Date: Fri 26-Dec-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-open-space-Folgiano

Full Text:

P&Z Vice Chairman Presses For Better Open Space Donations

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) Vice Chairman Daniel Fogliano is

spearheading an effort to have the town or land trusts receive better quality

open space land than has been granted by developers in the past in residential

subdivisions.

Customarily, developers donate about ten percent of the land in a subdivision,

sometimes more and sometimes less, to the town or a land trust for passive

recreational uses such as hiking, horseback riding, and nature study.

Typically, such land donations involve low quality land which is unsuitable

for home building, so, in effect, the developer is not losing a building lot

in a subdivision to open space.

Mr Fogliano told P&Z members December 18 he believes there is a need to revise

the P&Z's regulations on open space donations, making those rules stronger and

more detailed. State law provides municipal land use agencies with much

discretion in creating their open space regulations, he said.

Mr Fogliano said he wants the P&Z to reduce the proportion of wetlands and

steep slopes which it has been accepting in open space donations from

developers. Mr Fogliano offered P&Z members a formula by which the P&Z could

ensure that open space donations are not concentrations of the poorest quality

land on a development site, but actually representative of the overall parcel.

If a developer is not willing to provide an open space donation that contains

land typical of the site, he could then employ provisions in the regulations

concerning a "fee in lieu of open space," Mr Fogliano said. Such fund

donations would be banked for town open space land acquisition.

Any open space donations on a parcel would have to be contiguous with other

open space and accessible to the public, he said.

If the town's open space donation system continues as it has been going, the

town will continue receiving land gifts that are essentially useless, he said.

Open space which the town has been receiving in subdivisions is either under

water or is vertical, P&Z member James Boylan said.

Mr Fogliano said he will distribute a draft proposal of his ideas on changing

the open space regulations to P&Z members for their consideration and possible

action.

Last May, P&Z members considered ways to sharpen the town's land use

regulations to ensure that desirable open space land is donated by developers.

Spelling out what the town wants in the way of open space would give

developers clear guidance in proposing open space donations as well as provide

a standard of reference for the changing members of the P&Z.

In a memo to P&Z members last spring, Elizabeth Stocker, the P&Z planning

aide, wrote "There is strong appreciation for the town's remaining rural

character and...open space ranks high on the list of community assets. There

is clearly an opportunity at hand to protect the character of the community

and guide the placement of future open space areas which will preserve key

natural features and serve as recreational resources. By providing guidelines

and a pro-active policy for use in determining where open space parcels will

be located within a development, the community will realize the open space and

recreation goals and objectives of the plan of development."

Coalition

Last year, the Newtown Neighborhoods Coalition, a citizens group concerned

about the rapid pace of local residential development, proposed a variety of

land use rule changes to more strictly control growth.

Among those changes, coalition members proposed that ten percent of "quality"

land with subdivisions be designated as open space. The term "quality" land

was synonymous with "buildable" land, according to the coalition. Some

coalition members had proposed that 20 percent of a subdivision be designated

as open space.

The coalition's desire for "buildable" land as open space resulted from the

fact that sometimes developers donate land such as swamps, rock ledge, and

very steep slopes as open space.

P&Z members did not endorse the coalition's proposal, but said they would

develop revised open space regulations.