Annual Leadership Conferences

Seven annual events have been held on "smart growth" in Cattaraugus County to date. These annual leadership events present new ideas for the county's Smart Development for Quality Communities Strategy, which is recommended for the coming decade:

1. Seventh Annual Leadership Conference (June 13, 2007). The Cattaraugus County Planning Board's 7th Annual Leadership Conference focused on Agricultural and Farmland Protection Planning. Read the following news releases for more details:
   • Agricultural and Farmland Protection Planning and State Funding Programs are the Topics of the Cattaraugus County Planning Board Annual Meeting (May 24, 2007)
   • Agricultural and Farmland Protection Planning and State Funding Programs Topics of the Cattaraugus County Planning Board Annual Dinner Meeting (June 18, 2007)
2. Sixth Annual Leadership Conference (June 14, 2006). The Cattaraugus County Planning Board's 6th Annual Leadership Conference focused on Wind Farm Development and the local planning and zoning issues associated with these large-scale developments.
   Read the following news releases for more details:
   • "Wind Farm Planning and Zoning Issues Topic of Cattaraugus County Planning Board Annual Meeting" (June 26, 2006)
   • "Annual Planning Board Meeting - Wind Farms: Local Planning and Zoning Issues" (May 19, 2006).
3. Fifth Annual Leadership Conference (June 8, 2005). The Cattaraugus County Planning Board's 5th Annual Leadership Conference focused on the Adaptive Reuse on Main Street – Making the Best Use of Upper Floors. Read the news release for more details.
4. Fourth Annual Leadership Conference (June 9, 2004). The Cattaraugus County Planning Board’s 4th Annual Leadership Conference focused on how to take a leadership role in promoting snowmobiling and its economic benefits to Cattaraugus County and the Allegany Region. Read the news release for more details.
5. Third Annual Leadership Conference (May 28, 2003). The County Planning Board's 3rd Annual Leadership Conference presented the economic development strategy that has been developed for the proposed Route 219 Freeway and the Allegany State Park Perimeter Study and focused on a new Equestrian Vision for Cattaraugus County in the Year 2025. Click here for details.
6. Second Annual Leadership Conference (June 12, 2002). The County Planning Board held a second annual conference on Smart Growth, this time to kick-off a new initiative called, “Saving Our Villages”. This was hosted as a part of the County Planning Board’s Annual Meeting, where we unveiled the county’s “Vision For the Future” based on previous studies by consultants and focus groups in each major section of the County. This second leadership conference was held in Elkdale, New York, and was attended by 58 local, county, regional and state leaders. It featured Diane Hill, Program Administrator for the Governor’s Office of Small Cities, who spoke in support of demonstration projects in Cattaraugus County.
7. First Annual Leadership Conference (June 7, 2001). We organized the first ever conference in Cattaraugus County on Smart Growth, where Randall Arendt presented the Volume 2 Guidebook that is described above. The County announced its new theme for the 21st Century called, “Smart Development for Quality Communities”. This conference was held in Franklinville, New York, and was attended by 112 local, county and state leaders. It also featured, as keynote speaker, Lt. Governor Mary O. Donohue on New York State’s Quality Communities Initiative.