NORTH SALEM, N.Y. - After recently establishing local laws for exterior lighting and short-term rentals, North Salem is now weighing regulations specifically tailored to land conservancy organizations.
There are three such nonprofits operating in the town: the North Salem Open Land Foundation, the Bedford Audubon Society, and the Westchester Land Trust.
The NSOLF owns roughly 1,000 acres divvied up across 30 or so parcels and holds conservation easements on an additional 500-plus acres. The BAS owns and manages the 204-acre Ruth Walgreen Franklin & Winifred Fels Sanctuary. And the WLT owns a 21-acre parcel off Route 22 that's the dedicated "open space" of The Hamlet, a condo development.
A draft of the proposed regulations is being discussed and refined at the Planning Board level and will eventually be presented to the Town Board for its review. A public hearing will then be scheduled. The Planning Board is expected to take the matter up again at its Sept. 2 meeting.
According to Planning Board Chair Cynthia Curtis, the NSOLF was gifted an 88-acre property in 2018 that became the Weil Preserve on Dingle Ridge Road.
It came with a barn that had been converted into an accessory apartment, a garage, and a large house that the organization has been using as its offices and for meetings, educational workshops, and special events.
The problem is that the property is located within an R-4 zone (residential four-acre) where the only permitted uses include single-family detached homes, orchards, and crop farming. Conditional or special uses include boarding stables and breeding farms.
Therefore, the NSOLF is not currently in conformance with town code, Curtis explained.
The 501(c)(3) could go for a zoning change, but at the suggestion of the town’s planning consultant, Will Agresta, is instead working with the town as it creates a special use permit just for land conservancies.
If adopted, the new regulations would allow those types of organizations to use and maintain existing buildings on parcels of 50 acres or more for offices or meeting space and programs that support their mission. That would require a special use permit from the Planning Board.
For parcels smaller than 50 acres, any existing house or structure may be allowed to be used in accordance with the underlying zoning. That could mean that the house or structure would remain on the tax roll.
“We don’t want to see a lot of structures built on conservancies, the whole idea is to conserve land,” Curtis told Halston Media.
(Small, non-enclosed structures such as kiosks and gazebos apparently are okay.)
Preserving open space is one of the pillars of North Salem’s comprehensive plan and that’s why, Curtis said, the town is willing to work with the NSOLF and other land trusts to come up with a solution that works for everyone.
Among the items to be addressed are accessibility, parking, refuse, tree removal, outdoor sound systems, trail usage, hunting, signage, and event/activities planning.
It was suggested that, as part of the permit application process, conservancy organizations be required to describe the “frequency, duration, and nature” of activities and events, such as the NSOLF’s popular “Breakfast with the Bobolinks.”
Most of NSOLF’s activities are open to the public, but there are certain occasions when they are limited to its members, and those are usually held at private locations.
However, the rules have to be “somewhat flexible,” said Agresta, because “no one’s expecting to set up a calendar for the year and be the same thing every year, because things change over time.”
Curtis noted that current guidelines for special use permits for, for example, horse shows might limit their frequency to “what is tolerable for the area or the neighborhood.”
“We don’t want to make it a flat rule because what can happen on the parcel on Baxter Road is different from what could happen on a parcel somewhere else in town,” she said.
Right now 501(c)3 organizations have to get two- or five-year permits that are back before the Planning Board for review after two years.
An “itinerary concept” would allow organizations the opportunity to seek amendments when necessary, Curtis noted.
The length of the proposed special permit for land trusts is still “up in the air,” she said.
Agresta suggested that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to conduct the occasional “check-in” like the town currently does with cell towers, which require 10-year special permits and land-use approvals.
Variances can also be sought.
The proposed rules make “it clear that any uses (of said property) must be part of their mission,” meaning that yoga classes would be out but classes on native plant identification would be in, Curtis explained.
WORKING TOGETHER
The NSOLF’s new executive director, Joyce Leiz, appeared before the Planning Board on Wednesday, Aug. 12, with a long list of questions.
The town has “been very good” about listening to the organization’s comments and then integrating them into the draft of the proposed regulations, she told Halston Media later, adding that the NSOLF “wants to make sure that the language allows us the opportunity for future growth.”
One of the current requirements for trails for horses or humans is that they be located no less than 100 feet of a neighbor’s property line.
Since that only applies to those on private property, and the NSOLF allows the general public to use its trails, that won’t be a problem.
The width of trails and the use of motorized vehicles on conserved land also came up.
The NSOLF may in the future want to widen some of its trails in order to make them ADA compliant, Leiz pointed out.
The town seemed willing to make exceptions for certain mobility devices, as well as emergency vehicles and those used for “approved” onsite maintenance.
Refuse containers and port-o-potties aren’t permitted, but pet waste stations are – as long as they are regularly emptied.
Horses and humans share trails at, for example, the Audubon Society’s property.
That means hikers and walkers sometimes have to dodge so-called “road apples,” according to Planning Board member Christopher Stankiewicz.
Fortunately, no one’s going to be required to remove said manure.
“That would be a lot to go and clean up after horses,” Leiz admitted.
Tree removal was a topic for discussion, too.
The proposed regulations would prohibit tree “harvesting” and require that any tree that was cut down to be left in place.
(Leaving felled trees alone benefits the environment by feeding the soil as they decompose and provides homes for bugs and small animals.)
In her previous roles, Leiz has had “some properties” where trees "in decline" had been selectively removed under the guidance of state Department of Environmental Conservation’s experts. In one particular case, the lumber was sold in order to offset the substantial cost of the forest management project.
She assured the board that the NSOLF would never even consider clearing “large swaths of land.”
Pointing out that land trusts could seek forest harvesting permits, Curtis said that the board was suggesting that “given the nature of land conservancy, we don’t expect to see harvesting on those parcels.”
However, it would give things “some thought,” she added.
Leiz was also concerned that the proposed “no hunting” rule would impact Golden’s Bridge Hounds, a local group that’s been carrying on the tradition of fox hunting since 1924.
Curtis reassured her that the town doesn’t consider that “hunting.”
(GBH maintains that its goal is not to kill wildlife, but to train hounds to track scents, enjoy the chase, and flush out foxes.)
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