Serving the Towns of Wawarsing, Crawford, Mamakating, Rochester and Shawangunk, and everything in between
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Planning As A Natural Process
Our Towns At A Crossroads, Part 2

PINE BUSH – Joe Czajka, vice president of Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, has been commissioned by the Town of Crawford to do a study of the town to help its leadership chart the best way forward in what is likely to be a transitional period with quite a few stresses. Pattern for Progress is a regional think tank based in Newburgh that has been in operation since 1965.

Among the stresses coming down the pike, for the Orange County community and others around the region, will be things that can be estimated and prepared for, such as an ongoing decline in the enrollments for the Pine Bush School District, as well as things that can't be planned for or even fully anticipated, like the potential effects of a new Hasidic village rising in neighboring Bloomingburg, or the possible revamp of the Nevele into a major casino resort in nearby Wawarsing.

While the hamlet of Pine Bush has seen storefronts empty out in the last few years, there have also been some recent and encouraging new business arrivals. For example, Over the Moon, a nursery school, has set up on Main Street and appears to be meeting with success in signing up young students. Just up the street, the Crawford Fine Arts Gallery will be opening in the next month, and going the other way, across from the Country Deli, the former Sweet Retreat will reopen as the Palate Cafe, serving breakfast and lunch.

Back in April, Crawford town supervisor Charles Carnes introduced Czajka to the town board and explained that the Pattern for Progress study would serve as a first step towards a full reworking of the town's Master Plan. The board voted to spend $25,000 on the study's first year, which might also be seen as a down payment on the larger planning process which would cost substantially more since it would require engineering and town planner services.

At the time, Carnes remarked that "Downtown is becoming scary. Last year our rateables went down. This year they're up 0.3 percent."

Czajka explained that what he's doing is "community visioning." "We're taking the balance of the calendar year for a local, grassroots effort to bring together local leaders and business folks to discuss which way the town should go," he added, noting how he'd lived in Crawford for ten years and knows the community well. "Do we want big box stores here, or mom and pop businesses. What types of business are we lacking at present and what do local people want to see come in?"

Continuing, the planning expert noted how communities decide their futures based on analysis... and dreaming.

"There will be a demographic analysis of both past and present trends. There are some important questions there. Will the aging population and the millennials be a positive or negative influence? How will school enrollments affect the town?" he asked. "Then we will come up with some goals and strategies for things to do around Main Street and in economic development generally."

The process will involve developing a committee of around ten people. Then surveys will be sent to businesses and residents, and also to students to get feedback from the youth. It's been done in other towns and villages throughout the Hudson Valley... and nation.

"It's all about getting information from the local residents about what they want and how they see their community," Czajka said. "It's not about prescribing to them what they need. That's an important point. It's more about listening to them than telling them this or that."

Seeing the recent new businesses and potential arrivals, like a Dollar General store that has permits and approvals for the site opposite the Valley Supreme's western end on Route 52, Czajka noted that, "There's some positive momentum on economic development and you need to grab that momentum and utilize the energy toward the small shops and services."

Does a small place like Pine Bush have to choose a single identity?

Czajka thinks that's unnecessary.

"Deciding on a single track up front is typically not done. It has to be a natural process; you can't force it," he replied. "If there's a tendency to arts and crafts, that's great, but if all of a sudden it takes a turn to something else, like becoming a gateway to the Shawangunk Ridge, then that can be embraced as well. The town can provide certain incentives to get business to open here, and some of that is as simple as rolling out the red carpet."



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