When Syracuse Common Councilor Bob Dougherty rides a bike around his neighborhood, he notices some buildings that don’t seem to fit in with the other, more historical-looking residences around them.

Particularly on James Street, Dougherty noted that a number of historic mansions have been knocked down to make room for what he called “ugly” brick and steel buildings — although at the time these additions were considered progressive.

Zoning issues like this are just one of many aspects in the city of Syracuse that will be improved in the future thanks to revisions to the citywide comprehensive plan. Mayor Stephanie Miner announced the passage of Comprehensive Plan 2040 in a press release on Monday.

Comprehensive Plan 2040 is an update to Comprehensive Plan 2025, which the Common Council adopted in 2005, according to the Syracuse Planning webpage. The original plan was created to set goals for urban development within the city. The updates make for a less redundant and more specific plan in a variety of areas.

Rebecca Livengood, a member of the Syracuse City Planning Commission, said the new plan will make the city’s policies more decisive and unified.

“It gives a set of standard goals and policy measures that make all the other policies and plans that come out of this hang together,” she said.

The original plan was “very, very broad in statements about the visions that the municipality had,” said Andrew Maxwell, director of the Syracuse-Onondaga County Planning Agency.

The revision was drafted in 2012. After the Planning Commission approved the new plan in January 2013, it was passed to the Syracuse Common Council to await adoption.

The reason for the delay is that there were a few councilors who thought that the proposed plan was leaving too much out, Dougherty said. The administration drafted the plan with the intention of it being a living document with the capacity for additions and revisions.

The plan includes six main components: Land Use & Development, Sustainability, Public Art, Historic Preservation, Transportation — including bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure — and a Parks Recovery Action Plan to be added later.

“This plan will impact pretty much everyone in the city community in a different way,” Maxwell said.

One part of the plan that Maxwell, Livengood and Dougherty all are particularly excited about is the zoning update.

“Our zoning code is a mish-mash of policies that have been put in place sort of piecemeal over the course of decades, really,” Maxwell said.

The new plan gives a “holistic view of zoning ordinance,” he said, which will help the public better understand zoning implications for their neighborhoods and businesses. Maxwell calls the zoning overhaul, which he presumes to be an ongoing project for the next two years, an “exciting opportunity for the entire community, and we’re looking forward to it.”

Maxwell said that a challenge has been making it understood why it is beneficial for the city to have a comprehensive plan. He hopes that the community will understand that the plan’s content will make planning in the city more predictable and cost-efficient and foster gradual change over the course of many years.

“Especially in an era of such fiscal restraint, we’re being intentional in the ways we’re using the public’s dollars,” Maxwell said. “It’s important to look ahead.”

Having an all-inclusive plan for the city is just smart, Dougherty said.

“We’re going to be doing things smarter,” said Dougherty. “If we do things smarter, it’s going to save us money.”

Published on March 20, 2014 at 12:37 am