the design of Route 281, and properties that leave a poor first impression such as junkyards located on Route 11 at the entrance to the community.

Residents Opinion Survey

To gather as much public input as possible, the Village of Homer randomly selected 500 residents and mailed them a Residents Survey.  The results of the complete survey can be downloaded as a PDF below. You can also download results organized by three different age cohorts.   These PDF's do not include answers to the open-ended questions included in the survey. Responses to the open ended questions can be downloaded separately:

Open Ended Questions:

Land Use and Zoning Public Meeting (November 7th)

Approximately 50 residents attended a Land Use and Zoning Meeting entitled, “What’s Going on Next Door?”  The first part of the meeting engaged participants in an exercise to determine their preferences when shown a series of pictures of general community features.  They were then shown a series of photos including similar features in the Village of Homer.   These early public meetings are meant to gauge the sentiments of the community regarding elements of their built environment and whether these elements need to be preserved, eliminated, or changed in the future.

 The second half of the meeting focused on educating the audience about land use regulations and the current land uses and zoning in the Village.  There were many people in the audience who have strong, yet differing, opinions on future zoning and land use in the Village.  Thoma is working with the Steering Committee on the next course of action to take regarding more input on this important topic.

Steering Committee (October 10th)

Prior to this meeting, each Steering Committee member had been given a disposable camera and told to take equal numbers of pictures that represented positive and negative images in the Village.  At the October 10th meeting, they broke into three groups and used the photos as talking points.  They pasted the positive images on one display board and the negative on the other.  A spokesperson for each group discussed why they selected the pictures they did for inclusion on their respective display boards.

The Steering Committee had previously been given samples of Vision Statements developed by other communities to use as a reference.  A Vision Statement will be included in the Homer Comprehensive Plan.  In brief, it is a summary of the focus of the Plan.  The following is a draft of the Vision Statement developed by the Homer Steering Committee: 

The Village of Homer, rich in heritage, will continue to be a quiet, “small town” community where successful businesses and attractive residences co-exist.  Our quality of life is enriched through community involvement, strong leadership, educational opportunities, well-maintained infrastructure, and thoughtfully managed development.

Public Visioning Session

A public visioning meeting was held in the Community Building on October 3.  Attendants were given information on the comprehensive planning process.  They were then asked to list the Village’s positive characteristics (attributes) and/or opportunities as well as negative attributes.  These were recorded. After everyone had the opportunity to voice their opinion, attendants were given twelve (12) stickers and asked to place them next to those attributes/opportunities that were most important to them.  Following is the list and the number of “votes” each item received.  The higher the number, the greater the importance to the audience.

 

POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES/OPPORTUNITIES

Small town atmosphere (28)

Architecture/historic preservation (23)

History/heritage (23)

Village Green (18)

Arts and culture (17)

Main Street businesses/Look of Main Street (12)

Cultural/community activities (12)

Quiet (11)

Access to I-81 (10)

Good infrastructure/Water supply (10)

Tioughnioga River/Trail (8)

Phillips Library (7)

Recreation program (6)

A government that listens (6)

Natural resources (5)

Centralized location (5)

Vitality of the community (4)

Homer School District (4)

Major highway location/rail opportunities (4)

Respect for elderly citizens (4)

Affordable housing (3)

Volunteer fire department (2)

Active churches (2)

Tourism (2)

DPW/Street maintenance (1)

Accessible Post Office (1)

Local and State police (1)

Rt. 281 Commercial Development Opportunities (1)

Upgrades to Newton Water Works Park/Parks in general (0)

Walkable/Bicycle Friendly (0)

 

NEGATIVE ATTRIBUTES/THREATS 

Taxes (24)

Rundown houses/absentee landlords (22)

More consistent code enforcement/cooperation from Village attorney/courts (23)

Energy descent (20)

Poor gateways to the Village (10)

Losing green space (10)

Tenure of Planning/ZBA Boards is too long (10)

Tractor trailers on Main and other streets (10)

Encroachment of the Rt. 281 commercial corridor and the need to clean up  (9)

Limited space for commercial development (8)

Conversion of single-family homes to multi-family (8)

Lack of housing choices (7)

Low volunteerism for fire department (7)

Need to do more to expand heritage tourism (6)

Condition of some commercial buildings (6)

Lack of business variety (5)

Drug problems (5)

Poor condition of sidewalks (4)

Overgrowth near Hooker Ave/281 and other areas (4)

Junkyards (4)

A Tioughnioga River Bridge is needed that accommodates fire trucks (3)

Not enough rental units, especially for young professionals (3)

A traffic signal is needed at Albany/South Main Street (2)

Need better public transportation for the elderly (2)

High school student behaviors portray poor community image (1)

Too many tax incentives (1)

Lack of activities for youth (1)

Liquid manure smell (1)

Zoning regulation update needed (1)

Community bisected by major highways and railroad (0)

 

Attendants were then asked to list words and phrases that would describe the Village of Homer of the future.  Their responses follow:

Clean air

Sustainable

Relocalization

Proud of its past: well-preserved natural and historic resources

Heritage tourism

Friendly, charming, “the way it is now”

Norman Rockwell

Good schools

Multimodal transportation system

So much to do: sports, recreation, etc.

Convenient to everything

Safe

Affordable

A government that listens

Promote/host more community events

Maintain balance between green space and development

Kick off Meeting

The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee met for the first time on September 5, 2007.  The kick off meeting included a presentation on the Comprehensive Planning process and what the scope of work will involve.  Committee members reviewed the contents of a mail survey and made recommendations regarding changes (see below). 

Steering Committee members were asked what their individual goals were for the Comprehensive Plan.  These goals included:

 

    • Devising a plan for development; increasing the tax base; and reducing taxes.
    • Better articulation of Code Enforcement regulations.
    • Re-examining zoning districts, especially near zoning district boundaries.
    • Making sure the Village is business friendly.
    • Improving intra-Village cooperation.
    • Improving the school/Village relationship.
    • Identifying issues where residents agree and working on differences.
    • Maintaining a family friendly, affordable Village.
    • Devising a better plan for the Village.
    • Expanding the municipal boundaries of the Village.
    • Seeking more funding for needed projects.
    • Preserving the historic integrity of the Village

Resident Survey

A resident opinion survey was mailed to 500 randomly selected households in the Village in mid-September.  If you did not receive a survey, and would like to complete one, copies can also be picked up at the Village offices in the Town Hall Building at 31 N. Main Street or downloaded here. Please complete only one survey per household.