Erie County municipal planning grants play key role in building communities countywide

7 municipalities receive 2024 awards; funding to be used to update comprehensive plans, zoning updates, agricultural & farmland protection plans

Submitted by the Press Secretary to the County Executive

The Erie County Department of Environment and Planning announced 2024 municipal planning grant funding will be awarded to seven municipalities that applied for county funding to update comprehensive plans, zoning updates, and agriculture and farmland protection plans:

√ The City of Tonawanda will receive $10,000 for a zoning code update

√ The Town of Grand Island will receive $20,000 for a zoning code update

√ The Town of Newstead will receive $27,000 for an agriculture and farmland protection plan

√ The Town of Orchard Park will receive $35,000 for a comprehensive plan update

√ The Town of Wales will receive $20,000 for a solar/battery storage zoning code update

√ The Village of Kenmore will receive $50,000 for a comprehensive plan update

√ The Village of Orchard Park will receive $40,000 for a comprehensive plan update

Each municipality receiving a grant provided their own matching funds.

Since 2020, Erie County’s municipal grant program has awarded over $850,000 to update municipal plans in 31 of the 44 towns, villages and cities in Erie County.

“The municipal planning grant program helps local governments make better land use decisions, which, in turn, makes our towns, villages and cities better prepared for future growth,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said. “Providing these grants is a good way to help these communities’ matching funds stretch farther and do more for their residents.”

“The preparation of comprehensive plans, zoning ordinances, and farmland protection plans often relies on discretionary funds, which can be a challenge for municipalities to set aside,” Commissioner of Environment and Planning Dan Castle said. “What sets this program apart is that it allows Erie County to allocate funding aligned with what the municipality can provide, so the available funds go farther, and these plans actually get completed.”

The program began in 2020 as the agricultural planning grant program, with a focus on assisting rural municipalities complete updates to their land use planning documents aimed at promoting and protecting agriculture.

In 2022, the program was renamed the Erie County municipal planning grant program and expanded to include assistance to all Erie County villages, towns and cities with updates to their municipal level planning documents. The program is administered by the Erie County Department of Environment & Planning.

The program seeks to proactively encourage municipal initiatives to adequately plan through the creation of up-to-date land use planning documents, including comprehensive plans, zoning codes, transportation plans, and parks and recreation plans, among others. These updated planning documents guide each municipality in addressing contemporary issues and creating an achievable vision for the future. The program seeks to balance municipal interests with county and regional planning priorities through cooperative planning efforts implemented at the municipal level.

For more information on the Erie County Department of Environment and Planning, visit https://www3.erie.gov/environment/.