POTSDAM - The village’s new comprehensive plan could be approved as soon as June, according to Mayor Steven W. Yurgartis.

The committee meetings to draft the next 10-year plan are wrapping up. The committee gave some of its final input Wednesday night on the 29-page plan, which is designed to provide a series of recommendations for the village to follow over the next decade. Committee members created this plan over the last several months by reviewing the previous one section -by-section.

“I don’t think there’s any big surprises in this plan, but it does put into writing the thoughts of a knowledgeable group of citizens about what the village should work on for the next 10 years,” Mr. Yurgartis said. “It sets a direction for the next 10 years.”

Included in that plan are the recommendation for a large scale hotel, as well as a series of other ideas to increase the tax base, develop the riverfront and bolster the number of owner-occupied homes.

“We’d have new home construction. We’d hope we’d have thriving businesses,” Mr. Yurgartis said. “Many of these things are goals, and we may not reach them.”

Planning and Development Director Frederick J. Hanss agreed with Mr. Yurgartis. He said Potsdam would definitely be a more “economically robust” community if the plan’s recommendations were implemented.

The committee decided Wednesday night to leave the current water and sewer service recommendation for town residents alone. Current policy states water and sewer lines cannot extend beyond village limits to service town residents. Committee members decided that policy made sense and did not recommend changing it.

From here, the draft will be sent to the St. Lawrence County Planning Board for their input, Mr. Yurgartis said. After that, the village board will hold a public hearing on the plan and will eventually vote to approve it. The plan can be viewed at http://sites.google.com/site/potsdamcompplan/.

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