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News/Events
Sunday TV Show, April 22 Open House Provide More Citizen Input Opportunities on Master
Plan / 4.09.10
UTICA, NY -- The chance to learn about strategies that could transform the City of Utica--and
added opportunities to participate in the master plan process--are coming up in the next few weeks.
At this point in the planning process, draft goals, guiding principles and strategies for the city’s
rehabilitation and renewal have been developed, based on an extensive public involvement and
comment process, according to Brian Thomas, City of Utica, Director of Urban Planning. Those
preliminary findings are the subject of a TV program which airs this Sunday, April 11 on the show, “City Limits.”
It will also be re-aired on April 18 and April 25. In addition, an open house program is
slated for Thursday, April 22, to further involve citizens, provide information on the plan efforts
and findings to date, and solicit more public ideas and feedback, Thomas noted.
The “City Limits” show airs Sundays, 11:30 a.m on Time Warner Channel 6 and at 7:00 p.m. on Time
Warner Channel 12.
The open house is planned from noon to 8 p.m. on April 22 at the Utica Public Library on Genesee
Street. Citizens will be able to view exhibits and examples of how a master plan can transform
elements of a city. Information about the draft goals and guiding principles that have been
developed to date will be available as well.
Importantly, Thomas said, the program and the open house also are designed to involve many more
citizens in the process, in order to gain the benefit of added ideas and comments about the
preliminary goals that have been developed to date.
After a year of neighborhood meetings and focus groups, and many hours of steering committee,
city planning department and consultant team work, tremendous progress has been made, Thomas
noted. As the steering committee has moved along the planning path over the past year, many
hundreds of citizens have been involved through varied activities. Aside from the main steering
committee meetings, five sub-committees have addressed the topics of housing and neighborhood
development; downtown development; parks, recreation, arts/culture and historic preservation;
business and technology development; and infrastructure and waterfront development.
In addition, the city has hosted neighborhood “listening” meetings, focus groups on specific issues,
community organization meetings, individual and small-group interviews. Call-in conversations
BRIAN THOMAS, DIRECTOR OF URBAN PLANNING BTHOMAS@CITYOFUTICA.COM (315) 792-0181
and comments sent to the master plan web site also have contributed to a high degree of public
involvement, Thomas said.
When the planning process is complete, the outcome will be a written vision that will direct
development activities, Thomas added.
Citizens can access the information on the Utica Master Plan web site, www.uticamasterplan.org,
where there also are public feedback forms.
Questions regarding the TV show, open house and the master plan process can be referred to Brian
Thomas, City of Utica, Director of Urban Planning, at 792-0181. |
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