WILLSBORO — The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee will be holding two community workshops Friday and Saturday to hear from the public.

It's part of a community planning initiative that will result in an updated zoning code.

The idea of having two dates is to garner as much community input as possible. Residents are being encouraged to select whichever meeting best suits their schedules.

GOALS
The workshop is intended to:

  Obtain input on existing community conditions, including overall development patterns, property development, shoreline and water-quality impacts and farmland and hamlet conditions.

  Hear directly from the residents about their primary issues and concerns.

  Give an update on the upcoming community survey.

  Provide a periodic update to the community on the plan's process.

THINK AHEAD
Five ideas the committee would like the public to consider are:

  In what ways is Willsboro different (physically, economically and culturally) than it was five years ago? Ten years ago? How do you feel about these differences?

  As the community continues to grow, you would be concerned if you lost (fill in the blank).

  Identify one issue about the way land is used or developed in Willsboro that you are most concerned about.

  Identify one issue about the way lakes, rivers and ponds are used in Willsboro that you are most concerned about.

  Tell about land use, economic, or cultural issues that you are most concerned about in the community.

IN TRANSITION
In a presentation at a preliminary meeting, Willsboro Code Officer James Kinley showed a map of current zoning zones and areas that could be potentially developed.

He also discussed a community-evaluation system, based on one created in Vermont, that would cover availability of services, where the different zones could be located, agriculture, recreation, transportation, roads and industry.

Many of the ratings for Willsboro were in the "transition" category, Kinley said.

"We're (the town) pretty well defined ... due to geographic limitations. We have seen some sprawl on Middle Road."

Many people are unaware of services offered in Willsboro, he said, such as the county bus service to Elizabethtown and other towns.

CHANGE OVER TIME
"From my experiences, it takes a generation to get used to ordinances and building codes," Kinley said.

He showed old maps, such as one from 1927 in which Willsboro Point was to be divided into 980 lots and planners were concerned about tent platforms and outhouses.

"The more condensed, the better, is newer thought," Community Planning Adviser Ann Ruzow Holland said. "Our resources will also determine what we do."

Among those present at the meeting was Peter Paine, who worked on the zoning ordinance created in 1968.

"My advice is to start from scratch and to come with a completely fresh mind," Paine said.

He reminded the group that they would also have to work within the parameters of the Adirondack Park Agency, Department of Environmental Conservation and other regulations.

Gretchen Boardman, who was also on the original ordinance committee, said that at the time, "the (zoning) language was so foreign to us."

E-mail Alvin Reiner at: rondackrambler@yahoo.com