Collins Vetoes Planning Board Legislation

May 14, 2009

Joined by developers and town supervisors in calling legislation duplicative & wasteful; rejects creation of needless political patronage

Flanked by local developers, business owners, chamber of commerce heads and elected leaders, Erie County Executive Chris Collins announced his veto of legislation creating an Erie County Planning Board. Saying a county planning board is bad for business, taxpayers and economic growth in Erie County, Collins will deliver his veto message to the Erie County Legislature later today.

"This bill does nothing more than create an unnecessary, excessive layer of government and plum patronage positions," said Erie county Executive Chris Collins. "We should be doing everything we can to encourage development and the generation of tax dollars in Erie County. Instead, this bill creates a powerless, yet obstructive hurdle to developers looking to invest in our community."

An Erie County Planning Board will not replace town planning boards, as New York State law mandates that local municipalities have the final and binding say on development projects. This legislation simply creates a board with limited power to only issue recommendations. Despite its advisory status, developers will now have to go before both a town and county planning board - wasting time and resources.

In addition to burdening development, a County Planning Board will cost a minimum of $500,000 a year - precious county tax dollars. This kind of expenditure is not prudent for an advisory board that will duplicate the work already being carried out by the certified and professional planners employed by Erie County.

"Unfortunately, this legislation continues to treat more government bureaucracy as the solution to the problems that continue to drive employers and jobs out of this region," continued Collins. "If there is one thing that the last 50 years have shown us, it is that more government is the cause of the problem, not the solution. This legislation is simply another step in the direction which has failed us for the past half-century."

"The Amherst Chamber of Commerce, representing over 2100 members in the Buffalo Niagara region, is opposed to the creation of an Erie County Planning Board," said Colleen DiPirro, President & CEO. "There is no need for another layer of government, at taxpayer's expense. We should be encouraging investment in our region by the private sector; not discouraging it by adding costs and delaying projects by increasing the bureaucracy. We do favor a dialogue, under the direction of Holly Sinnott, Commissioner of the Department of Environment and Planning, consisting of regional economic development officials and municipal planners for the purpose of developing collaborative visions for the future growth of our region."

"An Erie County Planning Board will simply be another layer of governmental review with no authority to implement its recommendations," said Frank Chinnici, President of Legacy Development. "It will cause delay, increase costs and add to the confusion already present in the protracted approval process that in most cases takes years to complete in most of Erie County's communities. Unless and until New York State revamps the development approval process to give authority to region-wide bodies, no amount of recommendations from smart people on powerless boards will influence the outcomes. A new Erie County Planning Board will not serve its stated purpose of implementing the policies of the Erie Niagara Framework for Regional Growth. It will only add cost, delay and confusion to an already difficult process. It should not be allowed to come into existence."

"The Legislature's proposed County Planning Board would create a costly new bureaucracy, beholden to political interests, which duplicates the efforts of the County's professional planning staff, said Holly Sinnott, a certified planner and Commissioner of the Department of Environment & Planning. "Erie County currently conducts over 700 reviews annually, with an objective to prevent sprawl in an ongoing and existing process to guide planning at a county level. A County Planning Board will also introduce confusion and delay into the planning and development process, and will do little to promote better planning decisions at a regional level."

In its efforts to promote and practice good regional planning, Erie County is currently:

Supporting the Framework for Regional Growth Working cooperatively with regional planning partners including Niagara County, the Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council, and the University at Buffalo's Regional Institute

•Supporting the regional economic development strategy of the Erie County Industrial

•Development Agency, including the adaptive reuse policy

•Developing an updated Erie County Farmland Protection Plan

•Focusing on Brownfield redevelopment (Bethlehem Steel and Spaulding Fiber sites)