Ulster planners unveil open space plan
By LYNN WOODS

Jennifer Schwartz

From the river to the mountains, Ulster County is blessed with abundant natural and cultural resources. Encroaching development has threatened these attributes, but to date much of the municipalities’ response has been fragmented and reactive.

The Ulster County Planning Board hopes to change that. It now has a comprehensive open space plan designed to help the county and its municipalities -- one city, three villages and 20 towns -- protect important natural assets, such as aquifers, which are critical to conserving the environment and character of the county. The plan also recommends clustering new development around existing population centers, which prevents sprawl and precludes the need to create roads and sewage systems.

For the past month and a half, Dennis Doyle, planning board director, and deputy planner Jennifer Schwartz have been taking their draft plan on the road, presenting it to the public at a series of meetings around the county. A final public hearing at the Ulster County Office Building will be held on Nov. 7, after which time the planners will review all the public comments, tweak their working draft and approve the final version.

Meanwhile, a committee of county environmental and economic development officials will introduce a resolution recommending that the county legislature adopt the plan as part of the county’s comprehensive plan.

While three municipalities -- Gardiner, Marbletown and New Paltz -- have passed bond acts to support the purchase of development rights for protection of open space, much of the county’s open space remains at risk, especially farmland. Thirty-two percent of the county’s land is protected, most of it in the Catskills’ State Forest Preserve and along the Shawangunk Ridge. Outside the Catskill Forest Preserve, land has been protected mainly through the efforts of 14 private land trusts, which, along with other nonprofits, have collectively saved 50,000 acres.

By providing an overview of the natural resources, the open space plan shows there is still much more worth saving and it provides municipalities with a framework.

The open space plan is designed to help municipalities “proactively do integrated planning rather than react to development pressure,” Schwartz told an audience of some 30 residents at the Woodstock Community Center. Another reason for the plan is to encourage communities to adapt a more regional approach. By “working together, they can leverage what they’ve got and get technical assistance,” be it state grants or other type of funding, she said.

Schwartz and Doyle present the plan at the Woodstock Community Center.

 

“I’m very pleased,” said county legislator Brian Shapiro (D-I-W, Woodstock), who attended the meeting and is chair of the legislature’s environmental committee. “Open space is one of the primary reasons why people come to enjoy Ulster County. We need to be aware of the sprawl coming up from the southern part of the state and take proactive steps to address it.”

Shapiro said he was impressed by the wealth of information provided in the plan.

“As Dennis and Jennifer pointed out, the plan provides municipalities with the tools for leveraging, including things such as passing the local preservation act (a state initiative, which the county has yet to pass) and creating conservation easements.”

The open space plan dates back to 2004, when the county legislature passed a resolution for the planning board and the county’s Environmental Management Council to jointly update the existing open space plan, which dated back to 1979. Doyle said in the process of compiling the draft, his office incorporated input from hundreds of stakeholders.

The plan organizes the county’s open space resources into seven categories: already protected open space; water resources; working landscapes, which identifies farmland, forestry lands and mines; landforms and natural features; ecological communities, noteworthy for their biodiversity or rareness; cultural and historic resources; and recreation resources, such as fishing and hunting areas, trails and public parks.

Map of Ulster County, on display at the Woodstock Community Center.

 

Besides creating a broad inventory of features related to open space protection, the plan also is a blueprint for action. It distinguishes the different roles of the county and local agencies that deal with land-use planning, lays out a series of 12 overriding principles and recommends four strategic actions:

- Creation of an open space partnership, formed at the county level, to recommend policy and create the impetus for funding

- Use of a toolbox outlining the myriad ways in which municipals can protect open space. Specific recommendations include the creation of an open space database; having the county join the Hudson River Greenway Compact, which would provide new avenues of funding and technical assistance; and identifying priority areas for both conservation and growth.

- Improving the ability to utilize open space protection tools, for example, by providing training for legislators on planning issues and partnering with nonprofit organizations to assist in education

- Utilizing incentives to raise the revenues needed for the commitment to protecting open space. An example would be setting up a nonprofit county conservancy to provide matching funds for available state and federal monies.

The draft concludes with a list of strategic resources for each of the seven categories, identifying potential partners and recommending specific actions.

Elliott Auerbach, village manager of Ellenville, who attended the Open Space Plan presentation in Ellenville, described the plan as eye opening. “I was amazed at the remarkable breadth of the plan and the way it was presented,” he said. “It’s remarkable to think we have this huge variety of open space throughout the county.”

Auerbach said the open space plan spoke directly to his attempt to pursue state scenic byway protection for roads running into Ellenville from and around the Shawangunk Ridge. Getting protection requires the cooperation of municipalities on the eastern side of the ridge. “The encouraging thing is many of the leaders along that area are starting to have a dialogue,” he said. “There’s an understanding we need to protect the viewshed from the top down to the bottom up. The county has a grasp of what that viewshed looks like. I’m excited and encouraged. This is the beginning of taking an all-encompassing look at the region.”

 

The draft is available online at www.co.ulster.ny.us/planning/.

 

 

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