To Curb Sprawl—

P&Z Approves Open Space Preservation Rules

By Andrew Gorosko

After nearly two years of consideration and revision, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have approved both zoning and planning regulations that are intended to maximize the amount of undeveloped land that would be preserved in some new subdivisions of single-family homes, as a mechanism to limit suburban sprawl in a town that was once largely rural.

After discussion, P&Z members on August 19 unanimously approved the land use rules, known as the “open space conservation subdivision” (OSCS) regulations.

P&Z member Lilla Dean noted that the P&Z mentioned the need for such regulations to preserve open space 23 years ago, in its 1981 Town Plan of Conservation and Development.

The planning project that culminated in the OSCS regulations’ approval began in October 2002, when P&Z members told town planning consultant Harrall-Michalowski Associates (HMA) of Hamden to research creating such land use rules in conjunction with the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development. The 2004 decennial town plan went into effect last March 1.

 “People have worked hard on this…very, very hard on this,” said Ms Dean.

P&Z Chairman William O’Neil explained that the “open space” specified within the new regulations includes “public open space” and “private open space.”

In the P&Z’s paradigm for OSCS development, land in a theoretical 100-acre subdivision would be categorized as three types of real estate — relatively compact, privately owned, individual single-family houses and their yards; public open space land that is open to the general public; and privately owned open space land that is open to the property owners in that subdivision.

The P&Z’s goal for such an OSCS project is to keep one-half of the site from being developed. Thus, of the 100 acres, 50 acres would be used for home sites and roadways, 15 acres would be preserved as open space that is open to the general public, and the remaining 35 acres would be privately owned open space open to subdivision property owners.

Such privately owned open space could be used as a location for large-scale septic systems for multiple houses in the subdivision, for community water systems, and for stormwater drainage systems.

 Last April, P&Z members increased from 10 percent to 15 percent the minimum amount of public open space land required in a new subdivision. Such land is open to the general public for passive forms of recreation. P&Z members decided that the 15 percent minimum open space requirement is consistent with the 2004 town plan.

Mr O’Neil told P&Z members on August 19 that recent revisions that were made to the OSCS rules have improved the regulations’ readability, as well as made the OSCS rules consistent with other town land use rules.

The P&Z chairman also pointed out that the new land use rules will require developers to submit additional technical information to the P&Z for conventional large-lot residential subdivision applications.

 In unanimously approving the OSCS rules, P&Z members agreed that the regulations would create new residential development options for preserving existing open space and preserving the local rural character.

Attending the P&Z session besides Mr O’Neil and Ms Dean were members Robert Poulin, Jane Brymer, and Robert Mulholland.

Specifics

The applicant for a given residential subdivision would determine whether the project would be built as an open-space-oriented OSCS development, or as a conventional large-lot subdivision. OSCS development is intended for sites of at least 20 acres, or at least eight building lots. The regulations are applicable to residentially zoned land with one-, two-, and three-acre minimum lot sizes.

The regulations’ goal is to provide greater flexibility and creativity in residential development design with the goal of maximizing open space preservation.

OSCS development would “cluster” single-family houses on relatively small building lots on a development site to allow a relatively larger amount of undeveloped land to be preserved on that site. The clustering of buildings is intended to preserve the unique natural features of a site.

Even though up to 50 percent of a site would remain undeveloped, the overall construction density, or number of dwellings, on the site would be the same as if the property were developed as a conventional large-lot subdivision.

At a March public hearing on an earlier version of the OSCS concept, P&Z members had proposed that the P&Z determine whether a project be built as an OSCS development, or as a conventional subdivision. But that proposal met with stiff opposition from developers and their agents, who challenged the legality of letting the P&Z to make such a decision. The P&Z then opted to allow a development applicant to decide whether to pursue an OSCS design.

The OSCS regulations are intended to conserve the remaining undeveloped land in a town that formerly was largely agricultural. 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.

The community character of areas that were developed changed from “rural” to “suburban,” and the natural landscape and ecosystems of those areas significantly changed due to the grading of 2,700 house lots and the construction of miles of subdivision roads and stormwater drainage facilities.

The OSCS regulations cover both the zoning regulations and the planning regulations. OSCS development would require a “special exception” to the zoning regulations, as well as a subdivision approval under the planning regulations.

Open space land in an OSCS development would be reserved for wildlife habitat, natural resource conservation, historic and archaeological preservation, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, and recreation.