City of Syracuse, Town of DeWitt and Le Moyne College receive award for Best Practice

Environmental Design and Research is proud to announce that it was awarded a Best Practice award along with the City of Syracuse, Town of DeWitt, and Le Moyne College during the October Upstate American Planning Association Resilient Together Planning Conference in Buffalo for the Le Moyne Area Neighborhood Development Strategy (LANDS).

The LANDS project provides an example of how to combine an understanding of necessary housing market interventions with physical investment in neighborhoods to improve and strengthen neighborhood health. In addition, LANDS makes specific recommendations for how an institution like Le Moyne can act as an anchor for stabilizing and improving neighborhood health through its campus offerings. As a result of LANDS, the City of Syracuse, Town of DeWitt, and Le Moyne College are working in partnership to develop market-based strategies for improving access to capital and resources for home improvements, invest in neighborhood organization and leadership, as well as making physical investments in the neighborhoods to improve connectivity and the overall quality of life and aesthetics of the neighborhood areas around the Le Moyne Campus.

“The consultant team at EDR successfully engaged the community of the Le Moyne College Neighborhood, despite the challenges faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Owen Kerney, Assistant Director for Syracuse Division of City Planning, stated. “The team utilized innovative public outreach techniques including web-based interactive mapping, and the U.S. Postal Service Every Door Direct Mail program to solicit participation in an online portal to ensure the voices of all residents were accounted for including the campus community.”

The mission of the New York Upstate APA Chapter is to serve and support the professional, student, and citizen planning communities in New York State and to improve the quality of life using planning.

Founded in 1979, EDR is a certified Woman Owned Business (WBE) dedicated to creating and sustaining a better environment for our clients, employees, and communities — and doing so with integrity, a collaborative approach, a genuine passion for our craft — today’s EDR is comprised of a diverse group of environmental professionals, including ecologists, botanists, wildlife biologists, GIS specialists, archaeologists, historians, visualization specialists, planners, landscape architects, and engineers.


For More Information

Sam Gordon | Planning Practice Leader
[email protected]