The Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board (CNY RPDB) released the first DRAFT of the Vision CNY Regional Sustainability Plan on Tuesday February 14th 2013. The DRAFT plan document will be reviewed at the February 20th meeting of the CNY RPDB. The DRAFT document is available on the Plan Documents page of the visioncny.org website.

The Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board held its annual meeting on Wednesday, December 12th from 9:00-1:30 pm at the Doubletree Hotel in East Syracuse. The meeting featured a series of presentations by technical consultants assisting the CNY RPDB with the preparation of the Vision CNY Regional Sustainability Plan along with a traditional holiday luncheon that featured Dr. Bruce Bailey, President and Chief Executive Officer of AWS Truepower, as the keynote speaker and the annual presentation of the CNY RPDB Rhea Eckel Clark Citizenship Award posthumously to Mr. Walter Tennant, most recently Chairman of the CNY RPDB Board of Directors. Participants had the opportunity [...]

The Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board (CNY RPDB) held a series of focus group meetings  for County representatives, as well as Regional Stakeholders to review draft goals, strategies, and project recommendations for the Vision CNY Regional Sustainability Plan during the last week in November 2012. In addition, several meetings of the agency’s 35-member board of directors have been held over the past six months for the purpose of providing input and monitoring progress on this initiative. To ensure that the Vision CNY Plan incorporates the many notable sustainability planning efforts that are currently underway throughout Central New York, the CNY RPDB distributed [...]

Do you have ideas for the future of Central New York? What would make our region more sustainable for the long-term? The Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board (CNY RPDB) is seeking public input in the development of the Vision CNY Regional Sustainability Plan. Vision CNY was initiated by the CNY RPDB with a $1 million grant from the New York State Cleaner Green Communities Program. Cleaner Greener Communities is an environmental initiative announced by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo in 2011. The Vision CNY Regional Sustainability Plan covers the five counties of Central New York including Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego Counties, [...]

The Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board hosted the third meeting for the Vision CNY Regional Sustainability Plan on Wednesday, October 17th at the Genesee Grande Hotel, Tiffany Ballroom. The meeting featured a brief presentation on the status of work being conducted by CNY RPDB staff for Vision CNY.  In addition, CNY RPDB Board members and guests were invited to  participate in a small group dialogue during which the draft goals, strategies, and project recommendations for the sustainability plan were reviewed.    

The CNY RPDB hired the consulting firm Arup on Friday September 14th 2012,  to provide assistance with the land use and stakeholder engagement components of the plan. Arup’s team consists of HR&A, which will provide economic development analysis of sustainability strategies, and Ryan Harris, which will develop a stakeholder engagement campaign utilizing its web-based “Wikiplanning” platform. Arup will identify financially feasible and implementable Scale Projects:  opportunities to combine a number of clean energy and green practices (waste management, storm water recapture) as well as sustainable urban design and smart growth principles at a scale that is larger than a single building or facility (i.e., block, [...]

The CNY RPDB held the second in a series of meetings for the Vision CNY Regional Sustainability Plan on Wednesday August 15th at Morrisville State College. The meeting featured a review of major developments in Madison County by Scott Ingmire, Director of the Madison County Planning Department, a report on the status of the CNY RPDB’s work on the Regional  Sustainability Plan, and a guest presentation by Dr. Phil Hoffmeyer, Assistant Professor of Renewable Energy at Morrisville State College, on the college’s Renewable Energy Training Center (RETC). Following the  meeting, participants had a guided tour of the College’s Controlled Environmental Aquaculture Center.  

The CNY RPDB hosted the second meeting of the Vision CNY Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on August 2nd,  2012  at the offices of O’Brien and Gere, 333 West Washington Street in Downtown Syracuse. The meeting offered TAC members information on preliminary findings from the O’Brien and Gere consultant team. CNY RPDB staff also provided an initial draft of goals and strategies for the plan.

The CNY RPDB hosted the first meeting of the Vision CNY Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on Tuesday July 10th, 2012 at its offices in Downtown Syracuse. The meeting provided on overview of the role of the TAC in the planning process, the anticipated meeting schedule for the committee, and the proposed timeline and scope for the development of the Regional Sustainability Plan.

The CNY RPDB hired O’Brien & Gere Engineers on Monday July 2nd, 2012,  to provide technical assistance for the preparation of the CNY Regional Sustainability Plan. The  O’Brien & Gere (OBG) team will be primarily involved with the energy and solid waste components of the plan. The OBG team consists of the following sub-consultants, each of which will be responsible for completing a specific task indicated: HB Solutions, LLC (energy market analysis), AWS Truepower (solar PV and wind), Barton & Loguidice (waste management), CDH Energy (energy efficiency potential, CHP opportunities and strategies), Earth Sensitive Solutions, LLC (geo-exchange), and Terrapin Bright Green (alternative financing mechanisms, industrial [...]