The Genesee Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council, based in Rochester, has a staff of five persons, including its Executive Director.  In 2019, Supervisor Becker requested the County Zoning Officer, Don Roberts, to draft a new zoning law for the Town of Sheldon.  Roberts inquired of the Planning Council’s Executive Director whether someone on their staff might be available to help with a preliminary draft as the Zoning Office did not have staff with legislative drafting experience. 

The Regional Planning Council described its work on this project in its 2019-2020 Annual Report this way: 

G/FLRPC staff worked to create two model zoning codes with Wyoming County based heavily on existing codes across Wyoming County.  This effort supports the development of a more uniform code across the county as efforts continue to consolidate all municipal (24) zoning code enforcement into one county department. 

The Regional Planning Council did not routinely undertake legislative drafting projects and had no staff qualified in that area.  The Regional Council’s annual reports do not describe any legislative drafting work prior to or after the request from Don Roberts with the exception of legislative suggestions with respect to some planning work done on wetlands.

The project was completed (from the Regional Planning Council’s perspective) with the delivery of two drafts in 2021 labeled Model 1 (for towns with a larger population) and Model 2 (for the remaining smaller towns).

The Regional Council was not asked to and did not do any work on this project after the initial drafts were delivered to Don Roberts in 2021.  The only staffer who had worked on this project left the Regional Council for other employment.