Master Plan approval long overdue
Almost four years ago, a 170-page document was approved by the Amherst Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee. AIt was the committee's recommended draft for a more formal plan to follow until the year 2018.

The plan sat on a shelf until very recently when it was finally and painlessly adopted by the Town Board. The delay was unnecessary.

The vision for the future of Amherst has become cloudier during the past year, as an outgoing administration dealt with other issues and folded its tent.

The new administration has been beset with one controversy after another since the first week of the year. While larger issues could have been addressed at the onset, there was animosity over simple business practices, office personnel and the personal signature of the supervisor being affixed to each and every check being sent from the Town Hall.

To its credit, the Amherst Chamber of Commerce offered an olive branch, suggesting it help the administration and the board make headway in the drive to reduce spending and lower a controversial deficit. At first that offer was received cooly, then accepted.

The committee, which did most of the hard labor on the plan, first began meeting in 2000. Neighborhood attitudes and community development factors have changed greatly since then. The plan's focus would have been more accurate if adoption had not been delayed.

Involvement of the Chamber is a benefit at this juncture as its key officers are stakeholders in the future of the town who might otherwise not have figured in the final equation. Their input into quality of life issues is a valuable asset that members of the Town Board should not ignore now that the master plan has been approved.

It is now up to the administration and all branches of town government to keep this plan at the forefront of crucial decisions that will affect the community for almost the next two decades. That was the mission behind the expensive effort. We do not refer to issues such as rodent control or parking, but rather land use, the potential for walkable neighborhoods and linking the resources and the students and faculty of the University at Buffalo to everyday life in our town.

The 2002 document was on target when its framers wrote, "If the comprehensive plan is to effectively guide Amherst ... it is vitally important that the Town Board adopt it. The Plan should not be viewed as a static document, but rather one that will evolve in response to changing circumstances."

The ball is in the Town Board's court.