Schoharie Seeks Comprehensive Plan Feedback

SCHOHARIE — Schoharie is looking for your feedback as it updates its comprehensive plan to chart out its medium and long-term future.

We spoke to Jen Barnett, who is one of the members of the Comprehensive Plan Committee. She wanted to get the word out about the recent survey sent out by the town and how their feedback could be used to improve the community’s future.

She asked that the public become involved in the process, which allows for greater information

As a local business owner, Barnett was approached by Village Trustee Cody Robinson-Bullock to join the committee and assist in the crafting of the Comprehensive Plan.

The committee has been meeting for the last several months and now has 12 members.

She described it as “important” to get involved, especially for people who are concerned about the future of Schoharie.

“A lot of people don’t realize that we live in such a tiny committee that it’s easy to share how you feel and make a ripple effect with a big impact,” she said.

The committee is working with local expert Nan Stolzenburg, who has been involved in a number of local comprehensive plans, including Middleburgh’s revisions almost a decade ago.

Trustee Robinson-Bullock said, “As a life long Schoharie Village resident and currently a Village Trustee, I am grateful for the effort of our village and town to update the comprehensive plan. I have full trust in the Comp plan team to assess, identify, and recruit the community at large to share their voices of the collective vision for the future of Schoharie.”

“My hope is that the comp plan will continue to be a roadmap for policy and economic development that compliments to goals and vision of the community. Without a periodically updated comp plan, a community like ours, runs the risk of having the needs of the entire community being ignored in favor of the plans from a select few, instead of the collective whole,” he continued.

“Everyone involved has a vested interest in the community,” Barnett said.

She said that there had been several updates to village and town plans, including Central Bridge in the last decade.

So far the work has been positive, Barnett said. This included bringing new ideas to the table and a strong group of community volunteers.

Overall, the process will likely be about 18 months in total.

Early in the planning stages, the community is discussing a variety of topics, including tourism, recreation, and infrastructure.

Everyone is invited to take the survey, including residents, those who work in the community, and students at Schoharie Central School.

It will reflect the “overall feelings” of the community. In particular, she said that the hope is to help build opportunities for young people to stay in the area.

“One of the ways to do that is filling out the survey,” she said. It includes questions about different growth opportunities, questions about parks, walkability, bike riding ability, and more.

She said that the questions will be “really interesting” for those who are looking to improve the area.

“Their involvement is so important for the future of Schoharie,” she said. Barnett added that “we only get there by sharing what that idea is. I think that the people who have the opportunity to make those changes need to hear that.”

Fill out the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/schoharieplan