Porter sets public hearings; Lewiston to begin comprehensive plan update

Wendel group to seek community input as plan develops

Staff Reports

News – as we all know – never sleeps. Here’s a few developing items of interest in northern Niagara County.

•Leading off in the Town of Porter, there will be an open discussion with local officials, including Town Board members, on the issue of property maintenance concerns and unsafe buildings. The board’s workshop session will take place starting at 5 p.m. Monday, July 14, at Town Hall.

•That same evening, the Town Board will hold a public hearing, at 6 p.m., to discuss a waterline improvement project being pursued through Community Development Block Grant funding. Last month, the town applied for $2 million in CDBG assistance for a waterline replacement project in planning for Lower River Road.

The town will also hold a public hearing at Monday’s meeting to review a proposed sewer rate increase, scheduled to take effect in September. For more, visit www.townofporter.net.

•Recapping the June 23 Town of Lewiston meeting, the Town Board approved for $35,000 in funding to the Wendel Companies of Buffalo to pursue a review and update of the town’s comprehensive plan. The town’s current plan dates to 1999, with minor changes implemented in 2011.

“This is long-overdue; it needs to be done and we want our town code and zoning code to match our comprehensive plan, so we have a plan moving forward,” Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer Tim Masters said.

In remarks to the board, Wendel representative Nina Ballou said the intent of the update would be to enable Lewiston to better pursue both state and federal grant funding for future projects.

“If the Town of Lewiston ever wanted to go after grants for implementation projects, you will be able to look back on data collected through the public outreach process” for grants, she said.

Ballou said one component in developing such a plan would be the gathering of information through public input: “It’s what the board wants, and what they want to achieve out of this plan. Not only is it listening to town officials, but it will also incorporate the public in public workshops, a community survey, and working with stakeholders to ensure that whatever plan put together is representative of who Lewiston is today, and also where we want to bring Lewiston; what parts of Lewiston we want to preserve; what parts we want to develop; what parts we want to make sure are captured for history; and what parts we are focusing on moving into the future – and that can change in any part of this plan.”

On a question from Councilwoman Sarah Waechter, Ballou said the outreach would involve one or two interactive workshops, as well as a community survey.

“Ideally, this is a good way to capture the communities’ opinions at large, because not everybody is going to come to the public workshops; but this is a way we can share on social media, newspaper(s) or wherever residents get information,” Ballou said. “The survey is also nice to analyze because you can collect data from it. “

Ballou said the first steps in a comprehensive plan would be to form a committee of seven to 12 individuals made up of town officials and professionals in the community, along with a few local residents. “They should be people who are involved in business or farming or whatever other industries the town deems as (appropriate).

“After a committee is formed, there would be meetings with stakeholder groups targeting the business community, the parent community, the elderly community, different groups who have particular needs that we make sure we’re hearing.”

For more information on the plan, as well as updates on this project as it moves forward, visit the town’s website, www.townoflewiston.us, or contact Masters at 716-754-8213, Ext. 227.