A town in Fulton County is asking for local input to help update its comprehensive plan.
Johnstown Supervisor Christina VanValkenburgh says town residents have many ways to make their priorities heard — like coming to the comprehensive plan committee meetings.
“It’s nice to be able to engage in an actual conversation so you can actually sit down and go over what we’re thinking might be different from what they’re thinking and then we can have a—go back and forth of, ‘OK, this is why we’re thinking this way, why are you thinking the way you’re thinking,” said VanValkenburgh.
She says attending town meetings is one way to participate in the conversation, but an online survey is also available. The deadline for responses has been extended to June 14th.
VanValkenburgh, a Republican who had previously served on the Town Board, says officials in the town of about 7,000 already have some areas they’d like to focus on, like housing and growing economic opportunity.
“So, for housing we’re looking to find specific areas within our township of what might be our main street. Because, unlike the cities, we don’t really have a main street. So, we went and we looked at our entire map of our town and tried to figure out certain areas of like, OK, where could we have a town center? And really four main places came up. One being Sammonsville, one being Meco, one being Pleasant Square, and the other being, I like to call our Sir William Corridor area,” said VanValkenburgh.
The different options could all center around different industries. A Sammonsville Main Street, says VanValkenburgh, would be a hub for agribusinesses like breweries and farm stands.
VanValkenburgh says resident input is necessary to balance the town’s past and its future success.
“We’re just trying to look at different avenues of trying to get people to want to live in our area, want to have the community feel—still the ruralness community feel of what our town represents but where they can have a small main street feel as well,” said VanValkenburgh.
Town officials estimate the cost of upgrading the document could range from $70,000-$100,000 and plan to apply for a state Smart Growth Comprehensive Planning Grant, which, if awarded, would cover 90% of the cost.
Fulton County Senior Planner Aaron Enfield is working with town officials through the plan’s redesign process.
“So, the town already has an idea of some of the desires, wishes, changes, that they would like to envision the town with in the next 10 years or so. And I know right now there has been some dialogue on wanting to do that, ‘where is our infrastructure, where is our sewer and water? That could be a better area for housing or commercial development. You know, the desire of wanting more hiking and mountain biking activities within the town,” said Enfield.
The town’s comprehensive plan has gone 20 years without updates. Enfield says a growing population means new and old residents must outline how they’d like the town to develop sustainably.
“Certainly, with Saratoga County having two decades of increased population, we’re starting to see a trend of some individuals moving over to Fulton County given the relatively inexpensive housing prices compared to the rest of the Capital Region. And certainly, a concern of wanting to keep areas of the town agricultural, especially the western portion,” said Enfield.
Johnstown Comprehensive Plan Survey
