The Department is soliciting applications through the New York State Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) under the Environmental Protection Fund Smart Growth Program from eligible towns, villages, cities, counties, regional planning entities, and not-for-profit organizations to advance the preparation and adoption of one of the following:
- preparation and local adoption of a new or updated comprehensive plan for an entire town, village, or city that supports smart growth principles for the community;
- preparation and local adoption of new or updated zoning regulations (i.e., local law, ordinance) for an entire town, village, or city that would implement an existing comprehensive plan that supports smart growth principles for the community;
- preparation and local adoption of new or updated area plan for part of a town, village, or city that supports smart growth principles for the community, and which plans may include, but would not be limited to, transit-oriented development plans and downtown/hamlet area plans; or,
- preparation and local adoption of new or updated zoning regulations that would implement any such area plans already adopted by a subject town, village, or city.
Planning should address a wide range of issues including, but not limited to, appropriate physical development, economic development, transportation patterns, natural and built resource inventories, affordable housing and demographic trends. An effective comprehensive or area plan should:
- include a strong public participation process to develop public consensus on a vision for the future through community visioning, public meetings and workshops, focus groups, charrettes, etc
- determine appropriate land uses to implement community goals and objectives
- provide local organizational and legal structure, including the adoption of necessary zoning and other land use regulations (i.e., ordinance, local laws).
Smart Growth encourages community planning and development in priority development areas where water and sewer infrastructure are available; encourages redevelopment of existing community and municipal centers; protects important historic and natural resources, including water quality and historic structures; promotes development around transit stations in the form of transit-oriented development; supports equity principles, such as affordable housing and environmental justice; and promotes the siting and development of community clean energy sources. Comprehensive plans, zoning regulations, and area plans should incorporate these Smart Growth principles to make the most efficient use of community resources, reduce the property tax burden and promote sustainable economic development, equity and quality of life for people and households of all incomes, backgrounds, ages and abilities.
Zoning regulations effectively codify the smart growth principles that are ingrained in an adopted comprehensive plan. Zoning regulations can also advance smart growth principles by providing flexibility in the type of uses allowed in zoning districts through the creation of a zoning map that prioritizes equitable investments throughout a community, and by creating a streamlined and accessible development review process. Zoning regulations can also serve as an effective tool to encourage a stronger urban form through the elimination of parking minimum and to protect sensitive natural resources and farmland. Most importantly strong zoning regulations can provide certainty to developers by ensuring that their investments will be protected from unwanted types of development.
Inscríbase 
