Capital District Regional Planning Commission

Henry E. Dennis, Jr. of Colonie, an Albany County Legislator, was elected the Chairman of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission at the January 22nd board meeting of the agency. Mr. Dennis succeeds John L. Buono, the Executive Director of the Dormitory Authority of New York State and former Rensselaer County Executive.

Also elected at the first organizational meeting were Peter Polsinelli of Schenectady County as 1st Vice Chair, Jayne Regan Harris of Rensselaer County as 2nd Vice Chair, and Jean Raymond of Saratoga County as Treasurer. All four officers will serve a one-year term.

"I am very pleased and honored to serve as the Chairman of the oldest public regional institution in the Capital District," said Dennis, an architect who also teaches at Hudson Valley Community College. "Last year the agency celebrated its 30th anniversary with the completion of the 16-bed Regional juvenile secure detention facility, an achievement which is a first for New York State. We should continue to promote regional cooperation as an alternate way to provide certain local government services to save tax dollars," continued Harris, who has been on CDRPC's Board since 1984.

The policy board of CDRPC consists of 20 members, five from each county. Each member serves at the pleasure of the appointing bodies of their respective counties. There are five newly appointed board members for 1998: James T. Brearton and Martin T. Reid, both Rensselaer County Legislators; Christopher Callaghan, Saratoga County Treasurer; Jean Raymond, Chair of the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors; and Francis Ranucci, Vice Chair of the Schenectady County Legislature.

CDRPC was created jointly by the four counties in 1967 to conduct planning studies and to prepare regional plans related to land use, open space, environmental preservation, aviation, and economic development. It is the grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone #121 at Albany, New York, which currently has two active General-Purpose Zone Sites for warehousing and two Sub-Zone Sites for manufacturing operations. The Commission provides technical assistance to localities for special studies, such as the Niskayuna Town Master Plan, the Troy Strategic Plan, and the Village of Stillwater Aquifer Protection Program, as well as enrollment projections for many of the Region's school districts. CDRPC also acts as the sponsoring agency for the Capital District Youth Court Programs.

The Commission is the primary source of local and Regional demographic and economic data, serving the Region's counties and municipalities, the general public, and the local business community. It is responsible for preparing long-term population and household projections for each minor civil division in the Region. Much of the Commission's Regional data is available at its Web Site on the Internet (http://www.cdrpc.org). A Regional Geographic Information System, soon to be completed, will have a wide range of applications in local and regional planning, as well as supporting Regional economic development marketing efforts.

CDRPC's New Officers (83Kb GIF)

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