Northeastern Conservation Overlay District
After the comments received regarding the Critical Environmental Areas, the Town Applied to the DEC for funding - to create environmental zoning specific to protecting critically important environmental habitats. As a result, the Hudson River Estuary Program and Cornell University Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, selected the Town of New Paltz to participate in the Conservation Overlay Zoning Training and Assistance Project.
A Conservation Overlay District would protect several large, intact forested and wetland areas throughout the Town, ensuring that any of the ecologically important aspects of these areas that are not currently protected by code are protected and that the Town Planning Board is given the tools it needs to allow ecologically sustainable development. This initiative is a good compliment to the CPF. The draft was prepared by Ted Fink (author of our CPP) and a volunteer committee.