Webster Comprehensive Plan Committee wraps last meeting before public hearings

The Town of Webster's Comprehensive Plan Committee finished its final scheduled meeting Thursday night, setting up a public open house and formal hearing before the plan goes to the Town Board for adoption. Targeting summer 2026 (more info will be posted on webster2040.com).

The two-hour session covered draft recommendations for various residential character areas, Ridge Road, building height limits in commercial areas, bike paths, farmland protections, other planning studies, and the Xerox campus. Public comment that followed included a pointed challenge to how the process was run.

Residential character areas

The committee reviewed the plan's four residential character areas: neighborhood, rural/large-lot, waterfront, and mixed residential. The group noted that the future land use map largely reflects what already exists. Webster is mostly built out, and residents have consistently said they want to enhance what they have rather than push development into undeveloped areas.

The rural/large-lot discussion produced the meeting's longest exchange on residential policy. A committee member challenged the plan's mention of cluster or conservation subdivisions in large-lot areas, arguing that concentrating homes on smaller portions of a parcel, even at the same overall density, changes the character of areas residents associate with farms and open land. The planning team said the tool is meant to preserve more contiguous open space than conventional lot-by-lot development would. Under a cluster approach, a 30-acre parcel zoned for 10 homes still yields 10 homes, but they are grouped to leave a larger undivided open area.

The question of who maintains that open space drew discussion. Options include dedication to the town as public land, a conservation easement, or private ownership through a homeowners association. Committee members noted that without clear maintenance requirements, set-aside parcels have a track record of becoming neglected. The recommendation calls for the zoning code to be updated to define ownership and maintenance obligations for cluster developments going forward.

Waterfront residential areas, including the Sandbar and Lake Road properties, are treated as largely built out. The strategy is preservation of existing character, with the plan directing the town to pursue expanded public lake access wherever opportunities arise.

Building heights and Ridge Road

The committee settled on a working direction for building heights in commercial areas: minimum two stories, typical ceiling of three to four. An earlier discussion of five stories as a general allowance was set aside. Step-backs were proposed as a design tool to reduce massing on taller structures.

The draft plan recommends rezoning Ridge Road for mixed-use, multi-story development and discouraging additional auto-oriented businesses, including oil change shops and auto dealers. Sidewalks on both sides of the corridor are a key recommendation. Because Ridge Road is a state route, any changes to sidewalks or driveways require state involvement. Committee members noted that having those priorities in the comprehensive plan strengthens the town's position with the state DOT.

Bike path update

Committee members received an update from county meetings: the planned bicycle facility along Route 104 and Lake Road will be built the full length of the corridor, not in segments. The path is expected to run from Route 104 to Lake Road with 7-foot lanes on both sides, improving north-south bicycle travel on a stretch where cars move fast and there is currently no safe alternative.

Farmland and open space

The committee discussed the Monroe County agricultural district program, which protects participating properties from zoning restrictions on agricultural operations. Enrollment renews every eight years. Colliers Engineering offered to add a page to the plan identifying participating parcels in Webster.

The West Webster Hamlet Plan will be incorporated into the new document substantially as written, rather than reopened for public debate.

Incorporated planning studies

Two recently completed planning studies will be folded into the comprehensive plan rather than summarized or superseded. The West Westbrook Inlet Plan covers the area around the Gravel Road/Empire Boulevard and Old Rake Road intersection. It envisions small-scale mixed development, including coffee shops, bakeries, and convenience retail, with a focus on traffic safety and ecological improvements.

The Reimagine Webster master plan, a joint effort between the village and the town, covers the Rec Center campus and the west campus area near the former Xerox site. The plan examined whether light industrial reinvestment, mixed-use development, or some combination would be the most viable long-term direction.

Xerox west campus

The Xerox west campus area came up during the Reimagine Webster discussion. Committee members noted that the company owns the land and it is zoned industrial, leaving limited direct town control. The planning team described the Reimagine Webster plan as an effort to ask whether industrial-only use remains the highest and best use as markets move away from large single-use development patterns.

A committee member noted that surveying activity in the area is connected at least in part to the FAST NY grant project, which involves road work and lot line identification. Another member raised the possibility of adding noise or quality-of-life provisions to the zoning code if industrial activity at the site increases.

Public comment

A handful of residents spoke about what was meaningful.

Jim Kunz, a Webster farmer, asked that the plan include tools for aging farmers who want to retire without selling to a developer: purchase-of-development-rights programs, open space grants, a clear path forward. I don't want to "leave to my children nothing but a tax burden," Kunz said.

Another resident raised concerns during public comment about how the committee was formed and what the project has cost.

AI tools were used in drafting and research.