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Comprehensive Plan 9 Other Planning Initiatives Since the Town’s participation in the 2004 Regional Plan, several other planning projects and initiatives have taken place at the local, county, and regional level. These previous plans were taken into consideration and helped inform the development of this comprehensive plan update. 2010 Town of Aurora Open Space Plan In 2007, the Aurora Town Board formed the Aurora Open Space Committee with the mission of defining, inventorying, and evaluating the Town’s priority open space resources. With the goal of preserving an additional 1,500 acres of open space land in the Town from development, the committee published the Town of Aurora Open Space Plan in 2010. Components of the Open Space Plan included informing the public about the importance of open space and how it can be preserved, identifying parcels with high open space value, developing a program for conservation measures, and identifying sources of funding for preservation. Overall, the plan identified nine distinct groupings of parcels covering approximately 4,000 acres of land for conservation. 2019 Erie County Parks Master Plan Update First completed in 2003, the Erie County Parks Master Plan 2019 update sought to identify ways to preserve, enhance, and improve the nearly 10,000-acre park system the County manages. The Town of Aurora is home to one of the County’s “heritage parks’, the 457-acre multi-purpose Emery Park. The plan called out three overarching park priorities: (1) preserve and enhance heritage areas and special park features, (2) reduce lawn mowing, and (3) relocate the disc golf holes to prevent damage to natural features. To accomplish these three priorities, the plan recommends 91 actions items for Emery Park. 2021 Southern Tier Trail Feasibility Study In 2021, several trail and mobility advocacy groups partnered together to study the feasibility of constructing the 80-mile Southern Tier Trail which would connect residents across 20 cities, towns, and villages throughout Erie and Cattaraugus County together, providing safe and convenient access to recreational opportunities. The process included an inventory of existing conditions, community engagement to gather input on how the trail would be best used, and ultimately a list of 23 project recommendations which would collectively see the full 80-mile trail completed. Two project recommendations were identified in the Town of Aurora, the West Falls Railroad Corridor and the West Falls to Colden Railroad Corridor. The West Falls Railroad Corridor would span 3.1 miles connecting the Hamlet of West Falls northward to the already active Orchard Park Corridor. The West Falls to Colden Corridor would span 4 miles and would connect the Hamlet of West Falls southward to the Town of Colden.