County mourns death of planning director, who guided growth in community

Jim Bensley took on all kinds of tasks for the county, including marina manager and coordinator of household hazardous waste

Photos by Tom Rivers: Jim Bensley, director of the Orleans County Department of Planning and Development, speaks at a public hearing in November 2018 about the Western Orleans Comprehensive Plan. In back is Ed Houseknecht, the Shelby town supervisor at the time. Bensley worked with local municipalities on plans that are guides for future zoning and community priorities. The Western Orleans Comprehensive Plan includes the villages of Medina and Lyndonville, and the towns of Shelby, Ridgeway and Yates.

MEDINA – Many of the local officials in Orleans County, including village and town governments, are mourning the loss of Jim Bensley, who served as the county’s senior planner.

Bensley passed away at age 65 on Aug. 14, only a few days after coordinating another household hazardous waste collection day in the county. Bensley was at the Highway Department in Albion on West Academy Street for many hours on Aug. 10, helping people at the check-in while about 500 residents disposed of old car batteries, propane tanks, oils, solvents and other chemicals, as well as more than 1,000 tires.

Bensley took on that job, as well as the county marina manager for a few years, in addition to his primary job as the director of the Department of Planning and Development for the county.

In that role provided guidance for other county employees as well as the towns and villages as they updated zoning, developed comprehensive plans for the future, and reviewed site plans, requests for zoning variances and many other issues.

“This is a tremendous loss for the county,” said Dawn Borchert, the county’s tourism director. “He had such an institutional knowledge of the community. He knew every little town and corner in the county.”

Jim Bensley carries an old propane tank that was dropped off during the household hazardous waste collection event in August 2021. Bensley won the respect of his co-workers and staff for taking on any job, big and small.

Bensley started with the county in 1989 as a planner and was promoted to senior planner in 1996. He has served as the director of Planning & Development since January 2015.

Former County legislator Ken DeRoller has worked with Bensley since the 1980s, back when DeRoller was chairman of the Town of Kendall Planning Board. Bensley was a valuable resource for DeRoller later when he was a board member for the Orleans Economic Development Agency and a county legislator.

“Jim always had the best interest of land use policies and promoting proper use, plus programs to enhance the quality of life in Orleans County,” DeRoller said.

Bensley worked with the municipalities to develop land use policies along the Lake Ontario waterfront and the Erie Canal corridor.

“These programs enhanced the enjoyment and protection of over 75 miles of Shoreline,” DeRoller said.

DeRoller pushed the Planning and Development Department to take on more work, with the waterfront development plans, a study of the Lake Ontario State Parkway, managing the household hazardous waste collection and other projects.

Bensley didn’t shy away from the work, even as he juggled a part-time job for nearly 30 years as a professor in the urban and regional planning program at Buffalo State College. In 2018 he was honored with the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching.

“He had this passion to keep moving forward and he had a love for Orleans County,” DeRoller said. “He had a strong internal drive, and wanted to move the county forward on land use.”

Jim Bensley (right), discusses the waterfront in Orleans with John Riggi, a Yates town councilman during a meeting in Carlton in April 2018. The towns of Carlton, Kendall and Yates as well as the Village of Lyndonville held a public meeting to discuss a waterfront development plan.

Bensley could bring consensus in meetings that were often contentious, with strong opinions from stakeholders, DeRoller said.

He was Orleans County representative for Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council and also the county’s commissioner on the board for the Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority.

Many of the planning professionals in the region have been taught by him at Buffalo State, and he was the boss to others at the Orleans County Department of Planning and Development.

Sarah Gatti was his student at Buff State and then worked as a planner in Orleans County from 2015 to 2019. She now is a principal planner in Erie County for the Department of Environment and Planning.

She recently nominated Bensley for Michael J. Krasner Professional Planner Award, given by the Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association. Gatti found out last week Bensley will receive the honor which goes to “an individual for sustained contribution to the profession through distinguished practice, teaching, or writing.” It will be presented to Bensley’s family in October during a ceremony in Ithaca.

“I wanted to nominate Jim because he deserved it,” Gatti said. “He was supremely knowledgeable, and he was very passionate. He treated people with kindness as a boss. He was very supportive. There is a web of planners in the region who have been benefitted from his knowledge and mentorship.”

Calling hours will for Bensley will be Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Cooper Funeral Home, 215 W. Center St., Medina. His Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 10 a.m. at Holy Trinity Parish, St. Mary’s Church, 211 Eagle St., Medina.