Jesse Snyder, whose farm is located in the Town of Lockport’s northeast corner, is seeking one of two available seats on the town board. Snyder said he’s focused on maintaining the standard of services in the town while assuring high-quality growth. Living near the town’s perimeter, he said services are as good at the outer limits as within the center.
“I think our roads are excellent and services are better than adequate,” he said. “We get great access to water and trash pick up. Snow plowing seems to be excellent.”
A Republican and a member of the town’s planning board for four years, Snyder said he weighs a number of factors in evaluating proposals — including the town’s strategic plan — and is able to come to decisions.
“I pride myself on being a very objective thinker,” he said. “I don’t inject my viewpoint. Whether a project should or should not proceed is a black and white matter for me. My checklist of how I would do that would be: does it fit with town law and town code; will it benefit the town residents; will it be a net positive for economic growth; and can we provide the services necessary?”
“Growth for the sake of growth is not always a good thing,” Snyder said. “It’s got to make sense from the town’s ability to provide the services and provide value to the overall community, and I believe aesthetics are a big part of it, too. I feel like some of our greatest opportunities are also potential challenges to growing in the right way.”
Snyder said his observations of other municipal projects in the area and in other states help inform his perspective.
“I’ve taken great notice of the Amazon distribution center in the Town of Niagara, from a traffic standpoint and the adjacent property to be developed,” he said. ”There’s certain things to be gleaned from watching the project take shape.”
“When I travel somewhere around the country, I take notice of how things are designed from a planning standpoint,” he said. “How are the communities positioned? What do they look like as you’re moving through them? What is their access as you move through them?”
Western New York’s communities are mature, Snyder said, compared to other parts of the country that are experiencing growth.
“When you go to some of the communities in the south that have experienced a more recent boom, the way those communities are laid out, with retail — some of it is woven into the community. You might be driving next to a shopping center and never know it exists.”
Snyder said he values what design enhancements, like landscaping, bring to development. He said one side of a commercial property might be covered up with greenery and still seem like a residential area.
“Things that incorporate aesthetics are so important,” he said. “It can’t be just about the dollars and cents. Any of the municipalities locally that place emphasis on the planning process, in incorporating as much green space and aesthetics in the planning phase of individual projects, are municipalities that are ahead of the curve. We just need to be mindful of those conditions.”
When asked about who maintains and pays for beautification, Snyder said, “I wouldn’t want the aesthetics to be so cost-prohibitive to make a project infeasible, but I believe those costs, when you look at a project overall, are very minimal. The benefits outweigh the legacy costs.”