Conservation Advisory Council’s Open Space Index

The Town of Lansing’s Conservation Advisory Council, along with Bergmann Associates, is hard at work on a new way to assess land that is not used for housing, industrial or commercial developments. 

The CAC’s open space index is the latest measure planned by the advisory board in a process that will culminate in the creation of a conservation plan. Areas that are not used for development are typically known as open space. The index will be a scale that can be used to determine the value of open space in Lansing.

“Without this index things are a bit of a hodgepodge, because decisions then fall to the planning board,” said Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, co-chair of the CAC. “Those who make zoning regulations can’t always accommodate all of the intersecting values like all the unique natural areas, what plants there are in a parcel, what amphibians there are, maybe even some cultural aspects.” 

An eventual town conservation plan would showcase maps of different areas of Lansing and how they rank based on their conservation value. Such a plan can help Lansing officials know how best to preserve natural resources associated with open-space lots when considering proposals for future development.

Koplinka-Loehr said that the CAC is in the middle of developing the index. Visual mapping of the town’s resources is scheduled for next month. To help develop the index, the CAC contracted with Bergmann Associates, an engineering and planning consultant with offices in Rochester and Syracuse. 

“We are going to settle on the criteria by which properties will be characterized,” said CAC co-chair Edward Dubovi. “There’s a list of items that go into that characterization, whether it’s a wetland, or farmland, or a unique natural area.”

The CAC, established in 2019, is a committee of nine people appointed by the Lansing town board. One of the tasks of the CAC is to consider ways the town might approach future protection of land. The CAC meets once a month and works with certified consultants who are knowledgeable about land conservation and other environmental issues.

Bergmann Associates and the CAC already created a natural resources inventory in 2021. This inventory uses text and maps to describe the bedrock, soils, streams, shoreline, farmland, wooded areas, vegetation and other features of our town. The inventory also considers how those resources are — and will be — affected by development and climate change.

“Our hope is that down the road there will be landowners who want to preserve their land in perpetuity,” Koplinka-Loehr said. “There’s no aspect of this that involves forcing people. If somebody needs help preserving their land and they know it’s special, and it keeps showing up in all these different inventories, we can be a part of that help.”

Paving the way for having a conservation plan in place soon could prove advantageous to Lansing.

The CAC also developed a frequently asked questions guide, meant to aid residents’ understanding of a potential conservation plan. In it, the CAC detailed some of the potential effects a conservation plan could have on residents and landowners.

“The CAC and the Planning Board might more closely examine a property that owners wish to develop if it has been identified as having conservation value, even if it is not directly subject to additional regulation,” the document states. “In addition, the CAC’s work could inform future zoning changes that could impact potential development.”

Dubovi, professor of veterinary medicine at Cornell University, also pointed out that part of New York state’s goals for future environmental protection include the conservation of about 30 percent of the state’s open space by 2030. Dubovi said the state typically tends to offer funding for conservation efforts, and having a plan in place would give Lansing a head start in applying for funds.

Conservation could also help mitigate the effects of climate change. Koplinka-Loehr, who is also a science writer and published author, said that conserving more natural resources such as forests and open land would help with climate change.

“Heavier rainfall really creates havoc with our roads, our ditches and the amount of erosion that occurs that brings silt into the lake,” she said. “If we were able to keep land open, acting like a sponge for these heavy storms, that would allow water to percolate slowly into the groundwater. That would provide a lot of ecological benefits.”

Conserving forests and grasslands would also help sequester carbon, Koplinka-Loehr said.

“If we can sequester carbon that way, we can keep it out of the atmosphere and in the ground or locked up in our forests for a little while,” she said. 

John Zepko, the town’s acting director of planning and code enforcement, said that the project has already started seeking public input.

“The project has done some public outreach, distributing a survey through town wide mailing, which helped to gauge the public interest in the conservation of open spaces and working landscapes,” Zepko said.

The town board will vote on the conservation plan once it has been completed. A final proposal is expected this fall, as well as another public meeting to inform residents about progress on the project.

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.