PRESERVING OPEN SPACE: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

This manual is a step-by-step guide for preserving open space. Use it to create an Open Space Action Plan that includes the detailed information needed to acquire property and easements, evaluate development proposals, offer development alternatives, and create a comprehensive community open space system.

An Open Space Action Plan can be developed in short order by committed volunteers with a minimum of technical experience.

The Problem of Open Space Preservation Today

Land use planning and design today typically includes:

* Generalized land use goals expressed through community master plans and land use ordinances.
* Individual property (subdivision) designs. Even if these designs optimize open space within a property, they often do not consider the open space needs of the larger community.

These two minimally integrated planning and design approaches do not require landowners and developers to consider how development of their individual properties often results in overall haphazard and random development. These lead to the rising sprawl and incompatible land uses that we face today.

Many planned communities, such as Columbia, Maryland and Irvine, California, were designed to achieve a balance of residential, commercial, and industrial activity. Most of us, though, live in places that arent planned, but rather developed based on early land use patterns and subsequent zoning and master plans, which often perpetuate those outdated patterns. Inappropriate development of individual properties, even though in accordance with planning ordinances, frequently change the character of a community.

Typically programs to preserve open space focus on natural and cultural resources. Conservation Design or Open Space Residential Design is a newer approach to preserving open space by designing based on a propertys natural and cultural resources. However, while this approach can result in more useable open space within a subdivision, it does not necessarily integrate a subdivision into the larger community, linking neighborhoods, parkland and open space together as a comprehensive open space resource.

A comprehensive community-wide Open Space Action Plan will give decision-makers specific guidance for preserving open space across a community. It can be the basis of an effective program to intervene with landowners, developers, and elected and appointed officials.

Success in preserving open space depends on:

* Identifying and prioritizing individual properties.
* Identifying where scarce funding and volunteer resources should be expended.
* Often collaborating with developers and landowners: Public and private funding for open space acquisition is not sufficient even for the highest priority properties. Open space advocates must reach out to landowners and developers and partner with them in creating developments that preserve essential open space, minimizing need for costly acquisitions.
* Organizing to oppose development where critical open space is at risk.
* A continuing program to identify priority open space properties and negotiate with landowners and developers. A proactive and energetic landowner contact program is especially important in high growth areas where open space is under intense development pressure.

An Effective Approach ?The Open Space Action Plan

* Is a simplified and rapid means of identifying high priority properties for preservation.
* Is a proactive approach to meeting and negotiating with landowners of high priority properties.
* Provides the information needed to intervene with landowners, developers, governing boards and elected officials.
* Includes information for preserving open space in both urban and rural settings.
* Describes an approach to integrating individual properties into community-wide and regional open space planning by developing specific open space goals for each property. This will enable property or subdivision designers to create designs optimizing both parcel open space design and open space for the larger community.
* Provides the information needed to negotiate land acquisition-in-fee (purchase) or conservation easements well before development begins.

Be an Effective Advocate!

Detailed land use information is the key to being an effective advocate for preserving open space. Fortunately, its likely that you know your community better than most developers and consultants. After all, you live there, know its history and its strengths, and what is most worth preserving. With that understanding and the information described in this manual you will be able to create an Open Space Action Plan, advocate for its approval by community officials, and then use it to justify land acquisitions, evaluate development proposals, create and offer alternative development ideas, and effectively present your ideas before the public, permitting authorities, and elected officials.