KEUKA LAKE—After completing their workshops, the Land Use Leadership Alliance (LULA) is ready to share their planning guide draft for the Keuka Lake watershed.

A series of presentations is being set up with the help of the Keuka Watershed Improvement Cooperative (KWIC) to show what the draft includes. The draft covers many common concerns municipalities shared at the workshops. Dawn Dowdle, supervisor of Wayne, said one of the subjects in the document is steep slopes, something many towns and villages have to deal with. These options are not laws, just suggestions representatives from area municipalities came up during the LULA workshops.

Various board members, such as the planning and zoning boards, are invited to their town’s presentations, as well as the public. Dowdle explained that the draft that they will be shown is a guide on how to deal with problems like steep slopes. Other issues covered include, agricultural protection and enhancement, combining regional resources, Keuka Lake water quality, environmentally supportive development, and focusing new growth in village/hamlet areas.

Jerusalem’s presentation is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 29 at 2 p.m. A presentation is also scheduled in Wayne for Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. Other presentations will be scheduled by each town or village. In addition to Dowdle, the other presenters include Peter Landre, director of the Yates County Cornell Cooperative Extension, and Daryl Jones, supervisor of Jerusalem. During the presentations, they will be looking at getting input on the land use plan.

The draft guide lists current information on the 13 municipalities in the Keuka Lake watershed, which includes Hammondsport, Penn Yan, Barrington and Wayne. In this area, tourism and hospitality has become the largest employment sector in Yates County, due to the winery industry. The draft report also states that Yates County is also the second largest producer of grapes in New York state. Economic conditions of municipalities in Steuben County along Keuka Lake are similar to those along the lake In Yates County.

The guide suggests solutions to the issues covered. In regards to steep slopes, the draft recommends laws and guides for steep slopes in necessary laws. For instance, site plan review laws could require the review boards to consider the impact of proposed development projects on steep slopes.

The workshops and the draft of the guide were made possible with a grant from the New York State Quality Communities Program. It was also supported by the Keuka Lake Association, KWIC, CCE, and the Rural Development Institute. The draft is available online at http://www.gflrpc.org/Publications/Keuka/LUActionPlan.htm.