Shelter Island Reporter Editorial: Overcome a Town Board deadlock with a plan
The Town Board will shortly be receiving the latest draft of a proposed new Comprehensive Plan and reviewing it chapter by chapter in a series of work sessions and public hearings.
A municipality’s Comprehensive Plan dictates policy on multiple fronts, including development, land use, transportation and housing. In 1994, a Comprehensive Plan was adopted by a Town Board resolution. A seven-month effort of discussion and research in 2008 produced an update to that plan, but the board rejected it.
The current Town Board’s responsibility is to make changes it determines are appropriate before sending the draft back to BFJ Consultants — the consultants for the town — to incorporate requested changes.
Once it comes back and is acceptable to the group, it will be up to the Town Board to review it, seek more public input, and turn over changes for BFJ Consultants to incorporate.
It has taken several years of hard work on the part of Comprehensive Plan Task Force and Advisory Board members. They’ve spent countless hours reviewing the chapters, discussing their own opinions and listening to the public individually and through large and small gatherings. Even more time has gone in to resolving conflicts between various suggested changes.
Some community members attend the often lengthy, twice-monthly meetings in person or virtually, adding their thoughts at the end of each session, or posting comments online at the end of each chapter.
Clearly there have been conflicting ideas that had to be resolved through discussion, and sometimes more input to decide what would be best to achieve goals. Discussions about those conflicts have helped to improve the document.
Everyone will find elements with which they agree completely, and some where they disagree.
But after all the time and effort that has gone into the document, it should not fall victim to politics or, worse yet, a deadlock among four current Town Board members.
Unless there is a special election, the plan will have to convince three of the four current Town Board members to vote in favor of adoption more than a month before a general election could fill the fifth Town Board seat.
In the course of weekly reviews of the chapters, it should become evident whether the plan is headed for approval or the scrap heap. If it fails for substantive reasons, there may be fixes that can be applied to rescue it.
If it’s a victim of deadlock, it will likely cap months of inaction on many issues leaving the community they promised to serve adrift with problems.
Islanders should realize their future is at stake. Only they can ensure the Comp Plan and other vital issues are addressed honestly to serve their interests.
