SOMERS, N.Y. - Somers officials last week formally backed the philosophy behind 30X30, a global movement that aims to protect 30 percent of terrestrial and marine habitat by 2030.
The initiative became official policy in the U.S. in 2021.
Last year, Gov. Kathy Hochul, predicting that 30X30 “will ensure we’re protecting our state for future generations,” signed legislation that sets a goal of “supporting and contributing to” national efforts to safeguard natural resources.
The new state law will build on New York’s existing conservation efforts, she said.
It requires the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to develop strategies to achieve that goal while collaborating with “a broad group of stakeholders.”
Prior to the Town Board’s vote Thursday, Sept. 7, on its own 30X30 resolution, Councilman Richard Clinchy emphasized that the move does not legally obligate the town to take any specific course of action.
“It’s a statement of aspiration that says: ‘Here’s what Somers is about’,” he explained.
Somers recently was recognized by the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA) for adopting NYStretch, a model code intended to help communities reach energy and climate goals.
The resolution passed Thursday, Sept. 7, proclaims that Somers is committed to “work in tandem” with agencies and partners charged with implementing the state’s conservation goal.
Michael Barnhart, president of the Somers Land Trust, a local nonprofit dedicated to preserving the town’s open space, and SLT members Jan Antonucci and Gail Simpson, attended the meeting via Zoom.
The three are also members of the town’s Open Space Committee, which was credited Thursday with helping craft the resolution’s wording.
The SLT this spring hosted an Arbor Day talk by Tony Hiss, author of “Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth.”
He spoke about the importance of biodiversity.
According to Hiss, Somers has – so far -- protected 5,843, or 28.3 percent, of its 20,583 acres.
There’s been some debate over the exact definition of protected “open space,” but generally the SLT considers it to be land that’s “deed restricted and enforced,” Barnhart told the Town Board.
He also pointed out that the SLT already partners with the state DEC and is a member of Hudson to Housatonic (H2H), an organization that advances the pace and practice of regional land protection and stewardship by collaborating across municipal and state boundaries within Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, and Fairfield (Ct.) counties.
“I’m hoping that it (the resolution) becomes a model, and we can take it to that organization, which has connections all over Connecticut and New York,” Barnhart said, adding: “I think we have the potential to have an impact.”
Clinchy said that, while researching the topic, he talked to the Association of Towns of the State of New York to see if it could provide any “samples” of similar resolutions passed by members.
“They said: ‘No one has adopted one yet, so if you do, please send it to us and we will distribute it’,” the councilman said.
The town’s Open Space Committee tracked an example down in Colorado and used it as a basis for its own draft resolution.
Somers is located within an environmentally sensitive area that provides drinking water for New York City and other municipalities.
In the resolution, the town promised to “redouble” its own land and water protection efforts and declared itself a state “30X30 conservation community.”
Voting ‘yes’ were Councilmen Tom Garrity, Anthony Cirieco, and Clinchy, and Supervisor Robert Scorrano, who noted that the town could always “amend or rescind” the resolution if necessary.
“So we’re still in a position of strength if we do this. We’re just telling the town, we’re in, this is our roadmap, our game plan,” Scorrano said, adding: “I think it’s a great initiative.”
Councilman William Faulkner -- worried that the the town might be obligated to take specific actions and be stuck with the cost of implementing them -- abstained from the vote.
“If we want to have a goal of 30, 35, or 40 percent in Somers, that’s fine for us to do, but I’m concerned about the unintended consequences,” he said, giving as an example, New York City’s establishing itself “as a sanctuary city” for immigrants, documented or otherwise.
“That’s not working out so well for them right now,” Faulkner remarked, adding that he didn’t want to “assume” there’s no downside, cost-wise, to adopting the resolution.
There’s no question that the town will be the recipient of many future proposals for development, Clinchy said.
However, taking a stand now will give it a “philosophical and environmental framework” to use, he said.
It would give developers a heads-up about what kind of town they are hoping to build in, just like the adoption of the NYStretch Code did, and would say “something to the people who are here and the people who will be here in the future,” he said.
By protecting several hundred more acres, the town will place itself in the “vanguard” or “forefront” in New York, Clinchy said, adding that the argument for it was “compelling.”
The resolution simply states that “it is our belief that this is a good thing, a good thing for our town,” he said.
Clinchy recalled that the town had, several years ago, adopted a resolution supporting “Complete Streets,” an approach to planning, designing, building, operating, and maintaining streets that provides safe access to pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders of all ages and abilities.
“It did not require us to do anything, nor do we have to report on it; it’s what we aspire to,” he explained.
WEIGHING THE POSSIBILITIES
According to Barnhart, Somers could reach the magic “30X30” mark “relatively easily.”
Lincoln Hall, a nonprofit organization that calls itself “a haven for today’s most vulnerable boys,” owns more than 450 acres in the Somers hamlet of Lincolndale.
Should it ever “divest” itself of some of that land, and if somehow that acreage eventually wound up being protected, “in one blow we would hit 30 percent,” Barnhart said Thursday.
Cirieco also brought up Stonewall Farm, a 750-acre estate and equestrian facility located on Mahopac Avenue, a designated “scenic road” in Granite Springs. It’s owned by Barry K. Schwartz, the co-founder of Calvin Klein Inc. and former chair and CEO of the New York Racing Association.
The largest privately owned property in Westchester, Stonewall’s been on the market for $100 million for the last few years.
Cirieco wondered if some of its open space could be factored into the town’s 30 percent.
It’s “not protected,” Barnhart responded. Stonewall enjoys an agricultural tax exemption, but parts are zoned for commercial and residential uses.
The Somers Land Trust would love to see Stonewall live on in its current state, not only because of the farm’s value as a natural habitat, but for its historical significance.
The folks in charge of marketing the property have said that it’s possible that parts of it could be developed for housing or commercial purposes.
However, they’ve said, whatever happens still has to conform to local zoning rules and regulations and that the town could ultimately “benefit” from development in terms of parkland or conservation easements.
Then there’s the thorny topic of what’s to become of the former IBM campus on Route 100.
AT 720 acres, it’s one of the biggest commercial properties in town, the other being PepsiCo’s former headquarters on Route 35. Both are owned by Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim Helú.
Last year, Helú’s One P Way LLC managed to secure a significant reduction in the PepsiCo site’s tax assessment and is currently seeking similar relief for the IBM property.
A private STEAM school had been proposed at the old IBM property just prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. That plan seems to have petered out, but local land conservationists are still worried about the property’s being carved up for housing.
RESOLUTION HIGHLIGHTS
The resolution drew attention to environmental crises such as “the dangerous warming of the climate, the loss of vast amounts of natural habitat, and the extinction of plant and animal species at an increasingly alarming rate.”
According to the resolution, weather disasters have cost the state and federal governments an estimated $37.3 billion over the last decade. Those responses are expected to amount to an additional $55 billion by 2029.
Maintaining a healthy environment is “crucial” to mitigating those impacts and to protecting biodiversity, it read.
The state’s own criteria also include prioritizing the protection of water sources and wetlands, providing corridors for wildlife movements, and increasing outdoor access, which is important to human health.
These are goals that Somers itself has “pursued for many years in protecting its unique landscape and semi-rural character,” the resolution states.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here