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Visioning the Upper Delaware River Corridor   
A tide in the affairs of men

It has become increasingly clear that change is coming rapidly to the counties surrounding the Upper Delaware River Valley. There are a couple of different ways we can view this prospect. We can stand about like deer in the headlights as we watch the locomotive of change bear down on us relentlessly. Or, working together, we can take this area’s development into our hands and shape it to our liking. If we choose to do the latter, we must act quickly—for the change is coming, either way, and the only question is whether we shall be the master of it, or it of us.

So, given the fact that rapid change is becoming a reality, what can a community do about it?

In fact, largely because of a principle known as “home rule,” there is a great deal we can do. Home rule means that the power to create rules and laws that govern zoning and land use is not in the hands of the state or the county but is solely in the hands of town governments.

The road map that lays out what kinds of laws and ordinances are permitted in any given locality is known as a “comprehensive plan.” This is a set of documents describing the standards a municipality sets to make sure that land is used to serve its residents in a way that they all agree is to their benefit.

These comprehensive plans are more than just pretty stories that we tell ourselves. They have legal force, and in case of disputes over land use, the standard the courts use to determine legality is the consistency of any proposal with a town’s comprehensive plan. That is why such plans can be a powerful weapon allowing people to control their own destinies in the face of change.

Most towns in this area already have comprehensive plans, but some are years old and could be totally outdated in face of today’s new challenges. In fact, the type of “sprawl” development that we are seeing now, and which many find an inefficient use of land that could damage the unique character of our area, is largely a result of the existing comprehensive plans.

The counties, in contrast, have recently been in the forefront of developing new comprehensive plans. In Sullivan County, Commissioner of Planning William Pammer’s “Sullivan 2020” process should produce a completed plan in about one year. Pike County’s Comprehensive Plan will be finished by May or June, according to Mike Mrozinski, Pike County director of planning. Wayne County has announced that it intends to start its plan very soon.

But because of the “home rule” principle mentioned above, the county plans by themselves will not be enough to be effective in handling change. For this reason, at a recent forum organized by the Visioning Committee of the Upper Delaware River Corridor, the planners from Sullivan, Orange and Pike Counties urged town governments to revisit their own comprehensive plans and offered to provide technical assistance to help them do so. They urged residents to become familiar with their town’s plan and a part of the rewriting process.

As a first step in this direction, Pammer and Mrozinski will meet with local officials on Friday, February 25 at 9:00 a.m. in the Upper Delaware Council building in Narrowsburg. The session will focus on what the counties can do to help towns and townships develop their own plans. Town and township supervisors, town board members, zoning board members, zoning board of appeals members and code enforcement officers are all invited.

As Julius Caesar remarked in Shakespeare’s play by the same name: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and miseries.” We here today face such a tide, and we need not be swept away by it if we seize the tools at hand to steer our way into the future.

This editorial is reprinted from The River Reporter, an award-winning news source for the Upper Delaware.
October 29, 2009
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JEFFREY MOORE: Destroying it won't 'save'it
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BARBARA LEWIS: Trees: a legacy and a future
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SARAH CUTLER: Share the road
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SUSAN SCOTT: The democratization of information
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MICHAEL CHOJNICKI: A turning point
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JOHN CONWAY: Dual-mode transportation
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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
February 21, 2008
MIKE URETSKY: Mired in gas
January 24, 2008
Some visionaries look at 2008
October 4, 2007
Greg Swarz: Coming Home
September 6, 2007
Jim Serio: Educating the Delaware River Basin
August 9, 2007
Stephanie Streeter: Still endangered?
July 26, 2007
Molly Rodgers: Be informed, be connected
July 12, 2007
Brad Krumholz: The landscape mind
June 28, 2007
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?