CHAIR'S REMARKS
Much has changed since the original Master Plan for the City of Utica was presented and
accepted in 2011. As the political stewards of our planning future, the Common Council
appointed our committee through legislation to begin its work in 2014 and we are now
concluding our term of service with this final report. As such, it will be our last act as a
committee.
I want to thank each and every member of our committee, both past and present, for
two and a half years of really excellent work. Your dedication to the task, through some
difficult moments, was something I admired and appreciated. We can be proud of this endproduct
of our effort. The committee members who remained through until this final report
include in alphabetical order: Jim Busby, Steve Cox, JK Hage, Robert Heins, Lucretia Hunt,
Lynne Mishalanie, Anthony Salerno, and Ron Vincent.
We also wish to note the hard work and insight that original members of the Master
Planning committee clearly demonstrated in the high quality work they performed at the
inception of the process to develop the original report. It was inclusive and clearly
comprehensive. And we thank various members of the Common Council for their support.
As a model, the committee has sought to have the same effect: we reached out
extensively during our term to gather input and ideas from the citizens of this fine city that
we were tasked with representing. Our goal was to hover above the politics of economic
development and planning issues which naturally arise over time. Rather, we preferred to
offer both a retrospective on what has worked or not since the original plan was conceived
and our recommendations on how to proceed forward with it for another five years.
We hope in this final report that every reader finds comfort that they were listened to
and acknowledged even those with whom we may have disagreed! While we did not agree
with every perspective or viewpoint that was provided, we labored with integrity to be
representative of them in our final report except where we felt it inappropriate to our scope.
Our intention is to provide narrative - a story if you like - about how our urban future
should unfold to embrace the obvious energy and enthusiasm which is now emerging
around our community's future. This points to an improving future and we look forward to
watching this unfold over time. We hope in some small measure, this report will have the
positive impact we all strove to create in tabling it at this important juncture in co-creating
that future.
Submitted on behalf of the committee,
Dr. James Norrie, Chair
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Table of Contents
Chair's Remarks .............................. .. . .. ..... . ........ 2
Executive SU!Il!llary .................................................................. 4
Our Process .............................................................. .................. 5
Over-Arching Conclusions & Global Recommendations .. 7
Recommendation #1: Use data-driven decision-making as a principle 8
Recommendation #2: Continue to focus on downtown re-development 8
Recommendation #3: Transparently map the distrincts and their visions 9
Recommendation #4: Historic tax credits/ National register districts 10
Recommendation #5: Adopt updated and form-based building codes 11
Recommendation #6: Re-establish a coherent street grid in Utica 12
Recommendation #7: Public roll re-development projects 13
Recommendation #8: Improve Multi-jurisdictional co-operation 13
Recommendation #9: Be more demographically aware and engaged 14
Recommendation #10: Right-size our city's infrastructure 15
Lead Testing & Land Rehabilitation ................... ................. 16
Additional citizens Recommendations Across the five domains 17
Goal 1: Housing and Neighborhood Development .17
Goal 2: Downtown Development ............................... 17
Goal 3: Parks, Rec, Arts and Culture ............................ 17
Goal 4: Business and Technology Development ...... 18
Goal S: Infrastructure and Waterfront Development 18
Next Steps & conclusion ........................................................ 19
Appendix A - Input Session Attendees ............................... 20
Appendix B -Verbatim Summary of Community Input Sessions 21
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report builds on the effort and success of the original master plan, circa 2011. With
the passage of time, it seemed clear that an effort to update the plan was timely and
appropriate. As a result, a citizens' master planning advisory committee was formed and has
completed its work now tabled herein.
We applaud the City of Utica for making progress towards its own revitalization and
economic development. As a co.m.mittee we commend the Mayor and Common Council
alike for striving to make our community a better place to live. We accept that seizing
opportunity is vitally important to our future and we embrace the value of new
developments, even where this may challenge us to change our perspective or oudook on
our city's past or future.
This report therefore strives to be an authentic and fair record of where progress on the
goals of the original master plan were accomplished; but accepting with good reason, where
there was not. We restricted this to themes and areas identified and confirmed by citizens in
our various consultations, with occasion direct input from committee members with firs thand
knowledge of these matters. As a result of this method, we cannot claim this as a
summary of all progress made necessarily; but rather that which was visible and either
notable or noted by citizens as having occurred. We feel this is an appropriate measure of
our collective progress as a community: if the master planning process is to be useful, its
impact and results should be visible to all.
However, this report also strikes a deliberate cautionary tone which invites us all to
scrutinize our actions in light of the future we wish for ourselves: we see it as vital that we
begin as a group to realize we have turned a comer and that coherence in planning as we
move forward into the future will have its own positive and just rewards. At the core of our
report we therefore make 10 distinct recommendations to ensure we have the planning
intention and expertise in place to be more transparent and effective in the future. We also
raise the alarm of civic responsibility for rehabilitation of land for its known lead risk before
approving developments. We urge the Common Council, on the collective behalf of all
citizens, to carefully consider ensuring progress towards more appropriate form-based
building codes that respect both existing law and enable contemporary planning practices.
And we urge caution to ensure that economic opportunism does not replace long-term
vision and aspirations to create a great community in which to live, work and play.
At its conclusion, we urge all concerned citizens of both the City of Utica and its
environs to become aware of the process used to generate this report, its conclusions and
recommendations, and the position it takes on the increasing importance of planning
acumen and coherence in our future. It is our hope that the report will inspire action,
engagement and the political will necessary to ensure that the effort put into its creation will
be borne out in future impacts on what we choose to do and not to do as a city in transition.
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OUR PROCESS
We were created through legislation and began our Service in December, 2014. Our
committee was appointed through Common Council with each member at the time
permitted to nominate two members to the committee. We then elected within ourselves a
Chair and began our work in earnest. As a body with no legislative authority, and no
connection to the ongoing planning function of the city, we deliberately have intended to
rise above taking any political position on any project under consideration. The enabling
legislation defines a very cleat and narrow scope.
The starting point was an original appendix in the 2011 Master Plan. This came to be
known as "the matrix" and it consisted of a summary reporting of the detailed goals for each
original domain of the Master Plan, of which there were five as follows:
Goal 1 - Housing & Neighborhood Development
Goal2 - Downtown Development
Goal 3 - Parks & Recreation; A.tts & Culture; and Historic Preservation
Goal 4-Business & Technology Development
GoalS- Infrastructure & Waterfront Development
Our initial assessment of due process was to agree to form subcommittees to address
each of these five goals and to simply "update" them in terms of what has and has not
occurred from the original Master Plan's vision and goals. This was a seemingly easy
approach and we felt would soundly inform where the City of Utica stood today in its efforts
to conform to the Master Plan.
Unfortunately, the complexity and enormity of the changes which have occurred around
us including much unanticipated good news around development (Marcy-Nano; new
regional hospital; downtown revitalization; etc.) rendered this an impractical, if not
impossible task ultimately. Despite our initial efforts to locate the proper forms from which
to draw updates on what had occurred, we could not reconcile this approach to the scope
and breadth of changes that have occurred.
On the other hand, we were clear in not wanting to see ourselves as a committee tasked
with creating a new Master Plan for that was neither our original charge nor appropriate in
terms of cost and time to accomplish. Nor did we wish anyone to see us as having any
particular role in endorsing one project or development approach over another one for that
authority is vested in the planning function of the city itself under the control of its executive
and legislative branches. The result was a quandary of both purpose and process that
required a redefinition of our role.
This occurred near the end of our appointed term and, With the concutrence ot
Common Council, we were extended in both membership and mandate for an additional six
months in January, 2016. The result was a clear plan to engage with the community through
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a series of "input sessions", announced and widely promoted, at which the committee
sought the direct input of citizens into what they saw as the results of compliance or noncompliance
with the original Master Plan. We sought to solicit and record both the positive
accomplishments and the negative observations about what had and had not been
accomplished to date. We also used these forums, and the presentations and submissions to
the committee that accompanied them, to solidify our advice about how to change our
conduct as a community going forward to embrace all the positive changes that have
occurred, and are in fact as we speak still occurring, but in a way that is respectful and
appropriate under the original vision of the 2011 Master Plan.
We believe we have accomplished that task and that this report is indicative of a highly
consultative process that was transparent and open. To that end, and in keeping with our
committee's desire to be transparent, we have included in Appenclix A of this report a list of
the citizens who attended each of our two community input sessions, each held on a
Saturday to promote attendance and hosted by Utica College on neutral territory deliberately.
To further promote transparency, we had notes taken by an external recording secretary
(Professor Candace Grant who selves with the Chair at Utica College) who we all wish to
thank for her tireless hours of service in recording carefully and completely the proceedings
of these two sessions. If a reader is interested in the verbatim record of those two sessions,
they have been attached in summary form, by both domain and sub-goal, as Appenclix B of
this report.
The committee encouraged everyone to attend: community members, residents, civic
leaders and politicians, business-owners, and others. While attendance was relatively low,
the resulting dialogue was rich and very helpful to the committee in issuing its final report.
In addition, individual community members attended other forums (neighborhood watch;
churches and associations; or had individual contact with interested citizens) in order to
solicit informal feedback on the many issues we were examining and considering in the
formation of this report.
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OVER-ARCHING CONCLUSIONS & GLOBAL RECOMMENDATIONS
There were a number of over-arching themes which emerged during our work as a
committee and which seemed representative of the input we received about the current
Master Plan. As a result, this initial part of the report departs from our intention of
addressing and updating the original intent of the Master Plan to consider how new
developments or gaps in process in the original conception of the plan may be addressed to
strengthen its responsiveness to our present environment. In so doing, we hope to make the
Master Plan more durable and to improve its opportunity to be a living guide to the city's
future development efforts rather than an archaic or iconic effort of the past.
In offering these suggestions to both d1e Common Council and to the Office of the
Mayor, we hope they will find useful insight on some immediate actions plans, and next
steps that may be undertaken as we march forward towards the city's future. However, we
want to stress that ignoring these initial recommendations may imperil the future of
economic development and planning in the city because what is clear is that some elements
of the original Master Plan are now outdated.
In making this clear statement we have two possible outcomes to pursue as a
community: either we determine that this renders almost all of the original Master Plan as
being outdated in which case we would immediately recommend that the City of Utica
contemplate, convene, and revise the original Master Plan as soon as is practically possible.
In the alternate, our committee which does not share the view that the entire Master Plan is
outdated or invalidated by these changes, offers the compromise solution of how to update
core assumptions to reflect the present reality in which case we believe the current Master
Plan can easily guide us into the future, with minimal cost and effort, for another five years:
hence the tide of our report as Vision 2016 - 2021.
'In either event, we feel it incumbent upon us as a committee to stress that the continuing
disregard for the Master Plan as a guide to future developments is both obvious and
dangerous. Planning mistakes are easy to make and almost impossible to rectify. In all of
our work we have detected an underlying frustration that what may seemingly be guiding
development currently is opportunity: are we perhaps being more tactical than strategic
presendy? If so, this eventually risks the integrity of long~term planning outcomes and
compliance with an urban vision, the very essence of which a master plan is supposed to
both promote and protect against as an outcome.
Being opportunistic and embracing new development opportunities accordingly is an
excellent and important instinct that we applaud. But doing so unbridled by any
underpinnings of strategy would be rampant disregard for what the Master Plan intended:
planned growth around distinct themed districts. Thus an over-arching conclusion of the 10
recommendations which follow is for the City of Utica to update our current thinking not
only about the Master Plan itself; but to also consider the opportunity for this same plan to
retain a firm guide to future developments so as to ensure that the exploitation of
opportunity is done in accordance with a long-term strategy that maps to our collective
community aspirations accordingly.
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RECOMMENDATION #1: USE DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING AS A PRINCIPLE
Our observations of the original Master Plan is that it may lack the substantiation
through the incorporation of hard data to support its conclusions (inventories of current
assets; open parcels for development; transparency of the extent of current public ownership
of non-taxable parcels; accurate and up-to-date demographics and so on).
To address this, we urge the planning department at the city be tasked with updating and
disclosing reliable data sources on pre-agreed set of data indicators that would be kept
current and made available to all stakeholders when considering future planning and
economic development proposals. Having an agreed-to set of facts at the disposal of the
Mayor's Office, Common Council and, obviously publicly to developers and citizens,
ensures that future decisions are processed through a lens of data-driven decision-malcing
tl1at is transparent and clear rather than opaque.
We agree as a committee that the process of going through and determining together
what data sources are even required to be considered in future planning and economic
development decisions has incredible merit for its own sake and would contribute to more
comprehensive consideration of data sources that can support high-quality decision-making
in the future.
RECOMMENDATION #2: CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON DOWNTOWN RE-DEVELOPMENT
Of the myriad of changes that have occurred since the original 2011 Master Plan was
written, the transformation of downtown is one of the starkest examples of the original
vision having been embraced. What is happening currently in downtown is remarkable
including:
significant re-development (i.e. Bagg's Square, including Rust to Green student
initiatives; the Landmarc)
the relocation of Utica College's Business programs to Clark City Center (Aug,
2016)
announcements regarding the planned .relocation of the, hospital to downtown
Utica
almost completed efforts around downtown branding and destination marketing
planned infrastructure and transportation upgrades (the "busy comer"; county
parking; Oriskany Street/ Route 5 improvements)
Any one of these developments alone would be sufficiently breath-taking to help
downtown begin to achieve its full potential: the combination the committee has concluded
ensure a bright and vibrant future for downtown so long as we carefully consider the longterm
strategy of both development and re-development, particularly in the historic
downtown core. We concur also that such spectacularly audacious projects as the hospital
relocation can spark anxiety and if not handled properly can be the subject of much
innuendo, miscommunication, and misunderstanding. As a result, we urge the various
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constituents more closely involved in these projects to improve communications, ClVlC
engagement, and transparency to promote the value of these projects including their
conformity to the principles espoused in the existing master plan, sound planning principles,
and how they benefit all residents as they progress towards ultimate approval.
Another over-arching and significantly common theme that citizens in our sess10ns
commented on was the importance of promoting and protecting the arts. The original
Master Plan located the arts district downtown and the committee recommends continued
development of the arts district, as contained in a 2012 enabling ordinance adopted by
Common Council permitting the creation of municipal themed districts. We urge Common
Council and the Mayor to respect this request and find ways to fund and prop1ote the arts
consistently as a way to culturally beautify our city.
It is further clear that we cannot re-create the past and citizens may wish to consider
what downtown once was as truly a relic of the past. We cannot recreate what 1t was because
that 1s no longer sustainable economically. Instead, the question we pose as a committee is
what exactly is the future vision for downtown? With so many new, positive developments
occurring in so many places potentially connected to downtown revitalization, we need to be
mindful to not squander the opportunity to be strategic. When we consider the four primary
foci for development downtown (Bagg's Square, the Aud, Harbor Point, and the historic
corridor along Genesee Street between the "busy corner" and the Art Gallery) as the primary
"place" most of us define as downtown, there is tremendous looming opportunity to link
those four important points and to strategically consider how they intersect and
interact. How are decisions in each area linked to an overall vision and plan rather than
being treated as isolated or independent decisions? We worry that recent decisions in some
instances might suggest a more tactical, short-term view dominating civic decision-making
that will impair the creation of a powerful, coherent long-term vision for downtown if we
are not careful.
In our view, common council and the Mayor must ensure that any developments taking
place within the boundaries of these important areas - all of which for the committee's
purposes we are calling downtown - must take into account the principle of "better
together" - that is a strategy of development of the appropriate infrastructure to support
residential, commercial, entertainment and other mixed-uses, including transportation and
parking infrastructure, that will create a vibrant, connected and pedestrian friendly
downtown that we can all be proud of.
RECOMMENDATION #3: TRANSPARENTLY MAP THE DISTRICTS AND THEIR VISIONS
We note that the original Master Plan certainly contained and promoted the concept of
neighborhoods and the importance of their unique character and future development. We
agree with this concept entirely as a committee.
However, as the process has unfolded, it is not clear to the committee exactly what the
boundaries of each of the important target neighborhoods actually are: should we not all be
operating on a common unde.rsranchng of what downtown is for instance? And if we use
terms like Bagg's Square or "Sports and Entertainment'' districts, where are those and how
do they map to each other? Of course, this invokes the question (ripe with politics even in
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the posing of it we recognize) of who gets to make these decisions. Given our mandate, this
was a tricky question we nonetheless felt it appropriate to weigh in on.
Primarily, the co1111Uittee recommends that the Common Council defme and then defend
the geographic boundaries, and the associated planning and development intentions for each
neighborhood (i.e. variable and responsive building codes; agreements on density and similar
planning guidelines to protect and preserve character; agreements in advance on the look
and feel of new developments in historic areas; etc.) that would bring the vision for each
geographically-defined neighborhood into full and transparent relief. With this "road map"
in place, we would then urge the three principal constituents involved (the Mayor'~ Office,
the Planning Department, and ultimately Common Council) to use these maps proactively to
solicit opportunities for developers to ensure the fulfillment of these visions and/ or to
ensure approval of projects only in keeping with the visions and boundaries of these
neighborhoods in future.
We also believe the transparent publication of these, and making sure that we point
developers to them as the guidelines for neighborhoods while they are considering
development and re-development proposals, would institute a new regiment of compliance
with long-term planning strategy and reduce our response to opportunistic proposals that are
currently mostly proposed in a vacuum of this very type of defining information about what
WILL and WILL NOT be considered appropriate for various neighborhoods in future.
RECOMMENDATION #4: HISTORIC TAX CREDITS/NATIONAL REGISTER DISTRICTS
Already in process as spearheaded by the city's Scenic and Historic Preservation
Commission, the Transportation National Register District is in process with the State
Historic Preservation Office for State and National Park Service approval. The next planned
phase will be for a National Register District from Bagg's Square up through Oneida Square,
and then the expansion of the Brewery District This is the result of Scenic & Historic
inviting the State Historic Office two years ago to study these areas and recommend where
the expansion of the National Register Districts could be.
This was accomplished, and is now in process. Why do this? Unlike designations of
particular sites as historically important, we focus on this method because an owner or
developer of income producing property can obtain a 40% tax credit - 20% IRS and 20%
NYS Tax in the development of their projects so long as the individual building itself is
designated (not always welcome) OR if the entire district is designated instead. Our advisory
committee feels this tactic has been under-utilized and misunderstood and so we wish to
highlight the advantages of this strategy very clearly.
When we have all these districts created and registered, we anticipate developers will
flock to Downtown and Varick Street to purchase and develop existing buildings via
adaptive reuse, etc. This is a clearly stated goal of the city. As a result, there should be far
fewer vacant buildings in the commercial district, and we anticipate an even more robust
resurgence in our downtown and the Brewery District in West Utica.
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RECOMMENDATION #5: ADOPT UPDATED AND FORM-BASED BUILDING CODES
The committee detects that, potentially, the building codes in the City of Utica need
updating in order for the Master Plan's vision to become a reality. For instance, as we
contemplate the opportunity for all kinds of new forms of housing apparently in demand
from workers in contemporary fields like Nano Science, might we need to consider
developing a condominium act that would enable condominium ownership both within
commercial and residential buildings? As we consider historic districts, might the
requirements for things like set-backs, heights, and architectural compliance with local
neighborhoods detn.and variations on the building code d1.at might not be universally
applicable elsewhere in the city? Should we be encouraging re-development of existing
residential housing stock by removing strict compliance standards (in select instances) that
would not dampen citizen enthusiasm for making improvements?
All of this thinking may be summarized in a single term: form-based codes. Form-based
codes use physical form rather than separation of use as the organizing principle with lesser
focus on land use and more on adherence to regulations adopted into municipal law. This
helps control urban sprawl, over-intensification, or deterioration and other deleterious
effects of inappropriate development by forcing compliance with both form and land-use
regulations. Many other jurisdictions have established and are enforcing such codes to great
effect (Peoria, IL; Berkley, CA; Beaufort, S.C.; Cincinnati, OH; Seaside, FL, etc).
The committee believes the time has come for Common Council to instruct the
Planning Department to consider and adopt a more progressive, future-forward, and
workable planning code so that the vision contained in the Master Plan can be made into a
reality in a more legally stringent way. Otherwise, there is a risk that with each successive
municipal administration variations and deviations from the master plan may continue
because stricter form-based codes are not in place.
In addition to the first part of recommendation #5, the committee also discovered
during the course of its work several existing and still active amendments to codes that it
believes are either not being followed or which are seen as inactive. Of course, legally unless
these have been repealed or amended, that is not a sustainable position. For instance, among
the documents approved by the Common Council is the March 10, 2005 enabling legislation
that created the Zoning and Design Standards for the Gateway Historic Canal District,
which is in effect for all development in this area. We can find no evidence of consistent
references to this legislation today or its consideration in the original master planning
process in 2011. This is surprising in many respects.
The very focused area referred to in this legislation from north at the CSX Railroad lines
to south at Columbia Street, to east at Genesee Street and west to NYS 8/12 has existing
design standards and zoning criteria that as adopted ordinances need to be incorporated into
both the current master plan and, of course, into any development plans for this area.
Therefore, our committee urges the Common Council to direct the corporation to do a
complete historic review of all documents approved as they relate to zoning, planning, and
the development of all categories of properties in the city. We recommend this be combined
into a single document, with appropriate revision dates and codes as appropriate to link
them all, as reference to all concerned stakeholders.
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In doing so, we have acknowledged the past and its importance in planning coherence.
We also recommend that the City of Utica consider what else needs to be done to enable the
city to lay claim to a contemporary, clear, and coherent building code (and associated
processes of approvals, deviations, and consistent enforcement) that will bring more citizen
confidence in those processes and eliminate political elements in them to the extent that is
possible and recommended. Fairness and transparency are best applied in these areas. But to
achieve that, we ftrst need to collectively understand what it is that guides us by ensuring our
building codes are uniform and up to date.
RECOMMENDATION #6: RE-ESTABLISH A COHERENT STREET GRID IN UTICA
The committee recognizes in making this particular recommendation that much of the
transportation infrastructure is not under its sole control and involves multi-jurisdictional
negotiations with both the county and the state, particularly the State Department of
Transportation.
That being said, we believe that the Common Council can exhort significant, strongly felt
and deeply embedded, support from the residents of Utica to enable a much more
productive approach to the re-design and re-engineering of city streets and the supporting
large transportation infrastructure.
Where road re-developments are occurring, particularly as they relate to the arterial,
more care needs to be given to both local through-traffic and pedestrian and bike traffic.
We should avoid creating dead-ends of unnatural continuations of the original street grid so
as to not negatively compromise certain neighborhoods or developments that exist today.
Care needs to be given to re-creating appropriate east-west roadways and not just notthsouth
which planning seems to dominate most transportation projects.
The committee also consistently heard that we must address the issue of parking (both
on and off-street) at the same time as we consider the expansion of the street grid to
accommodate more traffic flow. Particularly downtown may need to envision more creative
parking solutions over time if we are to have vehicular traffic and pedestrians co-exist in a
way that creates synergies instead of anomalies. We also note that increasingly we need to
consider traffic circulation alternatives to Genesee St in particular as demand for closing it
increases to accommodate various events, festivals, displays and similar opportunities which
are important to support as they re-energize and re-invigorate downtown by giving it a
personality and character of its own.
The committee notes that while the original Master Plan does make extensive reference
to various parts of the transportation infrastructure in some of its sub-goals, there does not
appear to be an accompanying conclusive Master Plan for roadways and ingress/egress
opportunities to accompany the original Master Plan of the neighborhoods. Given what we
know happens in this vacuum (i.e. the bridge to North Utica and the mess around Bagg's
Square created by it), rather than leaving tllls question to a project-by-project assessment, a
more comprehensive traffic study and plan, properly researched and prepared in advance,
that lays out the city's aspirations for the traffic infrastructure required to support
neighborhood development would be a political asset when negotiating and dealing with
important third parties who have some control over the destiny of these points.
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RECOMMENDATION #7: PUBLIC ROLL RE-DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
As public and developer enthusiasm for the re-development of downtown in particular
blossoms, the committee recommends reducing the current reliance on publicly-funded
projects as the pathway to downtown rejuvenation. While not in principle opposed to public
developments (such as the hospital), we are mindful that once land is committed to a
designated use that involves either a tax-deferral or a complete abatement of taxes, those
parcels produce no long-term revenue for the city. While better than the alternative of
derelict or abandoned land, the news is not always entirely positive in some regards. This is
a catastrophe if taken to an extreme - we could end up with a fully re-developed downtown,
with all of its attendant traffic (both pedestrian and vehicular) but no ability to invest in city
services to maintain, upgrade, police or support it in future.
As enthusiasm for Utica grows, we hope that so will the political will and enthusiasm to
ensure that developments result in long-term growth in tax revenues. We also believe in
creating a long-term goal of balancing public and private development and in making sure
that tax incentives for private developers are transparent, clear, and limited in scope and
application. Over time, we should move from being in a position of "buying'' interest in
downtown re-development often including significant tax-incentive; to "securing" interest
through more limited engagement in financial support; to only "approving'' developments
that naturally arise because of viable commercial returns that no longer require direct
financial participation by the city. Arriving at this point creates maximum economic value
for the city.
We hope that both Common Council and the Mayor's Office will attend to this
recommendation carefully and, as they go forward, ensure that the economic deals we are
making are both justified and truly transparent and that, over-time, a trend to reducing the
need for these is established.
RECOMMENDATION #8: IMPROVE MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL CO-OPERATION
The committee notes that intra-jurisdictional co-operation appears to be improving
overall, particularly between the city and the county. We applaud that as a progressive and
necessary first step. However, any productive vision for the City of Utica need not rely
simply on personal rapport and relationships. Rather, in future, they should rely on shared
aspirations and joint commitments and endorsements.
Therefore, we recommend that Common Council address the future of the Master Plan
by updating it accordingly, perhaps with our report as a template, and then seeking proper
procedural endorsements of those parts of the plan that require joint co-operation or coordination
by specifically and clearly requesting of other levels of government those
approvals required to proceed. We urge the citizens of Utica to rise up in support of these
requests to the county and state by aligning their political will at all three levels to coincide
with the election and/ or appointment of individuals who support the future aspirations and
visions for the city and who actively demonstrate both an understanding of those aspirations
and tangible support of them.
Similarly, consolidation of services and regionalization of governments between towns
and even across counties may be necessary as we all move into a more economically
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restrained future. We note that surrounding communities (New Hartford, Clinton, etc.)
benefit enormously from their proximity to the City of Utica. However, we do not always
embrace the idea of shared services or the cumulative impact of service duplication on both
individual tax payers and on businesses. Careful thought needs to be given to this topic
which the committee acknowledges is politically volatile. So, while not offering an
endorsement of any particular solution, we are highlighting the need for politicians in these
jurisdictions to begin the tough conversations and delicate political dance necessary to enact
positive change in this important strategy over time, calculated as being in all of the region's
citizens' best interests.
In the same way as other recommendations we have made, we feel that being a catalyst
for these discussions is almost as important as the outcome: perhaps truly creative solutions
will emerge to what has formerly been seen by many as intractable problems. We do not see
them as intractable at all. We see resistance often rooted in an intense desire to preserve the
status-quo at any cost. That will not help any of us - the City of Utica or its surrounding
communities and environs - in achieving our full potential and is something the committee
urges everyone to carefully reflect on.
RECOMMENDATION #9: BE MORE DEMOGRAPHICALLY AWARE AND ENGAGED
During its work the committee detected that the original Master Plan seemed to treat the
City of Utica as almost a single demographic. However, we have some very unusual trends
forming that emerged in our consultations that we wish to highlight for the Common
Council:
1. While we certainly do have an aging demographic, we also have an emerging younger
demographic that is choosing to remain in our community now and lead the way
forward rather than seeking opportunity elsewhere;
2. We see a resurgence (and many examples were both sitting on our committee and
attending our community input suggestions) of those who have left and then
voluntarily returned to Utica later in their lives, often with an abundance of time,
energy and wealth with them;
3. The presence of so many substantial post-secondary institutions within such a close
geography means the potential for students to come here for an education but
remain for a career so long as economic opportunity is equitably distributed to
include them;
4. The immigrant population of the City of Utica is both an advantage and also a
responsibility that includes continuing to ensure the integration of those from afar
solidly into the community in all forms and to ensure the richness of their experience
and past culture are woven into our own.
These important demographic trends, and perhaps others the committee was not
exposed to, need to be incorporated into the Master Plan. We are not dealing with a
uniform demographic but rather a variable one. If embraced, it can challenge us to a
level of diversity and integration of perspectives that can enhance the long-term growth
and development of the city. But to achieve this outcome, we need to ensure that just as
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we did for meaningful data around development projects above, we incorporate
meaningful and reliable data about the city's demographics squarely into the lens of every
planning and development opportunity we consider. This ensures that demographic
diversity results in positive integration rather than negative confrontations.
We must also point out that considerations for projects should take into account
both historic importance and contemporary support. For instance, consider the Utica
Zoo - it has a connection to our past and is a dynamic asset for a city of our size. But
think of its future too: already this year 10,000 people have visited the Zoo, many from
all over the rest of the country and beyond to see the Red Panda. Assets like this may
explain not only tourism interests but may be one of the reasons people who were born
here but moved away are now returning or in the process of considering moving back to
the revitalized Utica.
RECOMMENDATION #10: RIGHT-SIZE OUR CITY'S INFRASTRUCTURE
Our final over-arching recommendation is fairly simple, but again is likely to be
controversial. For some time we have engaged in the language of recovery: aspiring to
undo the creeping plague of slow economic decline and replace it with rejuvenation but
with an aspiration that this really means restoration of the past. The danger in this
unspoken wish is that we remain rooted in the past, always hoping for a return to what
was rather than in looking forward to what can and should be.
We empathize as a committee with the angst and anxiety that teal change generates.
We have no easy solutions to propose to make anyone feel better on this point except
that in any stressful situation, it is having options and alternatives from which to choose
that seems to ease this natural reaction. Reading this report as a starting point, then
exploring ways to get engaged in influencing out future choices may be a partial antidote
to this anxiety.
We note this because as the population has declined with declining economic
opportunity, the city's infrastructure has perhaps, at its own peril, remained more or less
the same size. That cannot be sustained and its costs are avoidable with good decisionmaking.
We note examples of this in parks, in services, and similar for instance.
To resolve this dilemma, we must come together as a whole city and not as a
collection of neighborhoods or even directional axis (north, south, east and west Utica).
Perhaps instead we must carefully prognosticate together on what the likely size of our
city is in the future: population, boundaries and associated matters. How do we then
"right -size" the city to accommodate this new size and shape in future for the collective
benefit of us all?
Perhaps this also involves annexing some areas while divesting of others. Perhaps
we need to adjust our expectations of future land use to accommodate growth occurring
not everywhere in the city but only in specific areas. Again, the committee is not
adopting a recommendation on any particular conclusion or advocating a point-of-view
other than recognizing that Utica should not, slavishly, anticipate a return to its past but
rather anticipate with optimism and hope a co-creation of a new future. To do so
requires that we re-think what we need to support that.
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LEAD TESTING & LAND REHABILITATION
During our work the committee became aware of current efforts of a local Utica
College student (Lana Nitti) who has perfected a novel method of easily testing for lead
contamination. This research was guided and validated by a number of experts in the
field. Her application of this method in various areas of our city has resulted in her
becoming an activist around the very real and present dangers of lead levels ill soil as a
risk particularly to children. As we now know, high lead levels have been directly linked
to long-term health risks and learning impairment.
While deeply impressed with this student's enthusiasm for the issue we were
dismayed by the apparent lack of uptake and awareness by city leaders on the importance
of this issue. Noting what just occurred in Flint, MI as an example of the dangers of
lead, it might seem expedient to ignore the long-tetm and costly problem of
rehabilitating land from past uses as we venture into the prospect of a bright, new shiny
future. Or to have only a surface and minor economic commitment to an inadequate
scope of action to make ourselves feel better in the face of what might seem to some as
an insurmountable problem, pe:thaps rooted in the past.
But that is a mistake we cannot afford to make. Lead is a real problem that poses
real current risks to health and welfare. Perhaps as this student's study indicates, within
certain districts of Utica, a severely toxic level of lead that is especially dangeiOus when
lead-contaminated land is disturbed, as it is when land is re-developed potentially making
the existing problem worse. We worry that this desire to approve new projects may
overwhelm what should be our primary concern about the safety, health and security of
city residents.
Given that we cannot independently verify her results, we do not venture to make
any specific recommendations based on her research. Nonetheless, we urge the
Common Council to always insist on the proper testing, preparation and potential
rehabilitation of any lead-contaminated site prior to appiOving any development
plan no matter how large or small the project in question is. Or who its sponsor or
proposer is -including the state. And if the cost of doing so is unbearable, we urge joint
political and civic action to create bona fide understanding of and responsibility for this
issue at the state level including the real costs of protecting us all from the long-term
negative health effects of lead.
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ADDITIONAL CITIZENS RECOMMENDATIONS ACROSS THE FIVE DOMAINS
Having used the original matrix as a template for community engagement sessions,
the committee did not want to squander the opportunity to add its own list of refrned or
new goals that would potentially assist the Common Council to update the matrix in a
more meaningful way to guide future developments efforts across the city.
These are in addition to the over-arching goals noted above which are manifest to
the whole original Master Plan. However, these have been split out into the original five
domains and numbered accordingly because they are specific to a particular issue or
observation.
We hope this presentation is helpful; we believe no further narrative is required for
most of them and so we present them succinctly in bullet-point form deliberately for
additional consideration and discussion by the Common Council and the Mayor as
appropriate:
GOAL 1: HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT
1. Increase percentage of owner occupied structures in most neighborhoods
2. Adopt more mixed income housing models
3. Promote more "green building"
4. Increase downtown residents by 10%-20% within 3 years
5. Increase safety by improving mobility along streets and fostering healthy communities
6. Promote more community leadership and empowerment
7. Reduce deteriorated infrastructure and blight
8. Strengthen relationship between school district and city
9. Promote ever-higher leve ls of public safety to decrease crime rates
GOAL 2: DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
1. Safe, comfortable, efficient multi-modal connectivity between areas of downtown
2. Better funding of the Arts creates a more culturally dynamic downtown
3. While downtown is quite safe, it suffers from a perception it is not that requires better
marketing and messaging to correct
4. Recognize downtown as a community gathering place; particularly encourage growth in
events, festivals, and similar that encourage pedestrian interest and attendance
5. Foster economic vitality through more commercial and private-sector investments
6. Use downtown to foster the pride of Utica residents t hrough the promotion of more
residential-only and mixed-use developments that respect the historic downtown
GOAL 3: PARKS, REC, ARTS AND CULTURE
1. Increase use of parks by improving services, activities, and events in them
2. Use parks to increase economic and hea lth benefits of city living
3. Use Mohawk River and Erie Canal to stimulate economic development
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4. Protect historic buildings, monuments, and such
5. Increase awareness of Heritage Tourism and publish the city's current tourism plan
6. Develop identity of Utica as a welcoming place for art and artists.
GOAL 4: BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
1. Attract new development through multifaceted plan and incentives that rely less on tax
abatements and reductions
2. Retention and expansion of local businesses is always easier than attracting new oneswe
cannot lose focus on existing local economic development as a priority
3. Create an environment in the city that fosters entrepreneurship and business-ownership
(especially small artisan and craft businesses for instance} as alternatives to
employment
4. Continue to invest in re-tooling, re-skilling, and educating the local workforce
5. Emphasize quality of life so as to encourage young professionals to relocate.
6. Continue to use Rust-to-Green efforts to redevelop brown field sites including attracting
grants to off-set the costs of these projects
GOAL 5: INFRASTRUCTURE AND WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT
1. Enhance quality of physical infrastructure through principles of smart development
2. Develop water structure that eliminates waste, conserves water, and preserves capacity
for industrial development and ensures sufficient water supply for growth that is
affordable for Utica residents
3. Bring all sewage and storm water systems into compliance immediately
4. Create more inviting, creative, and sustainable streetscapes, gateways, and corridor
plans in conjunction with the state and county as appropriate
5. Effective transportation system that includes public transit, vehicle, bicycle, and
pedestrian traffic of all types
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NEXT STEPS & CONCLUSION
The committee believes there was value in its process and its findings. We hope our
various constituents will concur. However, this was not a complete over-haul of the
2011 Master Plan but rather an updating of its perspective and an extension of its
original good intentions.
With that, we therefore do recorrunend that a completely new master planning
process will be appropriate in future and we recommend that be done in time for 2021.
That suggests forming that committee and establishing its mandate near the middle to
end of 2019 and then providing them with a year or more to complete their work. We
make this recommendation to Common Council now so that this comes as no surprise
in the future and to ensure funds can be allocated for doing so.
Why this timeframe? We make this recommendation on the assumption that, by
then, the value of the Master Plan will have exhausted both its useful life and that more
future developments will have occurred that require an updating of our collective
thinking on our future as a city. In fact, with what is already known that lies ahead, our
city is entering an exciting but change-intense five year period right now.
In the interim, and after concluding its work this time around, the committee did feel
that this Master Plan advisory process should be repeated again in two years with
another citizen-led effort under the auspices of Common Council. While some
continuity in membership may be appropriate, it is not essential Rather, to retain the
voice of the resident and citizen in the process should be the call to action of this future
committee no matter its constitution.
The committee and the citizens it now represents, feel strongly that more
transparency, more coherence, and deep expertise regarding contemporary planning and
development practices are required for the city of Utica to succeed. While we defer to
the Mayor and Common Council on how best to accomplish this from a managerial
perspective, we do need to restore citizenry confidence and collaboration iri this regard
from our external vantage point. We can report from our work citizen concern, even
consternation, about present planning methods and their effectiveness in terms of
consistency executing on the intentions of the master plan. We similarly caution the
Mayor's office on accusations of favoring economic development at any cost, which
while unsubstantiated through any investigation by the committee, was a clearly heard
perception that the highest political official in the city may wish to be aware of and
correct in his actions.
With these final summary thoughts, we want to thank the fine residents of this
community for their support and we table our final report, unanimously and without
reserve to you for consideration and future action. We are all proud of this city and its
ever-brightening future!
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APPENDIX A- INPUT SESSION ATTENDEES
Attendees- March 26th, 2016 Session (facilitated by the committee chair)
Lucretia Hunt
Bill True
Michael Lehman
Bobby Oliveria
Brett Truett
J K Hage Ill
Joe Cerim
AI La Salle
Lynne Mishalanie
John Faust
Ron Vincent
Jim Buswell
Bob Heins
Judith Olney
Liz Harbilla
Nikki Sheehan
Attendees -April 9th, 2016 Session (facilitated by the committee chair)
Mark Mojave
Anna D'Ambrosia
Mike Lehman
Patrick Page
Oliver Rugg
Bobby Oliveira
Joseph Cerine
John Faust
Brett Truett
Joseph P Bottini
Lynne Mishalanie
JohnJaxon
Regina Bonacci
Bill True
Lucretia Hunt
Ron Vincent
Jim Buswell
Frank Montecalvo
Rainer M. Wehner
Final Murtagtagh
Joe Marino
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APPENDIX B- VERBATIM SUMMARY OF COMMUNITY INPUT SESSIONS
For the good ofthe record, what follows are the combined general comments of
community input session participants on each of the five domains {the "goals"} and then
any relevant commentary identified by sub-goal in most places.
To assist in the interpretation of this input, we suggest new readers explore the
original matrix on which this feedback was secured so as to contextualize the comments
in relationship to the original language contained in the 2011 Master Plan.
Goal 1: Housing and Neighborhood Development
Positives
• 1 Roosevelt School -low to moderate housings for purchase by renters in 15-
20 years
• 1 Home Owner Program is in place to increase first time home ownershipgood
interest
• 1 Improvement in unsellable homes going to owner occupied
• 1 Branding by district and neighbourhood such as Bagg's Square
• 1 Lot of private development between Oneida and Oriskany Blvd
• 3 County got a grant to deal with lead paint
• 3 Form based zoning adopted in 2004 and formally adopted- actually exists.
• 3 Fire department has ROP program, inspects properties- danger ofthis being
reduced and increase in the numbers of fires.
• 4 Ocean Blue downtown is green building
• 5 Whitesboro Street housing- new housing downtown?
• 5 Public property coming back onto the tax roll
• 5 Downtown residents have increased by 10%
• 6 Addendum to the URA specifications so that sidewalks are replaced by
developers on a 50/50 match.
• 6 Public safety program education on police and fire safety, heroin epidemic,
trends in crime rate is down in some areas.
• 7 Will be a new park in West Utica
• 7 Roundabout at Oneida Square
• 8 Corn hill, Campbell Park- park improvement, community worked hard on
this park and it is now non-toxic
• 8 Scare resources are spread over too large an area
• 11 Highest level of Fire and Safety
• Integration of services such as ambulance as well as fire and safety
• Consolidation at regional levels- parochial concerns.
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• New public safety building on Anthony Garmone (police station) and satellite
on James street (not utilized)
Negatives
• 1 Home Ownership program also need to target city residents, not necessarily
first time owners
• 1 Incentive programs- strategy for encouraging spending of their own money
rather than the focus on the hand out- are they maintaining it after it is
renovated?
• 1 How many pilots and how many tax exemptions should be available? Do we
want a pilot to outlast the administration. Giving more away in tax incentives let's
make sure there is a return on the tax incentives. Include limits on those
awarded. Utica is selling property short.
• 1 Low quality of homes, lead paint, people should focus on renovations
• 1 Rehabilitating older homes- after 25 years, should be able to do so without
cost
• 3 Code sheets for new immigrants so they know what needs to be done
• 6 Sidewalks and Inner city streets still need repair
• 6 Took away public playground from North Utica. Coordinate public areas by
city and not by district.
• 6 Chronic public safety issue - downtown fear of Utica. Facts don't support
the issue. Afraid of panhandlers and mental health issues, prostitution and
drugs, stretch from Oneida Square to the Parkway
• 6 Community policing- police feel that they can't win. Past 10 years, do the
best they can and their hands are tied. No body thanks them. Neighborhood
watch. Absentee landlords. Deterioration of the areas.
• 7 Community Gardens- difficult when people have their own yards. Perhaps
help people with their own yards.
Goa/2 Downtown Development
Positives
• 1 Transfer hub for Centro
• 1 Bicycle/ pedestrian and walkway is finished with some lights along the path;
canal way bicycle ways
• 1 Rust to Green is developing an identity
• 3 Utica College creating seminar space downtown
• 3 Rutger Park won a grant for planning a music service
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• 3 The Downtown hospital for development of the land opposite the Aud
• 5 Developing the brand identify for downtown- Bragg Square
• 5 Farmers market- doing a great job
• 5 Outdoor seating in restaurants
• 5 Outdoor festivals -one world flower festival -easier to close streets off
• 5 Varick Street- closing street and the ease of that happening in other
downtown areas
• 6 Art work in the windows; art community interested in space in downtown
Utica
• 6 Strong connection between Aud and core
• 7 Celebrate Utica- downtown Bagg Square
• 8 Landmarc building
• 8 Updated Zimmerman volks study- doesn't reflect lofts
• 8 Condos- no downtown ownership residential- absence
• 8 Succinct connectivity plan- physically how to get from Harbourfront to Bagg
Square to Genesee Street
Negatives
• 1 Is the hospital in keeping with the Master Plan. Lack of data available in the
decision making process.
• 1 Universal wifi in the center of Utica needed for the economy
• 3 Have an Arts School in downtown Utica - promote that arts district
• 4 Number of empty buildings downtown
• 4 Parking strategy needed for downtown
• 5 Farmers Market- Railway Express Agency Wing- needs renovation
• 5 Outdoor festivals- Lynn- music and Monday nights- Dick Clark, Annette
Funicello- bring back to Utica- New Years in August- festival downtown
• 5 Gateway and entrances to Utica aren't welcoming e.g. Genesee Street and
the bridge and Oriskany
• 6 Development of the river and connection to the city
• 6 Development needs to be suitable and businesses to be moved need to be
moved to a suitable a place
• 6 Continue the canal way bicycle path- wrong side of canal from harbour
development
• 6 Perhaps a mini Times Square- center of Utica- give a big city feel
• 6 Need to ensure that we don't sacrifice retail space in the downtown area.
• 7 Hang on to that which is iconic- "authenticity of place"- be mindful of
what defines our community
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• 7 Activities in downtown - do we want more street vendors downtown as the
downtown develops
• 8 Residential and mixed use - asbestos as well as lead need to be considered
• 8 Stricter reviews on what is done to a historic structure
• 8 Laws on the books but not enforced- scenic and historic preservation not
being honoured.
Goa/3- Parks, Rec, Arts and Culture & Historic Preservation
Positives
• 2 Hall of Fame- Running Hall of Fame/ Cooperstown Baseball;
• 5 Has more connections to American/s History
• 5 Columbia/Lafayette development/ historical perspective
• 6 Create artists housing happening
• 6 Created first arts and culture budget in NY State which leads to 1%$
300,000
• 6 Good Arts Community- Stanley/ Munson, venue for music/ arts, poetry;
expansion of Stanley helped to increase tourism
Negatives
• 1 Park system is failing. Park Infrastructure is underfunded and stretched thin.
Center strip on Parkway looks okay but what about the rest of the City
• 1 Clarify the use of funding mechanisms for parks and encourage residents to
fund/support the parks.
• 1 Comprehensive city-wide park Master Plan and inventory.
• 1 Think regionally- maybe some of the Utica Park gems are part of county county
does not have country parks such as the Utica Zoo.
• 1 Make Murname field a masterpiece.
• 3 Partner with others; we don't do that ourselves e.g. Children's Museum and
Zoo
• 5 State of NY investing in bike path and need to encourage Erie Canal goes
through Utica; linkage needs to be developed
• 5 The old canal path and barge canal- what is the vision for those areasconnection
to the history. Not identifying that these buildings are part of the
historic preservation.
• 5 Need an understanding of our history; beautiful pieces of architecture is still
here; connect our historic past with opportunities for the City
• 5 What is the tourism focus in this Master Plan?
• 5 Possibility of opening up the waterfront- developing from the waterfront in
as well as the waterfront out
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• 5 The Master Plan must be reflected in the by-laws to ensure it has teeth
• 6 Let's see it happening-the% for arts legislation- need the financing- NY
City created a 1% budget for their arts and culture
Goal4-Business and Technology Development
Positives
• 1
• 1
• 1
• 3
• 5
• 7
• 8
• 8
Nano and cyber developing as industry clusters
Utica College is coming downtown. City is very supportive of the move
There is lots of downtown development
Thinkubator in Bagg Square is visible and positive reinforcement
UC, SUNY Poly and MVCC all have Nano, Nursing, Financial Services courses
New community outreach position will reach out to the schools
Rust to green, Bagg Square, Varick Street, Oneida Square
Brownfield redevelopment is occurring
Negatives
• 1 Strip Bleecker to La Fayette that should be developed as food services and
tourism
• 1 Don't forget the other business areas Oneida Street, South Utica- e.g.
Uptown theatre area, East Utica, West Utica
• 2 Verizon has decided not to extend their program
• 3 Create more business sites but Greenman estates (restricted to recreational
use by deed} and Murnane Field were not recommended for business sites.
Homestead designed system and we need to protect it.
• 6 Rebuild areas within city blocks and focus on all schools not just the Utica
public schools such as Arts School
• 6 Wifi across the city (repeat of point above- different emphasis}
• 7 Arts tourism is equally important
• 7 Tourism marketing plan- need more access to information - on site where
there are historic sites e.g. General La Fayette
• 8 8.2 Time line for 5 to 10 years is too long, needed now i.e. land use plan for
North of the Aud
GoalS -Infrastructure and Waterfront Development
Positives
• 1 Oneida Square- worked with city on how to make it effective
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• 1 Maximizing reuse of recycled materials? Restore opened on French
Road;
• 2 New meters read instantly from their office in case of water breaks.
• 2 Problem with flooding on Utica Parkway. CPW cleaned drains which
caused the flooding
• 3 City taking steps on the sewers
• 4 Traffic signals are improving, procurement with National Grid
• 7 National Grid cleaned up the harbor and the land around the harbor.
• 7 Oneida Square annual flower show May 21st and Art Show that
continues all summer
• 7 Better fundraising this year. Better median and publicity
• 8 Have restored some of the connection to Whitesboro- Cornelia
Street and Oriskany Blvd- property sat empty for 15 years and now
interest because of this changes. "View sheds"
Negatives
• 1 Encourage Smart Development
• 1 Dark skies initiatives -light should be focused on areas on 1500 block
• 1 May need to mothball something- can't maintain all of it
• 1 Need a regional approach to improve planning consistency &
coherence.
• 2 Need to update the water supply study of the 1968's recommendation
is to follow it and not revise it- done when the area
was developing and we were concerned that we were going to run out of
water. Not the same concern now.
• 2 Place a high value on clean water is an attractive feature,
infrastructure should include impact on water.
• 2 Can the city develop the reservoir area for public use- federal
government has number of requirements for closed tanks for
• 6 1-5 years- not happening- water flow is across old boundaries.
• 7 Water way development should be considered from the waterway in
not just the waterway out
• 8 Restoring the street grid to where it has been- Whitesboro connects
West Utica to Downtown. East/West Arterial cut off Oriskany
Blvd/Street. Possible to reverse the process.
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