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Visioning the Upper Delaware River Corridor   
The foundations of a viable plan

By JAY EPSTEIN

We are blessed in this area to have some enormous natural resources: the river, the mountains, the lakes, the forested lands and the people who live here. Each has a specific function in making it all happen.

Ask yourself why people want to come and live here, and the answer is the beauty of the area and the inner peace that comes with being here. In order to avoid turning the area into a strip mall, with development uncontrolled, and the wasting of the prime asset that brought people here yesterday and today, we need something that will keep the dream alive for those to come in future generations.

That does not mean zero growth. We simply cannot block development entirely just because it offends the status quo. To have a strong and vibrant community, you must have growth. Change is good, as running water is necessary for a stream, to keep from becoming stagnant. The same is true for development and positive thinking.

But if we are not to waste our prime asset, we must take care to plan for and guide that growth.

One way to develop such guidance is to get professional help from qualified planners who really understand this area, to assist us in coming up with a game plan for development. But very careful groundwork must be laid before hiring any organization that will have long-reaching effects today and later. Otherwise, we may find ourselves having master plans imposed on us by people who don’t even live here, and may not have had much success in their efforts elsewhere.

To that end, the planners seeking employment by the county and townships should have a proven track record. Providing a list of what they did before and where they did it is not sufficient. The prospective employer should actually go to the areas for which the planners have worked before, to judge whether they like what was done, what they would change if they could, and how the planned development actually looks on the ground, up front and personal. There are too many experts who have certifications, and whose ideas look good on paper, but when actually executed are something that no one—except the planner—is satisfied with.

Whatever expert help is chosen, there are certain essentials that ought to be included in any plan. The planning should not only allow for, but give incentives to builders to construct affordable housing for young people who want to stay here as well as senior citizens—or, indeed, any of the lower-income groups that are being pressured out of the housing market by the influx of wealthier buyers from metropolitan areas.

But guidelines should also be established so that any development is not wasteful of land and the natural resources with which our open land is now endowed. Natural habitat is difficult, if not impossible, to create, and it takes a long time to grow trees. The deer, bears, eagles and other wildlife depend on such land to survive, eat and grow, and that is their supermarket. Without them, the area becomes sterile.

The guidelines should also consider the importance of commerce, preserving our farms and agricultural base but also encouraging industries like think tanks and home-office industries that could thrive here without damaging the environment. For just one example: how about hooking up the Narrowsburg school building with a college or univesity?

But most important with regard to all these planning issues is that public input is required. Even if we can find good planners to advise us, even if we can find planners who actually live and work here themselves, we cannot and should not sit back and let some one person or organization determine the shape of a master plan that will determine the future for all of us. It’s our land; it should be our plan.

(Jay Epstein is a lawyer specializing in real estate, who lives and has a practice in Jeffersonville, NY.)

October 29, 2009
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September 3, 2009
JEFFREY MOORE: Destroying it won't 'save'it
August 6, 2009
BARBARA LEWIS: Trees: a legacy and a future
July 9, 2009
SARAH CUTLER: Share the road
June 11, 2009
SUSAN SCOTT: The democratization of information
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MICHAEL CHOJNICKI: A turning point
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JOHN CONWAY: Dual-mode transportation
March 19,2009
KEITH LEPAN: NY H2O
February 19, 2009
JEFFREY SEEDS: One-sidedness
January 17, 2009
TOM HOLMES: Taking back the power
December 25, 2008
TINA PALACEK: When a community is really a family


November 27, 2008
STEPHANIE TURNER: Gas drilling from a realtor's perspective
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SUSAN SULLIVAN: From visiong to reality: the role of local government
October 2, 2008
MARY BETH WOOD: Investing in career and technical education
September 4, 2008
JOE LEVINE: When compromise is a recipe for disaster
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VIDAL MARTINEZ: The Upper Delaware experience
July 10, 2008
WES GILLINGHAM: Sticking together
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LINDA COBB: The Harmony Project
May 15, 2008
Barbara Arrindell: Looking back
April 17, 2008
JO CLEARWATER: Welcome to the new world
March 20, 2008
JONATHAN F. ROUIS: Out of many, one
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MIKE URETSKY: Mired in gas
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Some visionaries look at 2008
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Greg Swarz: Coming Home
September 6, 2007
Jim Serio: Educating the Delaware River Basin
August 9, 2007
Stephanie Streeter: Still endangered?
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Molly Rodgers: Be informed, be connected
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Brad Krumholz: The landscape mind
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John Bunting: Milk price and power
June 14, 2007
Brian Smith: It's time to work and worry
May 31, 2007
Carol Roig: Celebrating history close to home
May 17, 2007
Debbie Smorto: Be a part of the solution
April 19, 2007
Robert Dadras: Creating a new direction for Sullivan County
April 5, 2007
Dave Williams: Save your local dairy farm
March 22, 2007
R.A. Dubensky: Losing our future
March 8, 2007
Dave Williams: Save your local dairy farm
February 22, 2007
Troy Bystrom: Conserve to preserve
February 8, 2007
Alegra Jennings: Do you see what I see?
January 18, 2007
Amy Gruzesk: A new alliance for business in Pike
January 11, 2007
Grace Wildermuth: Our rural environment must be preserved


December 28, 2006
John Jose: Meeting the challenges of stormwater management
December 14, 2006
Daniel Kennedy: Making memories in Pike County
November 30, 2006
Stephen Stuart: Sustainable Solutions
November 16, 2006
Linda Cobb: The Harmony Project
November 2, 2006
Judy Harlan: What municipalities can do about flooding
October 19, 2006
Samuel Jackson: Walking the talk
October 5, 2006
Jay Epstein: The foundations of a viable plan
September 14, 2006
Tom Kane: The clean water act
September 7, 2006
Skip Mendler: A community of communities
August 24, 2006
FREDERICA LEIGHTON: Flood reality: vision or the lack of it
August 10, 2006
DICK RISELING: A vision of actions
July 27, 2006
PAT CARULLO AND MARCIA NEHEMIAH: Red plus blue equals green
July 13, 2006
Neal Halloran: Greenway: a program whose time has come
June 29, 2006
Steven Sharoff: Strong visions can change the world
June 15, 2006
Heinrich Strauch: Cooking up a vision
June 1, 2006
Jennifer C.S. Brylinski: The IDA keeps to its vision
May 18, 2006
Norma and Bob Santee: Maintaining our environment
May 4, 2006
Don Parry: The “vision thing”
April 20, 2006
Joe Walsh: Keeping farms a mainstay of Sullivan County
April 6, 2006
Heather Brown: Why I came here, and what keeps me here
March 23, 2006
Pat Carullo: We are with the program
March 09, 2006
Helen Budrock: The power of proactive thinking
February 23, 2006
Carol Collier: A basin-wide collaboration
February 9, 2006
Barbara Leo: A birding trail for the Upper Delaware
January 26, 2006
Virginia Kennedy: Our vision—economic and environmental sustainability
January 12, 2006
Tom Zeterburg: At the crossroads of two rivers
December 29, 2005
Sally Corrigan: Hallmarks of a successful community
December 15, 2005
“Better Models for Development” scores a hit - a compilation by Tom Kane and the Visioning Committee
December 1, 2005
Brian Stuart: Protecting an amazing backyard resource
November 17, 2005
John LiGreci: The need for a master plan
November 3, 2005
Tom Kane: The need for intelligent land use practices
October 20, 2005
Michael Chojnicki: The need for intelligent land use practices
October 6, 2005
Alan Schadt: The Town of Highland through a crystal ball
September 22, 2005
Ernie Mattern: Comprehensive Planning in Damascus
September 8, 2005
Jerry DaBrescia: Visioning in Hancock
August 25, 2005
Neal Halloran: Ways to secure open space
August 11, 2005
Clem Fullerton: Flow woes
August 11, 2005
Tom Kane: Options for preserving open space
July 28, 2005
Charlie Buterbaugh: Fishing Days Gone
July 28, 2005
George Fluhr: What's special about this place
June 30, 2005
Tom Kane: There are many visions in the river valley
June 30, 2005
Mary Curtis: My vision for the Upper Delaware River
June 16, 2005
Sarah Sutto-Plunz: It depends on us
June 16, 2005
Green buildings: a healthy revolution in the construction industry
June 2, 2005
Pat Carullo: If horses can fly, rivers can speak!
May 19, 2005
Laurie Stuart: A view from the ridge
April 21, 2005
Rosie Starr: Preserving the Beauty of the Delaware River Valley
April 7, 2005
Robert Burrow: Developing a plan takes study
March 24, 2005
Tom Kane: Comprehensive Plan: The Key to the Future
March 10, 2005
Katharine Dodge: We have a choice: aggressiveness or fairness
February 24, 2005
Editorial: A tide in the affairs of men
February 24, 2005
Jim Greier: Let’s not put our eggs in one basket
February 10, 2005
Elliot Zucker: A voice for private property rights
January 27, 2005
Steve Daley : Visions of business growth and home ownership
January 13, 2005
Laura Quigley : Living and working in the land of plenty
December 30, 2004
Dr. Martin Handler : My list of visions
December 16, 2004
Dr. Bruce Getzan : Bringing harmony to contrasting visions
December 2, 2004
Sally Talaga : Visioning’s first step
November 18, 2004
Michele Ulmer : Be involved before it’s too late
November 4, 2004
Marcia Nehemiah: It's all about the river
October 21, 2004
John Drobysh: Balancing preservation with property rights
October 7, 2004
Jeffrey Moore: Raising the standards in the river valley
September 23, 2004
Dimitri Zaimes: The right and wrong of the Upper Delaware September 9, 2004
Frederica Leighton: Combining hindsight, foresight, present awareness and action
August 26, 2004
Krista Gromalski: Turning the Conversation Up
August 12, 2004
Jo Clearwater: Visioning
July 29, 2004
Noel Van Swol: What about Property Rights?
July 15, 2004
Cindy Wildermuth: A call for stewardship
July 1, 2004
Tom Kane: Taking stock of the visioning process
June 17, 2004
Dick Riseling: Sustainability and justice is at the heart of vision
June 3, 2004
Peter Pinchot: Exurban sprawl or livable communities?