Annual Comprehensive Plannng Process
In the winter and spring of each year, Southern Tier West Regional Planning & Development Board undertakes a comprehensive planning process for Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua Counties. This results in the publication in June of each year of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the region. The CEDS is limited to economic development planning strategies for the region. The CEDS is prepared in accordance with US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration CEDS Guidelines, in terms of format and content.
As part of the annual comprehensive planning process, the Southern Tier West Board annually designates in May or June its priorities in each county for the top two projects that propose funding from EDA. These priorities are normally set by the individual counties themselves. At the same time, the Southern Tier West Board annually designates its priorities for regional projects that propose funding from EDA. Regional projects are projects that typically have implementation and impacts in an area that is greater than any single county in the region. The Current EDA Project Priorities are downloadable from the Southern Tier West web site. Southern Tier West provides assistance to potential EDA project sponsors regarding project development and funding.
Southern Tier West also now collects information on project impacts (jobs, investment, etc.) for projects that have been proposed for funding in the annual CEDS document. Southern Tier West collects this information on a Project Monitoring Form , and reports the information to EDA in a Government Performance and Results Act (GRPA) Report .
Additionally, using information gleaned from the annual comprehensive planning process, Southern Tier West now maintains three general comprehensive planning documents: the Regional Development Strategy, the Comprehensive Project List, and the Statistical Abstract. While not updated annually, these documents are maintained continuously so as to be current planning documents for the region.
The Regional Development Strategy document is a comprehensive strategic development plan for the region, and it is not limited to economic development as is the CEDS document.
The Comprehensive Project List reflects all active projects proposed within the region by our planning partners. The Comprehensive Project List is prepared from Southern Tier West's Comprehensive Project Database. Southern Tier West also actively advocates funding of projects by funding sources that include but are not limited to the Appalachian Regional Commission, the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, and various other funding sources.
The Statistical Abstract is an information resource describing the region, using the most recent data and maps available.
All four of these planning documents (the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, the Regional Development Strategy, the Comprehensive Project List, and the Statistical Abstract) are downloadable from Southern Tier West's web site at no charge. At your request, Southern Tier West can email the documents or relevant excerpts therefrom to you. The Comprehensive Project List database is also available as a MS Access database.
CD copies of the four documents are available at a modest charge for materials and shipping. Please contact Richard Zink at rzink@southerntierwest.org or call him at 716-945-5301 ext. 203.
If you have questions about finding references to subjects of interest in these documents, or to your projects or community, or if you have any questions about the comprehensive planning process or the project monitoring process, please call Tom Barnes at 716-945-5301 ext. 209, or email him at tbarnes@southerntierwest.org .
If you have data questions or need to obtain data, please contact John Buzzard at jbuzzard@southerntierwest.org or call him at 716-945-5301 ext. 208.
Future plans include posting of the Comprehensive Project List database on this web page, and making the Comprehensive Project Database an interactive internet-based database that can be updated by our planning partners.
Planning Documents
Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS)
Current EDA Project Priorities (pdf)
Government Performance and Results Act (GRPA) Report
Planning Process Materials
Comprehensive Planning Process General Input Form
Project Input Submission Form
CEDS Project Input Submission Form
Project Monitoring Form
