P&Z Revises Land Use Regulations In Seeking Quality Open Space Areas

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have revised the town’s open space regulations, specifying new criteria that they will use in selecting open space land that is donated to the town when land is subdivided into building lots for residential, commercial, or industrial development.

At an August 7 session, P&Z members revised the open space rules contained in both the zoning regulations and in the subdivision regulations, refining the criteria they will use in choosing appropriate open space areas on subdivided land.

In approving the rule changes, P&Z members endorsed recommendations from the Conservation Commission concerning land protection and design standards.

The P&Z found that the open space rule revisions are consistent with the tenets of the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development. The town plan lists the town’s objectives and goals in acquiring open space land.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean said the Deputy Land Use Director Rob Sibley made some good recommendations on revising the open space regulations, clarifying the criteria that the P&Z would use in selecting open space areas. Mr Sibley, who also is the town’s conservation official, is an adviser to the Conservation Commission.

The subdivision regulations require that at least 15 percent of the area of proposed subdivisions be designated as open space land, which is earmarked for public recreational use and where development is prohibited.

The open space rule changes place greater emphasis on preserving wildlife habitat as open space, as well as protecting water quality. The rule changes would require a minimum 25-foot width for open space areas.

The open space rule changes set the stage for the Conservation Commission’s planned natural resource inventory of the town.

The open space rule changes, coupled with a natural resource inventory, would provide the P&Z with more regulatory leverage in obtaining desirable types of open space land, according to Mr Sibley. The inventory would contain factual details on the natural aspects of the local land parcels that would have value as potential open space areas.

The open space rule changes provide the P&Z with more flexibility in terms of how open space areas are delineated with signage in the field.

The revised rules will have the Conservation Commission make formal recommendations to the P&Z concerning the location, appropriateness, configuration, and size of open space areas.

“Open space” is generally defined as land or water areas that are left in their natural state, agricultural land, wildlife habitat, groundwater recharge areas, scenic areas, and areas and facilities intended for noncommercial and nonprofit passive and active forms of public recreation.

The P&Z requires that open space areas contain the types of physical characteristics that are found on an entire development site, in effect, requiring that open space areas not be of poor quality.