Topic 4: Environmental and Natural Resources and Conservation
Scenario 4-1:
The Town Council appoints you to a committee that is tasked with developing an action plan that will improve the environmental sustainability of the community. What would be your top three recommendations for ways that the local government, businesses and residents in Shepherdstown could be more sustainable in their activities and reduce environmental impacts? What actions would need to be taken to achieve those sustainability goals, and what types of resources would be needed? Who would be responsible for carrying them out? Would you focus on mandatory measures, such as regulatory ordinances, to achieve these goals, or would you incentivize sustainable behavior and actions by creating the conditions that make sustainable activity easier to achieve?
- Discussions on developing an environmental sustainability plan included the following:
- Requirements to preserve land as open space for new devel-opment
- Encourage the generation and use of renewable energy
- Use Town Run for small scale hydroelectric generation
- Need to clean up streams, replace old sewer lines and re-quire stormwater detention.
- Allow historic homes to use more energy efficient compo-nents / materials and generate renewable energy.
- Encourage more recycling
- Encourage more bike and pedestrian activity to improve air quality
- Focus commercial development in the core of town
- Don’t urbanize the waterfront
- Provide more parking on the edge of downtown to encourage more walking
- Provide public transportation
- Requirements to preserve land as open space for new devel-opment
Scenario 4-2:
You are a developer who has acquired a large tract of land just outside of Town. The land is located near the river, and is currently being used for farming, but also contains a large section of wooded area, as well as streams and wetlands. You want to develop the property in a way that is environmentally friendly, but you also need to realize a profit from your development. You decide that you will prepare a sustainable growth plan for the site that will be aimed at preserving the most important environmental features on the property. What would be the primary elements of the plan? How would you integrate your development into the natural landscape to reduce potential impacts on the environment? Who would you reach out to for assistance in preparing your plan? Are there any examples of an environmentally sustainable development in the local area, or elsewhere, that you would try and emulate for your project?
- Ideas for developing a sustainable growth plan for the property include:
- Prioritizing the preservation of land along streams
- Preserve wetland areas
- Preserve high quality farmland
- Establish riparian buffers
- Continue active farming on the land
- Maintain a low impervious surface ratio
- Use gravel roads
- Maintain rural viewsheds
- Preserve trees and other native vegetation
- Use cluster development techniques
- Prioritizing the preservation of land along streams
Scenario 4-3:
You are starting an organization whose goal is to promote the preservation of an important environmental / natural resource in the area that no other group is currently advocating for at the local level. This could include farmland, open space, a greenbelt around Shepherdstown, the Potomac River, a scenic vista, heritage trees or similar features in the local environment. What would you choose to advocate for, and how would you go about promoting the preservation of the resource that your group chooses? Who would you look to partner with? Where would you get funding to achieve your goals, and what could or should the Town’s involvement be?
- Town Run as a resource preservation effort:
- Focus on waterfront to Morgan’s Grove
- Partner with:
- WV Department of Natural Resources
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Property owners
- Town of Shepherdstown
- WV Department of Natural Resources
- Town could work to acquire property or easements
- Focus on waterfront to Morgan’s Grove
- Potomac River as a resource preservation effort:
- Need to bring people to the river to enhance knowledge of is-sues and heighten community awareness
- Develop boat ramp area to bring people to the river
- Need to work with the state to enforce water quality rules
- Restore historic sites on the river to increase access
- Need to bring people to the river to enhance knowledge of is-sues and heighten community awareness
Scenario 4-4:
You serve on the board of a conservation organization whose mission is to acquire land for open space, as well as promote the preservation of active farming in the Shepherdstown area through the acquisition of conservation easements. You are leading a committee of the board that is tasked with developing a strategic land acquisition program, and are meeting with the group to brainstorm about which properties you should target for preservation. Using the map provided, identify those tracts of land that you feel would be most important to preserve from potential development. Assuming that funds were not limited and property owners were willing to either sell or donate their property or grant conservation easements if asked, what criteria would you use to identify the properties that would be most beneficial to preserve? What impacts would the conservation of these properties have on the environment? How would the preservation of these properties affect growth patterns in the area?
- Discussion on this topic focused on the following:
- Dual benefit of protecting farmland and preserving green space around town
- Benefit to local food economy
- Marketing tie-in with ecotourism
- Could support a year round farmers market
- Creating a rural buffer along highway corridors
- Can be used as a way to preserve battlefield areas
- Can be used to provide greenway connections to outlying areas
- Dual benefit of protecting farmland and preserving green space around town