Technical Assistance Program

Planning and Zoning Training Series

Land Use Training - a one or one-half day training session in the basics of local land use regulation for planning and zoning boards and others.

Advanced Land Use Training - skills training in specific topics or questions and problems focused on the community’s needs.

Environmental Review and SEQR - a review of the requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act, the role of municipal boards and coordination with local planning and land use regulations.

Comprehensive Plan Primer - a two-hour presentation designed to convey the benefits of a comprehensive plan, what goes into one, and how it can be used to meet a community’s goals.

Comprehensive Plan Workshops - a five-part set of workshops designed for communities that are developing their own comprehensive plans and paced at intervals over the development of the plan. Topics covered include: 1) getting organized, 2) identifying community resources, 3) developing community goals, 4) evaluating future needs and 5) developing an action strategy.

Subdivision Basics - a two-hour presentation on the basics of subdivision review for local officials, including new tools and techniques for creative development.

Planning and Zoning Audits

Existing Plan and Ordinance Evaluation - an advisory review of the existing comprehensvie plan, zoning ordinance or other local regulations and land management tools keyed to updating one or more of these.

Draft Plan and Ordinance Evaluation - an advisory review of a draft comprehensive plan, zoning ordinance or other local regulations and land management tools for communities that are either developing these documents themselves or who would like a consultant’s draft work reviewed.

Smart Growth Short Course Series

Affordable Housing for Your Community - this two-hour course examines the need for a range of housing types in each community and illustrates a variety of affordable housing options. Suggestions are made for revisions to zoning standards to keep the price of housing in your community affordable.

Aquifer/Wellhead Protection for Your Community - this two hour course describes the benefits of aquifer or wellhead protection of public groundwater supplies, threats to water supplies, how wellheads and aquifers are delineated and how they can be protected, with suggestions for zoning standards.

Farmland Protection for Your Community - this two-hour course identifies the many benefits of farmland and farming to communities, describes current threats to farming and explores a variety of effective approaches to protect farmland and support the farm community, with specific suggestions.

Forestry Use in Your Community - this two-hour course identifies multiple forest uses, benefits of and threats to forestry and forest uses, and describes how local officials can protect the environment while allowing a variety of forest uses, including harvesting, that benefit the community.

Growth Management for Your Community - this two-hour course examines the benefits of compact development forms, surveys a variety of tools and techniques that have been successfully used by communities to manage and shape growth, and identifies which approaches could make best sense for your community.

Open Space Protection for Your Community - this two-hour course defines the many types of open space, identifies the fiscal and environmental benefits of protecting these areas, surveys a variety of preservation and protection approaches and suggests possible open space protection options for your community.

Wind Energy Development in Your Community - this two-hour course guides communities through the process of inventorying prime wind sites in the comprehensive plan, identifying potential conflicts, mitigating or resolving those conflicts and developing effective review standards for proposed wind energy facilities.

Other Assistance

Planning Research - research on specific issues and options as background support for local boards or committees seeking to update plans or regulations.

Consulting Services - practical expertise on planning or procedural issues as support to staff, local boards or consultants.

Facilitation - NYPF can design, organize and conduct planning efforts, public participation strategies, visioning sessions, workshops or other activities seeking to find consensus.

Site Visits - walking/talking on-site tours with community leaders of specific areas or neighborhoods to evaluate current conditions and share recommendations for possible improvements.

Requests for Proposals - assistance to help define when and where to use professional consultants and the drafting of Requests for Proposals or Requests for Qualifications.

Rates
Rates are generally negotiable based on the scope of assistance requested, scheduling and the ability to pay. However, our standard rates are: