May Newburger Nassau County has 64 villages, three towns and two cities. How to keep them all working toward a more environmentally sustainable, thoughtfully planned future? Call May Newburger, that’s how.

Since 2004, Newburger has headed the Nassau County Planning Federation [1], a voluntary membership organization that helps municipalities implement sound and effective planning policies. Members of planning and zoning boards, town attorneys, environmental compliance staff and elected officials turn to the federation for training, to get information on new legislation and planning trends, apply for grants and network.

“The idea is to work with all the municipalities on planning issues that are of mutual concern, and try to bring them into work on issues that are critical today,” Newburger says.

Top among those issues is the shortage of affordable workforce housing, open space protection, oversized “McMansions” and traffic management. The federation is currently analyzing responses to a survey on what municipalities are doing in these areas, and finding opportunities for action.

“We asked a series of questions, and did it deliberately. Did they do code changes to consider accessory apartments? Do they have a master plan? Are they looking at the zoning issues like McMansions? Are they doing anything about green buildings, illegal parking? Are they addressing the issues in terms of housing and energy,” Newburger asks.

What are the results so far? “It’s interesting. Not too many of them have done much energy-related, a few have. On green buildings, almost none have done anything. Quite a few are working on master plans,” she adds.

With a long career in public service, Newburger has clearly established her Nassau County credentials. During her eight years as a member of the state Assembly [2], which concluded in 1986, she worked on water resource needs for Long Island and landfills legislation. She later served as supervisor of North Hempstead [3] for 10 years, until 2003.

After County Executive Tom Suozzi [4] created the Nassau County Planning Federation and appointed Newburger director, she put that expertise to work. The federation was instrumental in the county’s recent adoption of green building rules, which will ensure that new construction or substantial renovation projects will be more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable.

Next month, the federation will hold its annual fall training conference, which will be expanded to offer four hours of continuing education credits. The conference will cover updates in case law, zoning, planning for bicyclists and pedestrians, traffic management strategies, master plants and subdivision reviews. The conference is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 24, from 4 to 9 p.m. at the New York Institute of Technology de Seversky Conference Center in Old Westbury.

For more information, click here [5] or contact Carol Kehoe at (516) 571-0325.