The LWRP Project

The LWRP Project.

What is an LWRP?
An LWRP (Local Waterfront Revitalization Program) is a comprehensive land and water use program that expresses a vision for the waterfront area and provides the means to achieve that vision.

By preparing an LWRP, community stakeholders take the opportunity to evaluate local waterfront resources, develop goals and a comprehensive strategy for the best use of those resources, identify ways in which the community can reduce risk to community assets and make them more resilient to future threats and natural disasters, propose future land and water uses, and put in place a local program that will guide the community in attracting appropriate development to the waterfront area while planning for sustainability. LWRPs also provide the organizational structure, local laws, and projects to achieve the program.

An LWRP Includes:

1. Boundaries of the local waterfront area

2. An inventory of natural and historic resources of the waterfront area

3. A statement of the goals and objectives of the LWRP

4. Identification of uses and projects to be accommodated in the waterfront area

5. Description of proposed means for controlling waterfront development, and

6. Identification of actions subject to consistency with the local program

An LWRP must be comprehensive, addressing all issues having effects within a community's waterfront, provide the rules and regulations that implement each of the provisions of Article 42 of the Executive Law of NYS, including the required content of an LWRP, the processes of submission, review and approval of an LWRP, and how to amend an LWRP.

Benefits & Responsibilities of having an LWRP

An LWRP serves as a mechanism for waterfront municipalities to work with NYS Department of State and federal, State and local partners identified in each LWRP to address local and regional issues important to community members. These issues are broad ranging, but waterfront focused. They include improving water quality and natural areas, guiding development to areas with adequate infrastructure and services and away from sensitive resources, increasing community resilience to natural hazards, promoting waterfront public access and recreation and redeveloping underutilized waterfronts.

Public Engagement

Successful waterfront revitalization happens when the community realizes that the waterfront belongs to them. By bringing people together, the community can create a vision that captures the ideas and interests of a broad constituency of those concerned with the future of the waterfront.

Public outreach will identify a diverse range of stakeholder groups and potential partnerships including key individuals, organizations, and entities to be involved and identify roles and responsibilities of municipal staff, the waterfront advisory committee, and the consultant in coordinating the process. Upcoming public meetings and a community visioning process will be announced through press releases, web postings, and information tables at community events.