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One Town Hall Plaza | Clifton Park, NY 12065 | (518) 371-6651 |
Evaluating and Selecting Conservation Projects:
Resource and Project Criteria
Introduction
The Town of Clifton Park is implementing an Open Space Program
based on the Town of Clifton Park Open Space Plan adopted
unanimously by the Town Board in 2003. The overall goal of the
town's open space program is to enhance the quality of life for the
community by increasing the amount of permanently conserved lands
while allowing for smart growth for the future.
The town's conservation approach is to protect and conserve a
balance among the open space resource categories identified through
the public open space planning process: nature preserves and
wildlife habitat (including lands for water quality protection);
lands for active parks and recreation; working farmland; lands and
resources with historic and scenic value; and continuing to provide
for trails and pathways connecting the towns residents.
Another key component of the overall approach for conservation is to
provide a geographical balance of protected lands throughout town.
Finally a major factor for town decision-making about exploring
conservation options is that the landowners must be voluntarily
interested, and if more than one landowner, each landowner must be
ready to move forward. Thus the criteria described below for
"Project Readiness" is a critical part of decision-making.
The following resource and project criteria have been developed
as a tool for conducting evaluation of specific proposed parcels
under consideration for open space conservation. The criteria
were developed based on the community values in the Town of Clifton
Park Open Space Plan 2003. This document is a companion to the
Town of Clifton Park Open Space Plan Resource Evaluation Model 2002
that is park of the Town's Open Space Plan.
Step One in conducting an initial screening of any
proposed properties should include rating the project by the
Eligibility and Major Resource Criteria category. A project
must meet at least one criterion in these major resource criteria in
order to be considered.
Step Two is to rate individual projects by the Project
Readiness Criteria to see whether the project is "ready to go" in
terms of timing priority.
Step Three is to rate individual projects by the Detailed
Criteria per Resource Type. This step may be needed to compare
several projects at once.
Eligibility and Major Resource Criteria
Project Readiness Criteria
Detailed Criteria per Resource Category Area
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