Contrary to the American Planning Association’s Policy Guide on Smart Growth’s guideline of “refocusing a larger share of regional growth within central cities, urbanized areas” – Tompkins County planners are destroying the rural town of Lansing, NY by bulldozing it’s woods and meadows; and building thousands of new houses for Cornell’s workers along with affordable housing units for Ithaca’s unwanted poor, criminal, and substance addicted. The City of Ithaca is frequently listed as the best college town in America and is characterized by wood-frame houses and small shops. This artificially maintained “small town feel” city is also one of the most expensive cities in the country to live in – and is surrounded on three sides by the Town of Ithaca’s parks, preserves and many tree lined winding roads with small houses that only the rich can afford.
Lansing’s rural/agricultural community has been fragmented and destroyed by an Ithaca urban sprawl bedroom community “mini-city” — with sewers, water, utilities, and Form Based Codes being added to insure its continued growth.
Tompkins County’s “Best Planning Practices” are based on career longevity and cronyism — and Cornell calls all the shots.