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New Hampshire
Developer Adapts Dover's Open Space Subdivision Ordinance to Identify Key Natural Features for Protection
Having earlier established a land conservation fund, made of developer impact fees and special bond appropriations, Dover, some 10 miles inland from the Atlantic Coast, has been trying to make the best of its limited resources by augmenting them in 2002 with a new zoning category, or the open space subdivision (OSS) ordinance, which the Derry-based Qroe Farm company adapted further along smart-growth lines into its own Preservation Development model.
While the OSS ordinance requires developers to cluster homes and keep 20 to 50 percent of the land permanently intact, reports Seacostline web writer Dona Masi Layton, the Preservation Development model identifies key natural features for protection -- a farm, a pond-side trail or an exquisite landscape -- weaving the houses accordingly and blending them into open space, which remains part of individual lots.
If a farmer sells a parcel for Qroe's development, he agrees to farm the rest of the land, while new homeowners agree to pay farmland taxes, to enjoy the unspoiled surroundings and to help ensure the farmer's economic viability. This model ''conserves land, provides greater lifestyle satisfaction to residents, and adds value to development projects,'' said Qroe Farm president Robert Baldwin at a recent outreach and education workshop sponsored by the Dover Open Lands Committee, asserting that it also ''increases the discipline of land protection and maintenance of the open space system, since each homeowner is seen to have a stake.''
The open space, adds the writer, is maintained by deed restrictions rather than permanent conservation easements, with homeowner associations responsible for its upkeep and rule enforcement.
Dover Open Lands Committee chairwoman Joyce El Kourati called it ''an intriguing idea,'' depending on the goals. ''The Qroe Farm approach may not be the best way to ensure the permanent preservation of sensitive natural areas, but it is certainly an effective way to integrate man with the natural landscape,'' she said. ''It looks like this approach has been particularly successful in conserving community farms that otherwise might have been developed.'' -- Seacostline
12/20/2004
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