Planning Land Use with Students (PLUS)

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Case Studies of Development Along The Hudson River Waterfront & Adjacent Communities

Student Programs Focused on Local Land Use Decisions Along the Hudson River

Why PLUS? There is tremendous value to the students and the community in introducing them to land use decisions. View the linked pdf presentation on the educational value of this project.

Students often wonder how local planning issues can be of concern to them. They don't own property, they don't pay property taxes, most don't yet vote...isn't this someone else's issue? The truth is this issue is very much connected to young people. The P.L.U.S. program is designed to show students why, and how to take advantage of that connection to offer their input.

• Have you ever wondered who decides what will be built in your town or village?
• Have you ever enjoyed the Hudson River waterfront and wondered if that land could be privately owned keeping you or your friends from access to the river?  
• Do you think of your community as making decisions that plan for the future? Are they thinking green? sustainability?

These are some issues in land use decisions.  Through this program you will experience what it is like to be part of a team that makes land use decisions.  You will focus on the actual planning for reuse of one of many properties located within your community. You will work with students from your school as well as other schools in your community to examine important land planning questions:

• What concerns are most important to you? 
• What different concerns seem important to others?
• What are the impacts, both positive and negative, of both sets of concerns?

These are all important questions to consider in planning.  Every person comes in with their own way of looking at things but through listening to other people and working together good planning can occur.  Let’s get started!

The PLUS event is a collaborative project offered in both Rockland and Westchester Counties.
	Keep Rockland Beautiful		Greenburgh Nature Center		Rockland County AmeriCorps
Westchester County Planning & Parks		Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory		Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Rockland County

PLUS is made possible by the generous contributions of the following sponsors:

The Alexander Host Foundation

Frank and Joanne Gumper