Town of Chatham, New York
PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Abi Mesick & Jeanne Bowerman, Co-Chairs,
Comprehensive Plan Update Review Committee (CPURC) 
Town of Chatham, NY

Tel: 518-653-6272 (Abi) | 518-331-7706 (Jeanne)
Email: Abi Mesick   |  Jeanne Bowerman
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CHATHAM SEEKS INPUT ON COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE
Town soliciting ideas for community-wide survey at public meeting

CHATHAM, NY   May 20, 2021 – The Town of Chatham is hosting a public meeting to discuss ideas and suggestions as part of an update to the town’s Comprehensive Plan. The goal of the meeting, organized by the Comprehensive Plan Update Review Committee (CPURC), will be to identify issues and topics that are most important to the community which need to be addressed in the plan update. The town will be using the input provided at this meeting to develop a community-wide survey which is expected to go out later this summer. The survey will provide people with the ability to weigh-in on a variety of topics and preferred actions to be addressed in the new Comprehensive Plan update.

The public meeting will be held on Saturday, June 5th, 2021 at 3pm at the PS21 Performance Space, 2980 Route 66 in Chatham, New York in a socially-distanced, open-air setting. For those not able to attend in person, the meeting will also be accessible as part of a live online webinar. The details of how to participate in the online webinar will be released closer to the meeting date.

The Town of Chatham’s current Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2009, was the result of a large community effort from many volunteer groups which provided a detailed and thorough vision for the community. Today, more than ten years later, it is time to re-visit this plan and ensure that it still reflects the vision of the people. Although it is anticipated that much of the recommendations of the 2009 plan are still valid, some emerging issues such as solar farms, declining school enrollment, and short-term rentals were not foreseen at the time and may be worth considering today. The town is looking to discuss these and other issues to identify what changes may need to be made to the Comprehensive Plan to update it for the year 2021.

The meeting on Saturday, June 5th will focus on identifying issues and questions which will be used to develop the survey later this summer. Planning consultant Michael Allen of Regrowth Planning, who was hired by the town earlier this year to assist with the process, will be facilitating the discussion. The meeting presentation will include a recap of the 2009 plan, a review of what has changed in the community since then, as well as a series of exercises and discussions about Chatham’s vision for the next ten years.

The Town of Chatham and CPURC invites all residents, business and property owners to join them for this important community meeting, hosted at the scenic and beautiful PS21 performance space. For more information about this meeting, please visit the town website at www.chathamnewyork.us and use the sidebar to navigate to Committees, then Comprehensive Plan Update Review Committee.

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