CDRPC Planning and Zoning Webinar Series
Made Possible by Support from our Event Sponsor Hodgson Russ LLP
CDRPC’s Spring Webinar Series, on the Zoom platform, will take place weekly on Wednesdays from March 15 to May 10. There is no cost to register. Each session will start at 1pm.
Click here to register.
After registering you will receive an email with access instructions. If you do not get the email right away check your spam or junk folder. To attend a webinar, simply click on the Zoom link you received in your confirmation email and join us. the same link will be valid for any and all of our webinars.
Wednesday, March 15: “Solar From an Industry Perspective: Presented by David Byrne, Founder/President of Renua Energy and Loren Pruskowski, Founder & CEO of Ecolegacy Values LLC (CM # 9266723)
How do solar projects come together? What makes a site attractive for solar? What are some common hurdles and development considerations that exist from solar developers perspective? What initiatives could a community develop to ensure development meets community expectations from the earliest stages of project development? Join our presenters as they tackle these questions and more! At this session attendees can gain some perspective from the industry on solar farm development.
Wednesday, March 22: 2023 Legislative and Regulatory Update on Environmental Issues in NYS Presented by Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP (CM # 9266725)
A Legislative and Regulatory Update on environmental issues in NYS. The 2022 Legislative Session resulted in several new pieces of legislation expanding the protection of wetlands and streams in New York, addressing attention to climate change as part of air permit application review and examining the impact on disadvantaged communities as part of the environmental review of permit applications. These changes are being carried forward by rule-making by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, including most notably in the pending proposed changes to Part 621 which governs permit issuance by NYSDEC.
*there is no webinar slated for March 29
Wednesday, April 5: “Meaningful Engagement and Why It’s Critical to Public Processes” Presented by Bergmann, Land Art Studio & Mutual Design (CM # 9266731)
Our session will focus on the importance of community engagement in public planning processes and decision-making. We will use Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation as a framework for identifying types of public participation, and we will discuss several different engagement strategies focused on shifting power from government decision-makers to the people impacted by decisions. Specifically, our panel will use several different case studies to demonstrate how engagement strategies can be tailored to each community and public process (there is no one size fits all approach), strategies for investing in and partnering with local communities (e.g., hiring community liaisons), and the identification of guiding principles that all public processes should strive to employ.
Wednesday, April 12: “Hot Topics in Comprehensive Planning for Small Towns” Presented by Nan Stolzenburg, Community Planning & Environmental Associates (CM # 9266735)
*This webinar was unfortunately not recorded*
National Grid hosting capacity map site. In case you don’t have it, you can access it here:
And choose PV Hosting Capacity tab.
This session will overview hot topics that many small and rural communities are grappling with and how to include them in comprehensive planning and other strategic planning efforts. Topics such as solar farms, short term rentals, climate change, and affordable housing are significant issues facing many communities and this session will introduce participants to the planning toolboxes available to address them. The session will also introduce APA’s Sustaining Places: Best Practices for Comprehensive Plans and offer tips on creating or updating a small town comprehensive plan or an updated plan. We will also introduce farm-friendly audits and zoning audits to help you determine consistency between Plan and land use regulations. Participants will have time for Q and A on these and other small town planning topics.
Wednesday, April 19: “2023 CDRPC Handout to Handshake Funding” Presented by Ben Syden, AICP, Vice President & Nicole Allen, AICP, Director of Planning and Community Development, The Laberge Group (CM # 9266737)
From economic development, to comprehensive planning, to infrastructure improvement design and implementation, State or Federal grant funding and low-interest financing is often the key to changing a deferred community dream into and an implemented project. To stand-out in a competitive field of funding applications, now is the time to time to “Turn a handout into a handshake” to put your community in the strongest position to receive funds from perennially over-subscribed State and Federal pools. This presentation, delivered by development professionals with proven track records of funding success, provides actionable strategies for working together with funding agencies to help them achieve their mission by investing in yours.
Wednesday, April 26: “Short-Term Rentals – Balancing Local Impacts and Economic Benefits” Presented by
Nicole Allen, AICP, Director of Planning and Community Development, and Kevin Schwenzfeier, Senior Planner The Laberge Group (CM # 9266738)
Short-term housing rentals (STR) continue to gain in popularity as a convenient option for vacationers, business travelers and people seeking a weekend gateway. Unfortunately, perceived and actual impacts on neighborhoods, community character and the availability of affordable housing continues to grow as well. While STR may have reinvigorated local tourism markets throughout the state, more and more communities are facing an important choice – should we take a hands-off approach for the benefit of our economy, or should we more strictly regulate STR to preserve local community character and keep local residents from being priced out? This session will offer a snapshot of local and regional STR markets, positive and negative impacts to local communities, and how various municipalities haven chosen to address the issue. The session will conclude with a set of workable suggestions to strike a balance between an out-right ban and reasonable regulations to preserve local housing markets, limit neighborhood impacts, boost tourism economies, and provide opportunities for homeowners to supplement their income.
Wednesday, May 3: “Circular Economy” (Part 1, Worth) (Part 2, Cohen) presented by the Gretchen Worth, Christopherson Center and Diane Cohen, Finger Lakes ReUse (CM # 9266740)
Construction and demolition debris (CDD) is the largest waste stream in the US; at more than 600 million tons, it is twice the amount of the everyday garbage (MSW) we throw away. The environmental, economic and social/cultural benefits of deconstruction and building material reuse — rather than demolition and the creation of vast amounts of landfill waste — are enormous. CR0WD (Circularity, Reuse, Zero Waste Development), a collaborative network in New York State, formed two years ago to create a circular building economy. Two of CR0WD’s founding partners will share state and local efforts to promote sustainable treatment of our buildings and infrastructure, and how the power of reuse generally can create meaningful jobs while keeping materials out of our landfills.
Wednesday, May 10: “State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA): Overview” Presented by Aaron Werner, AICP and Jason S. Mencher, MUP, Esq. AKRF (CM # 9266728)
This session will provide an overview of the intent and application of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) covering both substance and procedure. We will discuss: classifying the action; lead agency determination; negative and positive declarations; EAFs and EISs; significant adverse environmental impacts, and mitigation; public hearings; and preparation of environmental findings. The session will also review recent SEQRA updates and best practices for municipal boards.
Archived Presentations
“Solar From an Industry Perspective” Presented by David Byrne, Founder/President of Renua Energy and Loren Pruskowski, Founder & CEO of Ecolegacy Values LLC
How do solar projects come together? What makes a site attractive for solar? What are some common hurdles and development considerations exist from solar developers perspective? What initiatives could a community develop that make solar development more attractive or what initiatives could a community develop to ensure development meets community expectations from the earliest stages of project development? Join our presenters as they tackle these questions and more! At this session attendees to gain some perspective from the industry on solar farm development.
FAQs
Do I get a Certificate for attending?
After each webinar in the series, each attendee will receive an email rom Zoom confirming attendance if they attended via PC or tablet. No automatic emails confirming attendance can be sent to phone only attendees. The confirmation email can be submitted to your board chair and or clerk to apply for credit. To automatically receive the email that can be used for PB or BZA credit for this webinar you MUST register and attend with an email address.
Town, village and city zoning board of appeals and planning board members, as well as county planning board members are required by state statute to obtain four hours of training a year. This webinar series will also provide an opportunity for local government professionals from across the board to sharpen their skills, obtain credits, learn about trends and regulations, meet the experts and find out about funding opportunities.
Remember, the Zoom link will give you access to as many of the webinars as you like.
Q. Are AICP credits available?
A: Yes. All of the sessions will be submitted for AICP CMs.
Q: Will recordings of all sessions be available post event?
A: Yes. Attendees will have access to all session recordings for up to one year post event on our CDRPC Youtube Channel
Click Here our Spring, 2021 Webinar Series Archives!
Planning board and zoning board of appeals members are required by state statute to obtain four hours of training a year. Town, village and city zoning board of appeals and planning board members, as well as county planning board members must receive training. This webinar series will also provide an opportunity for local government professionals from across the board to sharpen their skills, obtain credits, learn about trends and regulations, meet the experts and find out about funding opportunities.
AICP members can earn Certification Maintenance (CM) credits for these activities. When CM credits are available, they are noted at the end of an activity description. More information about AICP’s CM program can be found at www.planning.org/com. AICP members must be in attendance for the duration of the event in order to receive CM Credit.
r