NILES - The town of Niles and the town of Skaneateles are neighbors, but significant similarities beyond location are more difficult to find.

During a meeting held Wednesday night in Niles for the town to discuss creating a comprehensive plan, Niles planning board chair Bob Martin read off headlines from several stories in the weekly Skaneateles Journal regarding commercial and residential development. Then he picked up a copy of the 2006 annual Niles Newsletter: “This is the town of Niles for one year,” he said, holding up the four-page newsletter. “We're four miles away, yet we're a million miles away.”

It may not always be that way, however.

If, or when, the growing residential development near Skaneateles Lake works its way down to Niles, the town wants to be ready to address it and any other changes the town may face over the next 20 years.

That's one reason, Martin said, the town wants to create a full-scale comprehensive plan, which it currently does not have.

“Four miles away, they're going crazy,” he said, referring to the growing development to the north. “We're still very agricultural and rural.”

Martin said the town has been encouraged by the county to implement a plan. This plan will guide future development and changes in Niles. The town has no zoning, but a plan will lay out clear guidelines should questions or disputes arise about what entities should go where, Martin said.

“Everybody around us is developing a comprehensive plan and we aren't,” he said.

Wednesday night's meeting was held to organize the ad-hoc committee of residents who will work to develop a plan for the town. Martin said he would like the committee to involve both year-round and seasonal residents. In Niles, only 54 percent of the residents are year-round.

Sharon Andrus is both a seasonal resident and a business owner in the town. The town has a large contingent of seasonal residents because it is bordered on both sides by Owasco and Skaneateles lakes. Andrus, who's family has owned lakefront property along Skaneateles Lake for the past 50 years, is one of those residents. She resides in Niles only 6 months out of the year.

But Andrus said the seasonal lake residents are also impacted by the direction the town takes, which is one reason she volunteered to be on the committee.

Also, she owns New Hope Antiques and would like to see the small hamlet of New Hope draw more small businesses.

“I'm very interested in trying to develop the little hamlet of New Hope,” she said. “I would love to see a resurgence (of New Hope). But I want to see it done in a thoughtful and careful manner.”

Ellen Abend is among the 54 percent of year-round Niles residents. She and her husband moved to Niles five years ago when they were searching for a home located between her job at Cornell in Ithaca and his job in Auburn. Given that both she and her husband have busy jobs, the quiet nature of Niles was appealing, Abend said.

“It just seemed peaceful,” she said. “We just found the area to be very quiet because it is so rural.”

Abend said she felt it was important to get involved in the town's comprehensive plan undertaking. While she believes preserving agriculture in the town will be very important, Abend said she's not entering the process with any preconceived notions about what kind of plan will eventually develop.

The town board will vote to approve the ad-hoc committee of volunteers at its meeting tonight. The next committee meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 15.

While Martin said it's difficult to predict what kind of change the town will see over the next couple of decades, both he and supervisor Alson Dougherty said some change was inevitable.

“Change is coming,” Dougherty said. “Now is the time to plan for it, because it's going to come.”

Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or at anne.gleason@lee.net.