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The Planning Department serves as both a line department and a staff department. The line department duties involve providing a variety of services to local boards in the area of planning, land use regulation, and other local government responsibilities. Even though New York counties do not have local land use regulatory authority, and the County, therefore, does not have primary review authority on projects, the County Planning Department serves as an educational resource for local boards which are given the review and approval authority. The staff can assist municipalities in developing comprehensive plans, writing or amending zoning and subdivision regulations, assisting in an advisory capacity in site plan reviews, and other areas where the expertise of a professional planner is a help to the local board. In addition, there is a requirement for certain zoning actions of local boards to be referred to the County Planning Agency for review for inter-community or countywide impacts. The Sealer of Weights and Measures and the County Historian are under the general supervision of the Planning Director. The department's staff function involves using the skills of the planning staff to carry out policy analysis to assist the County Administrator and the Legislature. The department has done numerous studies, surveys, etc., to provide input for decisionmaking. Examples of this function of the department are listed under “County Projects”. The Planning staff also provide staffing to the Environmental Management Council and the Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board. The department is also the link between economic development organizations, such as Industrial Development Agencies, and County government. Each of the functions and activities of the department will be discussed more fully in the individual sections of this web page. The next
several
pages provide an introduction to the Planning
Department Staff, the department's 2001
Summary Annual Report, and the 2006
Work Program. updated
01/26/06 jeg |
