William Tuthill Business Review Reporter A state senator from western New York has introduced a bill to give towns, villages and cities greater say in how development takes place within their borders. Sen. Pat McGee's bill, if approved by the Legislature, would broaden municipalities' power in creating planned unit developments.
PUDs are blueprints for a single coordinated development in an area.
They act as a kind of overlay on the existing zoning map and sometimes include uses that would not otherwise be allowed in a specific zone. The bill came out of the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources, which McGee co-chairs. It has not yet been introduced in the state Assembly. McGee, who is from Franklinville, Cattaraugus County, said it will give local governments better ability to address sprawl and to save open space. This will be accomplished by allowing more land uses within a PUD, such as cluster development.