Volunteers needed to draft a new Comprehensive Plan

The Town of Shelter Island seeks volunteers to draft a new Comprehensive Plan. The committee will meet about once per month for about 18 months, or until a new proposal is ready to present to the Town Board.

Town Councilmen Mike Bebon and Albert Dixon are leading the effort; the Town Board appointed Edward Hindin as the project manager.

To read the Town’s 1994 Comprehensive Plan, follow this link to the Town website. In 2008, a committee reviewed the plan and made recommendations to the Town Board that were not officially adopted.

Find additional details about those recommendations in this report.

The new Community Advisory Committee will be asked to review the 1994 plan, and recommend improvements on:

1. The purpose, scope, elements (or sections), format and schedule for the development of the plan
2. The “principles” to guide the development of the plan
3. Summaries of the actions proposed, results, outstanding challenges, and lessons learned from the 1994 plan, and the proposed but not adopted 2008 Plan
4. The set of guiding principles, issues, challenges and opportunities to be addressed in the proposed plan including those identified by Town boards and committees
5. The description/characterization of the current state of Shelter Island
6. The vision for the future of Shelter Island (Shelter Island 2030, including one or more alternatives to be considered
7. The vision to be adopted as the focus of the plan
8. The objectives, actions, and timetables required to achieve the selected vision
9. The plan for public engagement and education about the updated Comprehensive Plan

The Town Board will select and appoint members of the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee who will be expected to start in September. To qualify, volunteers must be:

1. Willing to invest time needed to support this important initiative
2. Willing and able to help define Shelter Island in its “current” state
3. Willing and able to think about the “big picture” that melds the interests of the various Shelter Island “interest groups” i.e. year around residents, seasonal residents, tourists, home owners, renters, businesses owners, seniors, youth, employers, future residents, community based institutions e.g. Historical Society, Sylvester Manor, Nature Conservancy (Mashomack)
4. Willing and able to listen to and challenge different points of view respectfully

Find the application on the Town website at shelterislandtown.us/comprehensive-plan-update.

Interested Shelter Islanders may also contact the committee assistant, Coco Lee Thuman, at CPU@shelterislandtown.us or PO Box 970, Shelter Island, NY 11964, or 631-749-0758. Please return the completed application by August 15, 2020. Appointments will be effective on September 15, 2020.