Community Plan
Committee meets new firm, project back on track
by JILL SCHMELZER Reporter

The Village of Williamsville Community Plan Committee met for the first time with the new planning consultants on Monday evening.

Behan Planning Associates, LLC of Rochester and Saratoga Springs was hired by village officials to take over as the planning consultant for the 20/20 Vision Plan more than four months after peter j. smith & co. quit. That company was originally hired to design the project.

Lawrence Bice and John J. Behan served as consultant leaders during the meeting and introduced a schedule for the next nine months.

During that time period, the consultants will work with committee members and specialized consultants to outline the future of the village for the next 20 years.

The village has received two successive grants totaling nearly $50,000 under the New York State Department of State's Quality Communities program. The first grant will fund the business district development plan. The second will be used to fund traffic and design studies through a program called "context sensitive solutions," which will be conducted by SRF Associates.

Behan Planning has also teamed up with Environmental Design and Research to complete the project. Rounding out the village's consulting team is Devonomics, which will craft a strategic development plan for Williamsville's Main Street business district.

"We don't see this as our plan, as much as we see it as your plan," said Behan, who is the founder of Behan Planning Associates.

Bice, the project manager, introduced a land use plan that concentrated on areas of change and opportunity within the village boundaries.

"The land use plan needs to be crystallized of future uses of what could change," Bice said, noting that land use would be discussed at most of the meetings in the future.

Behan explained to committee members that the plan will essentially be a lot of projects the village can pursue in the future, including parking improvements.

"Zoning is just a part of it," Behan said, noting he would like to see 10 years worth of projects when the plan is completed.

"What should the future look like?" he asked.

Committee members have been asked to photograph areas of the village and other towns and villages that they believe resemble characteristics of the future Village of Williamsville.

They were told to "look outside the box," and find areas that would be desirable to the village, meaning find ideas that would fit with the area's characteristics.

Once members take the photo, they are to describe what they like about it and where they believe it would fit in the one-square acre community.

The next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28 in Village Hall, 5565 Main St., in Williamsville.

e-mail: JSchmelzer@beenews.com