“Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.”
— Henry Ford
Rural Character (Saturday AM)
Facilitator/Scribe Schmidt, Copeland, Normandeau
Gaylord Shaw John Evans Tom Johnson Barbara Evans Charles Fish Dwight Miller Matthew Hoffman Carolyn Mayo-Brown Ellice Amanna Patti Smith Eather Falk Jack Manix
Land Stewadship—Thoughtful development—Open lands—Healthy agriculture
and forestry—Roadways—Buildings—Community gatherings—Rural identity—Local
knowledge—Wildlife habitat—Protecting natural resources — Waterways
Problem
Cost of maintaining and preserving buildings
Taxes
What do we preserve?
Develoopment pressures
Fragmentation of decisions
Conflicting priorites
How to achieve consensus
Devlop conservation plan
How to preserve agriculture
How to have zoning and planning support rural character
Possible Solutions
Websites
Publishing agendas for town board meetings
How to maintain access to land
Pressure on the media to publicize meetings
Biodiversity inventory
Absolve landowners of liability
Innovative conservation financing
Harvard forest
Land trusts
e-mail lists
Support right to roam legislation
Support planning and zoning that reflects these goals
orderly process
Attract new farmers
Foster agricultural growth
Community supported agriculture
Incubator farming
Connection with local schools
Bonni Acker
Vern Grubinger
Public support of agriculture because of public benefits
Join with outreach efforts
Tax rural lands more sensibly
Investigate peculiarities of land assessment
Educate public of benefits of open land
Open land costs less (no services required)
Public purchase of lands
Grants —preservation
Town contribution to land preservation grant
Coordinate discussion with landowners to determine land use intentions
More extensive monitoring of air and water quality and soil conservation
More public education
Low
Feasibility
|
Moderate
Feasibility
|
High
Feasibility
|
|
| High Impact | Public purchase of land • Develop plan to attract new agriculture • Public support for farms for benefits they provide • Tax rural lands more sensibly |
Planning and zoning that reflects these goals • Agriculture connection with schools • Encourage CSAs and incubator farms |
Biodiversity inventory • E mail lists • Website |
| Moderate Impact | More monitoring and information on soil and water quality | Coordinate land owners’ discussion of land use intentionsGrantsPresentations | Look into conservation financing (Harvard Forest & VLT) • Publish agenda of town board and commission meetings |
| Low Impact | Educate public on benefits of open land • Landowner liability |
Projects to Preserve Rural Character
#1 Committee to gather and present information of planning and zoning tools to preserve land.
#2 More local food in the school and expanded support of agriculture.
#3 Investigate alternative tax structure for farm and forest land.