URGENT! Protect the Saugatuck Dunes! Support Local Zoning Laws! YOU Can Make A Difference By Signing This Petition NOW! On Wednesday, October 28, 2009 the Saugatuck Township Board of Supervisors and Planning Commissioners will consider a new zoning ordinance proposed by the Singapore Dunes LLC, owners of the former Denison property. The ordinance, known as a Zoning [...]
Yesterday I received the following note from the owner of a North Carolina farm protected with a conservation easement: “Can the state’s power of eminent domain be used to build a highway across conserved land? We are worried about the possibility of a 4-land highway through our conserved land.” Hers is a great question. I answered “From what [...]
What is a Conservation Easement (aka “land preservation agreement”)? A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency. It permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. The landowner continues to own the land and the easement does “run with the [...]
Using conservation subdivisions, communities across Pennsylvania are preserving their special open spaces, greenways and natural resources at the same time they achieve their development objectives. How? Conservation through local zoning and subdivision ordinances; an approach called Growing Greener: Conservation by Design, otherwise known as “conservation subdivisions“. If you want to ensure that new development creates [...]
Below is the nice e-mail I received from Caroline Baker, Communications Coordinator for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She was commenting on my previous blog post. “Hi, Since you previously wrote about the proposed “Wilderness Walmart,” I thought you might be interested in a recent update by Rob Nieweg, Director of the National Trust [...]
It seems Wal-Mart is proposing to build a super store near Orange, Virginia near land that is an important part of the historic battlefield area of the Battle of the Wilderness. Orange County is a rural community in central Virginia filled with beautiful horse farms and vineyards. The article, “Wal-Mart in the Wilderness” in The American [...]
When town planners or township officials are asked what they are doing to preserve rural character, they often reply “We’ve got large lot zoning”. The towns I grew up in, Farmington Hills, and West Bloomfield, Michigan, had large lot zoning. Today they are poster childs for over development. People run away from these towns every [...]
Conservation subdivisions Years ago I attended a workshop on conservation subdivisions given by the guru of conservation subdivision design, Randall Arendt. I created my own conservation neighborhood using M&M’s as houses. And then it clicked; this really works! Read the article, “Intelligent Design: Green space is priceless in subdivisions that work with nature” (PDF) (9 [...]
A model conservation community Heading to Florida? Be sure to check out Centerville, a conservation community (conservation subdivision) in Tallahassee, Florida. It’s designed by noted planner and LandChoices’ member Randall Arendt. Jon Kohler, a member of LandChoices, took this former quail plantation and worked with nature to create a beautiful model of what development should [...]
