P&Z Refines Rules To Conserve Open Space

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are refining a set of proposed land use regulations intended to preserve significantly greater amounts of open space in new residential subdivisions than now required by the town’s land use rules.

P&Z members and town land use officials met September 22 to discuss the specifics of such regulations, which are intended to preserve open space, conserve natural resources, and protect the local rural character in a town where residential growth is continuing.

The P&Z has been discussing creating such open space subdivision regulations for the past year, as part of its decennial revision of the Town Plan of Conservation and Development.

The P&Z needs to discuss creating such new land use regulations with the police department, fire marshal, town engineer, public works department, and selectmen, planning consultant David Hannon told P&Z members, according to agency records. Mr Hannon is the director of planning and transportation services for Harrall-Michalowski Associates, Inc, (HMA) of Hamden, which is the town’s planning consultant.

Mr Hannon said that undeveloped land, which is preserved in an open space subdivision, could be reserved for uses such as a school or a town park.

P&Z member Sten Wilson suggested that a mechanism be created to encourage builders to construct smaller houses in open space subdivisions.

P&Z member Lilla Dean said the agency should hold a public hearing on its proposal for open space subdivisions as soon as possible.

The P&Z’s push for land use regulations keyed to maximizing open space preservation comes amid a period of continuing residential growth, during which much rural land has been consumed by development.

During the past 20 years, approximately 14,000 acres of vacant land, representing 36 percent of the town’s total land area, were developed as residential subdivisions, according to HMA.

“The community character of areas developed was changed from ‘rural’ to ‘suburban,’ and the natural landscape and ecosystems of those areas was significantly altered as a result of the grading of 2,700 house lots and the construction of miles of subdivision roads and stormwater drainage facilities,” HMA notes.

The planning consultant points out that approximately 1,100 acres, representing 2.8 percent of the town’s total land area, were designated as protected open space.

But HMA explains that many of the open space parcels that were created by the town’s existing subdivision process are physically too small to make significant contributions to the preservation of rural character or to environmental conservation.

While the town’s current subdivision process preserves at least ten percent of the land in subdivisions as open space, the new land use rules would provide a mechanism to preserve 50 percent or more of the land in subdivisions as open space, according to HMA.

Open space subdivisions would allow large amounts of open space to be preserved at no cost to the town, according to HMA. The amount of land preserved would represent far more acreage than the town likely would have the financial means to acquire, HMA adds.

The open space subdivision development approach would allow a site to be developed for single-family detached housing at the same gross development density as is allowed under current zoning regulations. Houses would be clustered on a site, on smaller building lots than are currently common, in order to preserve large amounts of open space. A key aspect of such development involves designing suitable wastewater disposal systems.

 

Cider Mill Farm

HMA uses the Cider Mill Farm residential subdivision, which is now under construction near Lower Paugussett State Forest in Sandy Hook, as an example to compare conventional subdivisions to open space subdivisions.

During the past several years, the P&Z approved Cider Mill Farm in three construction phases as a conventional residential subdivision. The plans call for 52 house lots on 137 acres, including 21 acres of open space, representing the preservation of approximately 15 percent of the site.

Under an open space design approach, depending on the particular design style employed, there would be 52 house lots on 137 acres, with the open space area ranging from 80 to 110 acres, representing the preservation of 60 percent to 80 percent of the site, according to HMA.

 The proportion of open space saved on a site would vary depending on whether a “suburban” style lot layout is chosen, or a “hamlet” style lot layout is used. The hamlet design would provide a greater amount of open space.

HMA has recommended that the P&Z develop a municipal strategy concerning the ownership and management of the open space land that would be a product of open space subdivision development.