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Land Use Planning Workshop: Conservation Subdivision Design Featuring Randall Arendt
Land Use Planning Workshop: Conservation Subdivision Design Featuring Randall Arendt For land use on Long Island, the balance of open space preservation and economic growth is critical. With that in mind, NSLA invited top land use planner, Randall Arendt, to conduct a seminar focusing on conservation subdivision design. On May 26th, 135 land use decision makers gathered at the Hoffman Center in Muttontown for a 5 hour workshop to learn conservation design and the supporting regulatory framework needed by villages and towns. Attendees included Village Mayors, Trustees, Town and County Planning Board Members, Builders, Architects, Landscape Architects, Engineers, and Realtors. Mr. Arendt’s message was clear: in order to achieve a community’s goal for “growing greener,” model ordinances must be adopted. In addition to requiring a process in which the conservation areas of a site are determined first, zoning ordinances must contain, at a minimum, a requirement that protected lands in conservation subdivisions are comprised of at least 50% of the buildable ground whenever the underlying density is one unit per acre or lower. Mr. Arendt’s workshop offered valuable “greener” land use planning tools and an enlightened vision for decision makers to move forward with conservation objectives for their own communities. NSLA is deeply grateful to Mr.Arendt for sharing his wisdom, to all the workshop attendees for their time and attention, and to fellow co-sponsors for the program, The Nature Conservancy, Friends of the Bay, Hoffman Center and Nassau Land Trust
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North Shore Land Alliance Awarded Two Land Trust Alliance Grants
North Shore Land Alliance Is the Only Land Trust In New York State to be Awarded Two Land Trust Alliance Grants (Albany, NY) The Department of Environmental Conservation’s Acting Commissioner Denise Sheehan joined state senator Carl Marcellino, members of the state assembly, and the Land Trust Alliance in announcing $450,000 in grants and technical assistance to 29 land trust organizations across New York State. Projects awarded state grants this year include: Strategic stewardship and land conservation plans for local land trusts in Long Island, Genesee River Valley, and the Catskills. Conservation transactions to protect and steward 814 acres of threatened open lands in Columbia, Orange, and Nassau counties. Regional scale land protection projects, a new category designed to catalyze landscape conservation projects. The North Shore Land Alliance was awarded a Transactional Grant for its work on the Littauer property in Oyster Bay Cove, and a Conservation Catalyst Grant for its leadership role in the passage and implementation of the Nassau County Environmental Bonds. Together the grants total $27,900. State Senator Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset), Chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, who accepted the award for NSLAsaid, “Open space preservation in communities across New York State is both environmentally and financially prudent. A continued partnership between the Land Trust Alliance and the State will continue to yield success stories that further a growing tradition of land conservation. Working together, we will protect diverse and ecologically sound open spaces for future generations to enjoy.” Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli (D-Great Neck), Chair of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee said, “We are in a race against the clock when it comes to conserving New York State’s open space and agricultural lands.” The Conservation Partnership Program, funded by the Environmental Protection Fund, cost effectively protects open space by leveraging more private funding for conservation purposes. First funded at $250,000 in the 2002-03 budget and currently funded at $500,000 annually, the Conservation Partnership Program has leveraged a total of $800,000 in state grant funds with $3.8 million in private matching funds. Since 1995, Governor Pataki and the New York State Legislature have committed $13 billion to preserve and protect New York’s environment. In his 2002 State of the State address, Governor Pataki outlined a goal of preserving an additional one million acres.
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