Easement Guidelines For Landowners

A majority of the land that the Hudson Highlands Land Trust protects is through the voluntary donation of conservation easements by conservation-minded landowners. The Land Trust recognizes that landowners who place conservation easements on their properties often want the flexibility to allow some buildings to be placed on the land in the future. It is important to ensure the right balance between valuable natural resources and new structures that should be sited to fit within the landscape.

The Land Trust works to protect a variety of resources

Agricultural Land: Agricultural land provides a unique visual quality to our landscape, and is a source of basic food needed for the growing population. Locating structures at the edge of a field rather than in the middle preserves its future agricultural potential and offsite views.

Forests: Forests play a vital role in our ecosystem by holding moisture, producing oxygen, holding highly erodable soil on the hillsides, and providing wildlife habitat. Scientific study has shown us that we are entirely dependent on the plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms that make up the biodiversity of our land. Allowing nature to help guide a site design by minimizing the degree to which the terrain is altered can help preserve our biodiversity. Tucking buildings into a woodland edge, screened by a few trees at the edge of the property avoids forest fragmentation.

Water Resources: Stream corridors, ponds, wetlands, aquifers, and floodplains store and regulate flood and storm water runoff, control erosion, provide habitat for diverse species, and help to filter pollutants contributing to the protection of clean groundwater. A 100-foot minimum setback from a stream, wetland, or water body can help to preserve the water's quality, integrity and health. This is in many cases a New York State DEC requirement.

Scenic Views: Scenic views are resources that everyone enjoys. Appropriate siting and design of buildings are important to protect views from offsite. Poor planning can result in protrusions that impact everyone's view. Architecture that complements rather than dominates a site, and buildings that are sited and designed to conform to the lay of the land using existing site features will blend nicely into the existing landscape.

The Land Trust wishes to ensure that buildings are sited to affect the least amount of change to the landscape in order to protect the property's most valuable assets.

Crestline Siting - Appropriate siting on the landscape is important to the Land Trust in terms of visibility from off site. The Land Trust shall not accept easements where crest line siting is proposed. It is better to build along the side of a hill rather on the crest line where the sun is hotter, the wind is colder and stronger, and landscape plants have a hard time growing. A crest line site impacts everyone's view.

Prime Forest - Preserving prime forest as part of an ecosystem is important but siting structures must also be weighed against other important resources. Our goal is to preserve the forest integrity and old growth forests as much as possible. All forest management shall be based on accepted silvacultural practices. All logging shall be done based on a management plan prepared by a forester approved by the Land Trust; accepted NYS sustainable forestry guidelines; and/or NYS 480-a logging guidelines. It is better to not "clean up" (clear underbrush) woodlands and fence lines in order to prevent the elimination of increasingly scarce wildlife habitat. Selective clearing for views and reviewing tree clearing a bit at a time from both onsite and off saves having to replant large specimens later on.

Building Envelopes - The size of building envelopes shall depend upon the size of the property. Clustering buildings (house, barns, sheds) together and retaining larger blocks of un-built land is consistent with surrounding land use patterns and stronger protection of our resources.

Appropriate Size of Structures -

Principal Residence: The size of a principal residence shall be in proportion to the size of the land or "acreage to be protected."

Allow the landscape, rather than the buildings, to remain the dominant feature.

Height -The height of buildings shall not exceed 30' as measured from the average historic mean grade to the top of the highest roof peak. Well-designed architecture blends into rather than protrudes from the landscape. Buildings should never protrude above the treetops as seen from offsite.

Color - Under the Land Trust easements, non-reflective paint shall be required and the use of natural colors shall be recommended. Bright colors tend to stand out and contrast with the natural setting.

Agricultural Structures: Agricultural structures shall be allowed on those properties that have agricultural land. The size of agricultural structures shall be in proportion to the amount of agricultural land on the property to be protected. Indoor riding arenas shall be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Architectural Review - Buildings that blend into the landscape and appear traditional to the area result in a more beautiful home. The Land Trust shall have architectural review over siting and impact of buildings, not over someone's taste.

Lighting - Outdoor lighting shall not result in glare visible from off the Property that is inconsistent with the rural character or the natural environment. Night lighting can have a negative impact on off-site views as well as on the nocturnal habits of neighboring wildlife.

Driveways - Unpaved driveways are strongly encouraged over paved surfaces.

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