Protect and maintain the Town’s environmentally sensitive areas and natural resources

The Town’s envi­ron­men­tal­ly sen­si­tive areas and nat­ur­al resources include its wet­lands, wildlife, open space cor­ri­dors, steep slopes, water­sheds, rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, trees and forests, flood plains, aquifers (potable and non-potable), spe­cial rock out­crops, view sheds/​scenic vis­tas and ridge­lines. The Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Over­lay reg­u­la­tions and envi­ron­men­tal review process should be reviewed and strength­ened, where nec­es­sary. The Town should revis­it its code pro­vi­sions for the off-site mit­i­ga­tion of envi­ron­men­tal impacts, includ­ing wet­land dis­tur­bance and tree cut­ting, with the objec­tive of min­i­miz­ing the trans­for­ma­tion of our habi­tat, for­est and wet­lands and allow­ing for flex­i­bil­i­ty in the loca­tion of mit­i­ga­tion efforts (e.g. off-site but with a high­er mit­i­ga­tion fac­tor) and type of mit­i­ga­tion plant­i­ngs (e.g. shrubs should be allowed to replace trees where appro­pri­ate). The cre­ation of aquifer over­lay dis­tricts should be con­sid­ered. Edu­ca­tion mate­ri­als should be pro­vid­ed for the pub­lic and land devel­op­ers regard­ing the eco­log­i­cal impact of devel­op­ment, the per­mit­ting process and mit­i­ga­tion requirements