By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – In the waning months of his rein as Erie County chief, Joel Giambra is once again waving the regionalism banner high. On Wednesday, Giambra sent the legislature a proposal for a local law to enact a county planning board.
Erie is the only county in the state without such a development planning body. Giambra said the result is costly sprawl as population declines and those who remain move further apart.
And the impact isn't just to Buffalo.
Suburbs such as Cheektowaga are also losing vitality. The town reports it has more than 500 abandoned housing units. Giambra said a planning board would not stop growth - but would control it.
He said, as people spread out, the cost to bring them services is skyrocketing. If uncontrolled, Giambra said the estimated cost to maintain the hundreds of miles of sewers and roads in twenty years is expected to hit $900 million.
Andrew Eszak is Commissioner of Environment and Planning. He said a professional planning board would not supercede town planning boards that currently determine development. But he said the county board would have one powerful hammer. It could halt expansion of county sewer districts.
And he said the county would refuse outside district customers, forcing home builders to put in less sanitary septic systems or erect their own sewage treatment plants.
The tough love law enacting a planning board would need approval from the legislature and the public. Giambra wants it to go to referendum in November. He admits it will be a hard sell with some, inclluding many developers who do not believe sprawl is an issue.
Giambra said he wants sprawl to become a top campaign issue in the upcoming elections. And he's hoping the proposed planning board will spark that discussion.
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