Community Plan prepares for public workshop
by JILL SCHMELZER Reporter

The Village of Williamsville Community Plan Committee has begun preparing for its second public workshop, to be held in April.

Although the date has not yet been set, members of the committee discussed ideas to present to the public during its Feb. 27 meeting.

Project Manager Lawrence Bice, of Behan Planning Associates, presented three concepts to the members, including the Conceptual Village-Wide Land Use Plan; concepts and ideas for future improvements to Long Street Park and new housing opportunities; and concepts and ideas for the "Village Core," including the Williamsville Water Mill, Glen and Island parks and Main Street.

During the public workshop, a presentation will be shown, demonstrating what the committee has discussed thus far. Then, members of the public will be asked for their input. No decisions about the 20/20 Vision Plan will be made at the April meeting.

The meeting will be different from the first public workshop, which was held in November 2005. The second one will focus in more detail on a Conceptual Land Use Map for the village, said Bice.

Experts from the traffic planning, urban design and economic development fields will be on hand to present findings and ideas, as well as answer questions, Bice added.

"The format of the meeting will include a presentation portion, as well as an opportunity for the public to provide feedback on and discuss the presented materials in both a large group setting, as well as in more intimate focus groups," the consultant stated in an e-mail.

The input gathered from the public hearing will be used to further refine and develop the plan, Bice said. He noted that the final draft is expected to be completed and adopted by summer or early fall 2007.

"The current focus of the plan effort is to develop and present specific plan concepts to the public," Bice said. "And to receive public feedback on such concepts."

Thus far, the committee has discussed low- and medium-density housing, and where higher-density living areas could potentially be built.

Members of the committee suggested adding multi-dwelling housing in pockets of the village that are closer to Main Street, for instance on major connecting roads. This could potentially increase the opportunity to maintain a walkable village, one member said during the February meeting.

South Long Park has also been a hot topic, because of the amount of space the park has and the ability to add homes and businesses in the surrounding areas.

Bice is set to present three scenarios to the public in regard to the park area.

One includes new residential clusters with a focus on active recreation. It uses the ball field, but integrates new neighborhood design. Also added could be out door sport courts, parking and access to the adjacent Lehigh Memory Trail.

The second scenario also retains the ball field, however it would be moved away from South Long Street and rebuilt in the southeast corner of the park closest to Lehigh Memory Trail. This suggestion utilizes the Train Depot as the focal point of the park, while integrating Lehigh Memory Trail with open space and a Milton Street extension.

In the third recreation diagram, the ball park would be excluded, but there would be two areas of passive recreation. Although in all three scenarios the amount of space in the park would never change, the third idea utilizes patio homes and multi-dwelling homes surrounding the open space.

Bice noted that no current homes or buildings have been excluded in any of the three concepts.

The next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 27 at Village Hall, 5565 Main St., Williamsville. David Versel of Devonomics will be a speaker.

e-mail: JSchmelzer@beenews.com