Mastic Beach Village Comprehensive Plan Has Begun

Mastic Beach, NY, March 12, 2016 --(PR.com)-- On May 13, 2014, the Village of Mastic Beach began the first steps in creating a Comprehensive Plan. The Village solicited Requests for Proposals (RFP) and the Board at the time, comprised of Biondi, Stiriz, Busa, Spery and Summa, unanimously approved the hiring of Wendel Company to oversee the plan on August 12, 2014. The Proposal included having Vision Long Island serve as Community Outreach to the project.

In December of 2015, the Village of Mastic Beach won nearly $43,000 in grants to help pay for the cost of a Comprehensive Plan. With the acceptance of these grant dollars, the Mayor sent out invitations to all the Village’s civic, religious, business and emergency leaders throughout the community. These stakeholders in the future of the Village met at the first Steering Committee Meeting on March 5, 2016. In attendance were Dean Gowanl and Ellen Parker of Wendel Company working with Eric Alexander, Tawaun Weber, and Jon Siebert of Vision Long Island.

Wendel and Vision outlined the tasks of the Steering Committee and explained how they will oversee the development and preparation of the Comprehensive Plan, how Vision Long Island will be compiling community input and how the Steering Committee Members will be the voice of their respective institutions. The Steering Committee representatives will go back and report what is going on at the Steering Committee Meetings to their members.

Wendel and Vision Long Island will create a community profile and inventory by gathering existing data, studies and information from prior planning studies, including Town of Brookhaven, New York Rising and Army Corp of Engineers. Wendel will also collect GIS data on resources such as floodplain maps, mapped wetlands, roads, demographics, land use, zoning, waterfront, environmental resources, and local assets. Wendel will identify questions, issues and opportunities that face the Village. The Planning Team will look at how the community is developing now and look for data and trend methodologies to help guide future development. The assessment extends to regional patterns and how Mastic Beach Village inter-relates to the surrounding communities.

The step-by-step Comprehensive Plan will incorporate a robust public outreach process designed to identify and understand the community’s vision for future development and preservation of Mastic Beach. This process will include public workshops and design “charrettes,” focused sessions. The goal is to reach as many residents, business owners and other stakeholders as possible, to create a consensus for the Village of Mastic Beach’s future for the short- and long-term. The Planning Team will prioritize these projects through public input and in collaboration with the project Steering Committee. Wendel and Vision Long Island will be on hand at each meeting to provide guidance and refer to the standards outlined by hundreds of successful past developed municipal Comprehensive Plans.

By applying general-planning principles, Wendel will summarize the findings and make recommendations designed to help the Village of Mastic Beach achieve its goals and objectives. The Plan will address key issues brought up by the public during the planning process. The Wendel Team will enhance the Comprehensive Plan with concept designs (site specific illustrative plans) for critical areas in Mastic Beach. These conceptual models will help to enable Mastic Beach to realize a “vision” and will facilitate future grant submittal, making it easier for the Village to solicit support and funding in the future.

Wendel will prioritize the actions and determine a reasonable timeline for what can be accomplished in the “immediate,” “short-term” and “long-term” time frames. Accordingly, Wendel will provide an estimated cost of the action, and where possible, potential funding sources. In cooperation with the Steering Committee, Wendel will prepare a Full Environmental Assessment Form (FEAF) and assist the Village with the Coordinated Review process. The adoption of the Comprehensive Plan document is a Type 1 Action under SEQRA, which requires a Coordinated Review between SEQRA referrals to the State and County. They will send out Lead Agency mailings to involved and interested agencies and prepare required postings to the Environmental Notice Bulletin (ENB).

As each task is completed, Wendel will provide draft chapters of the plan document, along with related graphics and mapping, to the Steering Committee for its review and comment. These sections will include Inventory and Analysis, Goals and Objectives, Findings and Recommendations and Implementation Strategy, as well as Environmental Review Section. These previously reviewed sections will be compiled into a preliminary Draft Plan document. Wendel will provide copies of the Preliminary Draft Plan to the Steering Committee for its input and comments. Following the acceptance of the initial draft document, the Committee will refer the Plan to the Village Board with a recommendation for adoption.

The first workshop which is is open to the public, will be held on Saturday, April 23, 2016, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at William Paca Junior High School 338 Blanco Drive just off Mastic Road. The consultant team of Wendel Company and Vision Long Island will be on hand to introduce the project and to listen to comments, concerns, and ideas from the public. If you cannot attend the public workshop, please contact Vision Long Island at mbvsc@visionlongisland.org or call 631-261-0242.

With Wendel and Vision’s help, the Mastic Beach community will move forward and get a leg up for grants, future funding and put us on the first step toward shovel-ready projects for years to come.