How do Municipalities Plan for Openspace Preservation?

Standard municipal openspace plans contain a goal for the plan, community objectives for preservation, a natural resource inventory and analysis, an inventory of places the community deems significant for preservation, an analysis of needs, and an action plan for implementation. Many state and federal agencies require an openspace plan as a prerequisite to funding for acquisition grants. Because acquisition with the aid of matching funds or grants from government and nonprofit agencies is fundamentally a non-democratic process, municipalities must be able to provide funding agencies with evidence that a particular parcel is worthy of preserving or conserving as openspace. Agency interests dictate various foci for acquisition programs. RI DEM gives priority to acquirable lands with documented natural and cultural significance. The US Forest Service's Forest Legacy Program is designed to favor acquisition of forest lands, whereas the US Fish and Wildlife Service's National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Program focuses on littoral wetlands. Therefore, it is important that openspace plans are thorough enough to inform local planners of a natural, historic and cultural resources present in their community.

Once inventoried and analyzed, community resources must be organized in a manner that will facilitate methodical assessment for every parcel that comes under consideration for future acquisitions. Regardless of the extensiveness of an openspace plan, acquisition of will mostly likely not occur in the order as defined by models and implementation plans. Landowners randomly approach municipalities with offers to sell their land, and some choice parcels may take years to acquire. Therefore, openspace plans should be flexible enough to both articulate clear goals for future acquisition as well as facilitate a methodical assessment of all parcels that come to the planning community for consideration.

How does Charlestown Fit into
the Openspace Planning Process?

In June of 1999, the Charlestown Planning Commission placed a budget request to begin work on a municipal Openspace Plan, the fourth phase of Charlestown's growth management plans. In September of 2000, the Commission voted in favor to commence this planning process. The Commission made two goals for the plan: 1) Create an impact fee for new land development, and 2) Develop a ranking system to prioritize land for openspace preservation. The Town Planner, working with the Planning and Conservation Commissions devised a framework that included most aspects of a standard openspace plan. A parcel level natural resource inventory was being conducted, using GIS analysis. Click here to learn more about this project. Much like URI's Critical Lands for Conservation, this natural resource inventory used RI Geographic Information System data layers of existing resource coverages to gain a better understanding of co-occurring resources in the community. Unlike Critical Lands, however, this analysis was conducted on the parcel level. The town hired a consultant to develop its impact fee, conduct an analysis of need for increased openspace, and draft its implementation strategy.

While goals for the plan, a natural resource inventory, an analysis of need and an implementation strategy were accounted for, two large gaps remained. This study aims to address the inventory of places the community deems significant for openspace preservation. Furthermore, the Commission had not determined its overall objectives for preserving openspace. Therefore, the Charlestown Openspace Prioritization Project was conceived to accomplish three clearly defined goals:

1. Help determine town objectives for acquiring openspace
2. Help define areas in Charlestown that are important for protection as openspace
3. Provide the Planning Commission with an understanding of what kinds of land use residents think are appropriate for these areas

All three of these goals would be addressed by an Internet survey for Charlestown residents.