'Framework' document provides vision for development
DAN MEYER Political Columnist
It's been nearly 35 years since the last regional plan was completed for Erie and Niagara counties, meaning that an absence of a regionwide vision for growth and development has become a main concern among the key movers and shakers of both counties.

Without being able to refer to basic policies and principles to help guide future growth and development, while at the same time keeping an eye on conservation and public investment, many decisions have been made without a clear sense of how individual actions by town planning and zoning boards influenced the economy's vitality and community livability.

Enter the "Framework for Regional Growth," a 71-page document that is being viewed by elected officials and other stakeholders in both counties as a blueprint that would support the actions of county and regional agencies related to the area's actual physical development.

The mentality for this teamwork approach to future development involves consistent coordination so that all policies, projects and program will follow the same set of guidelines, whether they involve a new housing development in the Town of Amherst, a large grocery store in the Village of Lewiston or the rezoning of agricultural property in the City of Lockport.

With promotional support from the Buffalo & Niagara Partnership and endorsements from local Rotary clubs, chambers of commerce and various elected officials, employee unions and building associations, the key to seeing this plan for regional unity be implemented is to understand what it is and, maybe more importantly, what it is not.

With so much talk these days of eliminating layers of government and reducing the overall size of the governing bodies in this area, supporters of "The Framework" want to make it perfectly clear that this is not another presentation that will be shelved and collect dust for years to come, and there will not be duplication of services.

"It's not another level of government," says Carl Calabrese, a former deputy county executive of Erie who also spent 14 years on the Tonawanda Town Board. "We recognize the different forms of government that are in place and the authority they have when it comes to approving or disapproving particular projects that involve a decision that will impact land use."

Calabrese, now working as a consultant, was hired to help tout the many benefits of "The Framework" when speaking of our region's two Indian reservations and 64 independent municipalities, which includes six cities, 37 towns and 21 villages.

"What we want is to ensure a more integrated and more effective approach to growth in the region, especially when it comes to development, reinvestment and conservation," said Calabrese. "We want the leaders of this community to make better decisions related to policy and investment by being more consistent."

Noting that the area has lost population over the past three decades but continues to develop land, Calabrese provides some eyebrow-raising statistics when it comes to what he refers to as the "footprint" of our region:

• During a 50-year time period, our region's urbanized area has nearly tripled in size, expanding from 123 square miles in 1950 to 367 square miles in 2000.

• For every household that exists in the area, four new homes have been built.

• Approximately 50 percent of the total land in the region defined as "undeveloped" exists in areas that have public sewer service.

What needs to be done to advance the initiative? Calabrese says our region has three choices: continue to do what we're doing, make select strategic investments, or promote reinvestment when it comes to land use to help with controlled growth and substantially lower rates of land consumption, resulting in significant savings for taxpayers.

Much more about this initiative can be found online at www.regionalframework.com, including the document's mission statement and various statistics related to the region's population decline, land use and economic development.

My view is if you're a strong advocate of growth, this "pro-growth" document will promote regional planning and help reverse the downward trends we are experiencing. We've got to turn the tables around. Maybe this will help to get things rolling.