Department Information and Annual Report

Department Information

Genesee County Planning Board

  • Serves as staff to the County Planning Board
  • Prepares General Municipal Law Sections 239-l, 239-m and 239-n reviews, approximately 60 per year

Local Technical Assistance

Assists local municipalities with planning and zoning matters, including:

  • Zoning law and ordinance revisions, including major rewrites and minor amendments related to solar energy and other matters
  • Subdivision regulations and land separation laws
  • Project reviews, including zoning, subdivision, special use and site plan reviews
  • Regional and local on-site training opportunities for local boards
  • Comprehensive planning assistance for local municipalities developing plans

Genesee County Water Supply Project

  • Coordinates the Smart Growth Plan, including the three-year review process
  • Assists local municipalities with Smart Growth and agricultural preservation
  • Assists with administrative activities of the County's Water Resources Agency
  • Coordinates the Administrative Water System Hookup Committee
  • Monitors local municipalities authorized to make water hookup decisions

Agriculture and Farmland Protection

  • Coordinates reviews of the County's Agricultural Districts, including the preparation of required documentation and maps
  • Facilitates Farmland Protection Grant applications with regional land trusts
  • Serves as staff to the County's Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board
  • Provides technical assistance to local municipalities on agricultural and farmland protection matters

Genesee County Comprehensive Planning Process

  • Provides staff support to the Steering Committee and 10 focus groups
  • Coordinates the preparation of monitoring reports and the Steering Committee's annual report to the County Legislature

State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR)

  • Prepares or assists with the preparation of required SEQR documentation related to County projects
  • Assists local municipalities with SEQR matters

2025 Annual Report

The following is a summary of the activities of the Genesee County Department of Planning and its various boards and agencies for 2025.

County Projects

The Planning Department continued to assist with a number of County projects, often working with other County agencies to accomplish the following:

  • County Planning Board
  • Genesee 2050 Comprehensive Planning Process
  • Agricultural District No. 2 Review and Annual Enrollment Period
  • Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board
  • Farmland Protection Implementation Grant support through Genesee Valley Conservancy, Western New York Land Conservancy and the Genesee Land Trust
  • County Geographic Information Systems (GIS), including:
    • Web Mapping Application
    • Elections Web Application
    • Broadband Deployment Map
    • Preliminary Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Map Comparison Tool
    • Sheriff's E911 Address Maintenance
    • EagleView (Pictometry)
    • Emergency Operations Center support
  • Updated Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM)
  • Environmental reviews under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR)
  • County Broadband Initiative
  • Chamber of Commerce Rebranding Project
  • County Artificial Intelligence Task Force
  • Solar impacts on agricultural land
  • Genesee Region Housing Initiatives Committee
  • Water Resources Agency
  • Water System Hookup Administrative Review
  • Administrative Water Review Board
  • Batavia Drinking Water Source Protection Program Plan Committee
  • Capital and Asset Acquisition Budget and Program
  • Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council
  • Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council Planning Coordinating Committee
  • Regional Comprehensive Climate Action Plan
  • New York State Association of County Planning Directors
  • Chamber of Commerce Business Development Committee
  • County Local Emergency Planning Committee
  • Genesee-Finger Lakes Region Comprehensive Climate Action Plan Committee
  • Western New York Wildway Northern Region Planning Committee
  • County Parks Advisory Council
  • Water Quality Coordinating Committee
  • County Traffic Safety Board
  • Genesee County Airshow Committee
  • American Planning Association
  • Congress for the New Urbanism

Local Technical Assistance

The Planning Department continued to provide assistance to local planning, zoning and legislative boards. This assistance ranged from providing information about the development and revision of land-use regulations to preparing amendments and providing GIS and mapping assistance.

Planning staff sponsored zoning and land-use training for the County Planning Board and all municipalities. Staff also assisted local municipalities with project reviews and zoning text and map amendments.

Planning staff continued to help municipalities plan for the effects of the proposed Western New York Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park (WNY STAMP), as well as large solar energy systems such as the Excelsior Energy Center and Cider Solar Project.

Solid Waste Management

The Director of Planning supervises GLOW staff and continued to serve on the GLOW Region Solid Waste Management Committee and its Planning and Advisory subcommittees.

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