Cayuga County adopted its countywide strategic plan in 1969 and it hasn’t been updated since. The Cayuga County Planning and Economic Development Department hopes to change that.

Kari Terwilliger is the department’s director. She told Finger Lakes News Radio that her department has applied for $103,500 in grant money to update the county’s strategic plan.

“(We want to) bring together all of our county agencies, county offices, all 33 municipalities, all of our regional partners and really put it on paper and say, ‘What do we want to do in the future? What do the next 30 years in Cayuga County actually look like?'”

Similar to comprehensive plans already in place for communities within the county, the strategic plan would examine how the county can work with local and intercommunal groups to identify and implement countywide goals on a range of issues, including economic development, housing, social services, natural resource protection, water quality and agriculture.

Instead of hiring outside contractors, the planning department will create the plan itself. The funding will allow the department to offset the costs of a planned massive public outreach campaign to ensure the entire county is represented, Terwilliger said.

In addition, the ministry wants to add 33 annexes to the plan, focusing on the individual municipalities in the county, so that each city, village or town can see what the plan specifically means for them.

“We test absolutely everything you can imagine and bring it all together in one aircraft.”

The department has also applied for grants to fund a Brownfield Opportunity Area assessment and a housing study that will provide additional information for the plan.

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