Town of Gardiner Zoning Advisory Committee 2006
Gardiner, NY

As Chairman of the Town of Gardiner 2006 Zoning Advisory Committee, Matthew Bialecki, AIA, led a team of six committee members with the consulting services of Planning Consultant Joel Russell, Esq., to revise Gardiner’s Zoning Law to protect the town from sprawl development and preserve the rural character and environmental quality of the town.

The new law was designed to balance the community’s environmental protection goals as expressed in the Town’s Comprehensive Master Plan, and protect the property interests of landowners, while providing an approval process that is predictable, efficient, and fair.

The draft zoning law presented to the Town of Gardiner by the committee in February 2007 included many innovative planning strategies for the preservation of open space, the protection of natural resources and the continued growth of the historic Hamlet and the Gardiner economy overall. For the first time it encompasses recommendations for the protection of scenic roads, streets and corridors, open space and aquifers. In addition, conventional low-density suburban sprawl development is significantly limited by reducing density and uses in the rural/natural areas of the town and focusing development in the existing village centers