HomeMy WebLinkAboutComp Review of Stewardship for Town Owned O S
Telephone (631) 765-5711
Facsimile (631) 765-6640
OFFICE LOCATION:
Town Hall Annex
54375 State Route 25
(comer of Main Road & Youngs A venue)
Southold, New York
MELISSA A. SPIRO
LAND PRESERV AnON COORDINATOR
melissa. spiro @town.southold.ny.us
MAILING ADDRESS:
P.O. Box 1179
Southold, NY 11971-0959
DEPARTMENT OF LAND PRESERVATION
TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
TO:
Supervisor Russell
Town Board
FROM:
Melissa Spiro, Land Preservation Coordinator
James McMahon, Director of Public Works
RE:
Comprehensive Review of Stewardship for Town Owned Open Space
DATE:
October 13, 2006
This memorandum was prepared in anticipation of our October 17th appointment with the Town
Board.
The purpose of the memo is threefold:
. to help organize the October 17th discussion,
. to give the Town Board a comprehensive fact sheet of stewardship related items, and
. to assist the Town Board with the development of policies in regard to its stewardship
and management obligations for Town owned open space.
An outline for our discussion follows. Information for each outlined item is contained as separate
attachments.
I. Stewardship Mission Statement and Purposes of Community Preservation Fund (Pg. 2)
II. Stewardship/Management and the Community Preservation Fund Legislation (Pg. 3)
III. Staff and Contractors involved with Stewardship/Management Year 2006 (Pg. 4)
IV. Stewardship Tasks and Costs Year 2006
a. Restoration, Management and Maintenance (Pg. 5)
b. Programmatic and Educational Programs (Pg. 6)
c. Monitoring and Enforcement (Pg. 7)
d. Miscellaneous (Pg. 7)
V. Policy Approvals requested from Town Board and Recommendations for Year 2007
(Pg. 8)
Page 1 of 11
I. Stewardship Mission Statement and Purposes of Community Preservation Fund
The Southold Town Stewardship Program's mission is to:
. Carefully manage land usage to ensure natural systems are maintained or enhanced for
future generations; and
. To unite people with nature and to nurture an appreciation and stewardship of the
environment, through educational programming and contact with the flora and fauna on
the Town's open space parks, nature preserves and passive recreational areas.
The Town's current primary emphasis is, and will continue to be, acquisition. However,
Conservation does not end with acquiring property...it is the beginning. Protecting and
enhancing the conservation values of the lands we acquire is some of the most important work
the Town is involved in. The goal of the Southold Stewardship Program is to be the most
credible and capable stewards of the land as possible, in perpetuity.
Southold Town Code, Chapter 17 (Community Preservation Fund) provides the purpose,
justification and funding allowances for stewardship and management of Town owned Open
Space as described in the above-mentioned mission statement.
Purposes of the fund include:
. Providing the Town's visitors and residents with outdoor recreational opportunities, and
. Providing a management and stewardship program for such rights and interests
acquired by the fund, consistent with the provisions of the Community Preservation
Fund and in accordance with the Southold Community Preservation Plan.
Sections of the Code pertaining to stewardship and management are attached as Exhibit A
(pg 9.) Specific references to purpose, stewardship and management are in bold.
Page 2 of 11
II. Stewardship/Manaaement and the Community Preservation Fund Leaislation
Since the inception of the Community Preservation Fund through 10/10/06, revenues have totaled
$39,387,374. This includes:
. $ 31,875,702 directly from the 2% Land Transfer Tax;
. $ 972,528 from interest;
. $ 500,150 from Gifts and Donations; and
. $ 6,038,994 from State and Federal Aid
Since the inception of the Community Preservation Fund through 10/10/06, expenditures have
totaled $29,472,112. This includes:
. $27,768,386 for land/easement actual purchase price; and
. $1,703,726 for expenditures other then land/easement actual purchase price. This is
further broken down into:
o $581,254* for Expenditures directly related to stewardship (Site Development
Payroll, Stewardship Supplies, Stewardship Staff Payroll, Stewardship, and
Equipement)
*This breakdown was calculated by Melissa and should be confirmed for
accuracy by John Cushman.
o $1,122,470* for Expenditures directly related to the land/easement acquisition
(Legal Council, Administration (pending capitalization) Un-capitalized Acquisition
Costs) and Expenditures related to both land/easement acquisition and the
management of the preservation program (Non-Stewardship Staff Payroll, Non-
Stewardship Consultants and Fringe)
*This breakdown was calculated by Melissa and should be confirmed for
accuracy by John Cushman.
The Community Preservation Fund allows for a maximum of 10% of the fund to be utilized for
management and stewardship. The legislation does not provide guidance on how to calculate the
10%. The Town's stewardship and management cumulative expenditures based on cumulative
revenues is not yet near to approaching the 10% maximum. However, it is recommended that the
Town Board work with the Town Comptroller, the Land Preservation Coordinator and the Land
Preservation Committee in developing a policy for determining and monitoring the maximum
allowed expenditures.
Page 3 of 11
III. Staff and Contractors involved with Stewardshio/ManaQement Year 2006
Stewardship and Management of Town owned open space is currently performed by James
McMahon and DPW staff, PL T, Cornell and other outside contractors. The breakdown for 2006 is
as follows:
Town Department of Public Works (DPW)
DPW maintains all Town owned land. This review deals with Town owned Open Space properties
only. James McMahon, Director of Public Works, supervises the DPW staff in regard to Town
owned Open Space properties. In addition to James McMahon, 12 DPW employees are available
to perform maintenance on Town owned Open Space lands.
. 68% of McMahon's salary is charged to the Community Preservation Budget.
. $20,000 for DPW staff is included in the 2006 Community Preservation Budget.
It is expected that all budgeted funds will be spent by end of year.
Peconic Land Trust
PL T 2006 Contract for Stewardship was $43,000
. $8,000 included in Land Preservation Dept. Budget (this line was for non-2% funded
projects, more specifically, Downs Farm Preserve);
. $35,000 included in Community Preservation Budget.
It is expected that all budgeted funds will be spent by end of year.
Cornell Cooperative Extension
Cornell 2006 Contract for Laurel Lake flora and fauna and trail brochure
. $20,000 included in Community Preservation Budget
It is not expected that the entire budgeted funds will be spent by end of year.
Others Contractors
. $40,000 included in Community Preservation Budget
It is not expected that the entire budgeted funds will be spent by end of year.
Page 4 of11
IV. Stewardship/Manaaement Tasks and Costs Year 2006
Stewardship/Management tasks and costs involve several aspects. We divided tasks and costs
into 4 specific areas:
. Restoration, Management and Maintenance
. Programmatic and Educational Programs
. Monitoring and Enforcement, and
. Miscellaneous in order to more specifically discuss costs associated with each particular
aspect.
Restoration, Management and Maintenance
Restoration and Manaqement involve:
. Initial clean-up (safety purposes) and posting of site. Each site is different. Some sites
have un-safe buildings requiring immediate action. Others require simple actions such
as posting as Town owned property.
. Management Plan for site. Each site needs to be inventoried and a Management Plan
needs to be developed. The amount of work and time required for each Plan depends
on the size and complexity of the site. The Stewardship Working Group is assisting with
Management Plans for Town owned open space properties.
. Trail blazing. Each site is different. Some sites will not be developed with trails, some
sites have existing trails and others require trail planning and blazing.
. Trail and Site improvements. Each site is different. Some require trail improvements
(drainage, boardwalks, etc.) and removal/control of invasive species, while others do
not. Some site improvements include small projects such as small parking area, while
others require substantial improvements such as the site improvements required to fix
the Pavilion at Laurel Lake (roof, siding, windows, etc.) or even more specific
improvements such as a Nature Center.
Since each property is different in size, original condition, improvements, etc., we did not
compute an average cost for these tasks. Costs could be calculated for each preserve, but
we decided that since each preserved varied so much, that an average cost was not a
necessary number.
In addition to the 2006 budgeted amount for Staff/Contractors discussed in the
Staff/Contractors section above, to perform these tasks, $55,000 was budgeted in 2006 for
supplies and materials.
Maintenance:
Once initial improvements are completed at a Preserve, maintenance consists mainly of
mowing and clipping of trails.
Sites with buildings require additional maintenance.
Page 5 of 11
We computed an average cost for on-going maintenance. The average cost for on-going
maintenance is approximately $2,400 per year for each of the 6 Town preserves which
have been opened for regular public access. The Town also performs maintenance on
properties owned jointly with the County. The costs noted are for all maintenance
performed on preserved land.
Through programs facilitated by PL T in the last year, approximately 90 hours of Volunteer
Labor have contributed to Stewardship/Management of Town owned open space.
Programmatic and Educational Programs
Once sites are improved, PL T and the Town have been holding educational programs at different
preserves. The programs provide educational information in regard to the particular program
subject, bring the community to the sites for which public funding was used and serve as outreach
for the Town's preservation efforts.
PL T (under the PL T Stewardship contract) facilitated, at the direction of Jim McMahon, all
educational programs on Town owned open space.
Jim McMahon attended and helped facilitate all educational programs on town owned land.
PL T and DPW staff both performed required work, as applicable prior to events.
. To date in the Year 2006, 15 educational programs were held, and 5 additional
programs are planned for the remainder of the year. See Exhibit B for list of programs
(pg. 11). Costs were charged to the Community Preservation Budget for projects held
on 2% properties. Costs for programs on non-2% properties (Downs Farm) were
charged to the Land Preservation Budget.
· In an 8 month period (Jan -August 2006), approximately $14,000 was spent on
planning, prepping, attending and paying for the program presenter. This averages out
to approximately $1,100 per program.
PL T bills are itemized in a way that includes trail mowing, clipping, etc., prior to an
educational program as educational costs rather then general maintenance costs. If we
were to separate trail mowing, clipping, etc., prior to an event from the actual cost of the
program (since this would otherwise be considered maintenance), the average cost per
program would drop significantly.
It takes PL T on average 2 days of prep for each program, at a cost of approximately
$490 per program.
· The average cost for presenters for January - August, 2006 programs was
approximately $133. Six of the 12 programs during that time-frame had no cost
attached to the presenter. The most expensive presenter fee (Talons) was $750 and the
least expensive was $0. Over 200 people attended the Talons program, each paying a
$3 admission fee.lf the program presenter charged for a program or if supplies were
required, an admission fee was charged to help offset the cost.
· There were on average 35 people in attendance for each program, with Talons! A Bird
of Prey Experience, drawing the largest crowd of approximately 200.
Page 6 of 11
. In addition to the above-mentioned organized events, the Town preserves are used by
other groups like the schools, the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts for educational
programs.
Monitoring and Enforcement
As management plans are developed for each preserve, and use of each preserve increases,
monitoring and enforcement efforts are likely to increase.
This is not a pressing issue at the moment, but issues are likely to arise in the future.
Miscellaneous
Additional Miscellaneous Costs:
. Equipment is needed for stewardship .when equipment is needed it is budgeted in the
applicable budget year.$8,500 was approved, and spent, in Year 2006 budget.
. Grants are applied for to off-set stewardship costs.
The Town received a grant for $97,500 from NYS Parks for Laurel Lake site
improvements.
Page 7 of 11
v. Policy Approvals reauested from Town Board and Recommendations for Year 2007
· Approval requested to continue site restoration, management and maintenance in 2007
in the manner described above, and in a similar fashion to that conducted in Year 2006.
o Suggested policy:
That James McMahon or Melissa Spiro review, and request approval for any
individual proposed project regarding site restoration, management or
maintenance exceeding a cost of $1 0,000, with Town Board at a work session
prior to implementation.
. Approval requested to continue educational programs in the manner described above,
and in a similar fashion to that conducted in Year 2007, with a proposed increase to
approximately 25 programs per year.
o Request for Town Board to set policy in regard to admission charge for
educational programs on Town owned Open Space.
. Approval requested to continue development of Management Plans with the assistance
of the Stewardship Working Group. Plans to be brought to Land Preservation
Committee and Town Board for adoption.
. Recommendation that the Town Board work with the Town Comptroller, the Land
Preservation Coordinator and the Land Preservation Committee in developing a policy
for determining and monitoring the maximum allowed expenditures in accordance with
the Community Preservation Fund allowance for a maximum of 10% of the fund to be
utilized for management and stewardship.
. Proposed budget for 2007 addresses increases for specific categories noted above.
This is proposed to be discussed at Town Board scheduled budget meetings.
Page 8 of 11
EXHIBIT A
Sections of the Town Code, Chapter 17 (Community Preservation Fund) pertaining
to Purpose, Stewardship and Management.
Specific references to Purpose, Stewardship and Management are in bold.
9 17-3. Legislative purpose.
It is the purpose of this article to establish and create the Southold Community
Preservation Fund for the purpose of community preservation as that term is defined
in Town Law 9 64-e, Subdivision (1 )(b), and 9 17-4 of this article. Community
preservation includes protecting and preserving open and undeveloped lands in the
Town of Southold, including wetlands, woodlands, agricultural lands and shorelands,
and the other natural resources of the Town for the purpose of protecting historic
places and properties within the Town and for the purpose of providing the
Town's visitors and residents with outdoor recreational opportunities, all in
accordance with the provisions of 9 64-e of the New York State Town Law and as
more fully set forth therein.
917-6. Purposes of fund.
A. The purposes of the fund shall be exclusively:
(1) To implement the South old Community Preservation Project Plan for Community
Preservation as required by 9 64-e, Subdivision (6), of the Town Law.
(2) To acquire interests or rights in real property for the preservation of community
character within the Town, including the portion of any Village therein, in accordance
with said plan.
(3) To establish a bank pursuant to a transfer of development rights program consistent
with 9 261-a of the Town Law, at the sole discretion of the Town Board.
(4) To provide a management and stewardship program for such rights and
interests acquired by the fund, consistent with the provisions of this article
and in accordance with the Southold Community Preservation Plan.
C. Not more than 10% of the fund shall be utilized for the management and
stewardship program provided for in ~ 17-6A(4).
~ 17-8. Management of lands acquired pursuant to chapter.
A. Land(s) or interest(s) in real property acquired pursuant to this article shall be
administered and managed in a manner which:
(1) Allows public use and enjoyment in a manner compatible with the natural,
scenic, historic and open-space character of such lands or interests in real
property.
(2) Preserves the native biological diversity of such lands or interests in real
property.
(3) With regard to lands as open space (as opposed to lands acquired for active
recreation use or public water access, or improved lands acquired for historic
preservation reasons), improvements shall be limited to those designed to
enhance access for passive use of such open-space lands, such as nature
trails, boardwalks, bicycle paths and peripheral parking areas, provided that
Page 9 of 11
such improvements do not degrade the ecological value of the land or
threaten essential wildlife habitat.
(4) Preserves cultural property, historic properties and historic and cultural resources in
a manner which is consistent with accepted standards for historic preservation.
B. The Town may enter into agreements with corporations organized under the New
York Not-For-Profit Corporation Law, and which engage in land trust activities, in
order to provide for the management of lands acquired pursuant to this article,
including less-than-fee interests in land. Any such agreements shall, however,
provide that such corporations shall keep the lands under management
accessible to the public unless such corporations shall demonstrate to the
satisfaction of the Town Board that public access would be detrimental to the
lands or to any natural resources or features associated therewith.
Page 10 of 11
EXHIBIT B
List of 2006 Educational Programs
TOS Educational Programs 2006
March 11: Bird House Building at Down's Farm Preserve
March 29: Bat Box Building at Laurel Lake Preserve
April 1: Vernal Pond Exploration at Arshamomaque Preserve
May 13: Birding with John Turner at Laurel Lake Preserve
June 1: National Trails Day Celebration at Laurel Lake Preserve
June 24: Teepee Ted and His Traveling Wilderness Museum at Down's Farm Preserve
July 15: Botany Exploration wi Steve Schott at Arshamomaque Preserve
July 22: Bug Day with Cornell Cooperative Extension at Laurel Lake Preserve
July 29: Ted and His Traveling Wilderness Museum at Down's Farm Preserve
August 5: Talons! A Bird Of Prey Experience at Laurel Lake Preserve
August 17: Wetland Exploration at Dam Pond Maritime Reserve
August 19: Slime and Scales: An Introduction to Reptiles at Down's Farm Preserve
Sept. 9: Teepee Ted and His Traveling Wilderness Museum at Down's Farm Preserve
Sept. 23: Adopt-a-Preserve Stewardship Day at Laurel Lake Preserve
Sept. 30: Teepee Ted Fire-Making Workshop
Upcoming Programs:
Oct. 21: Teepee Ted and His Traveling Wilderness Museum at Down's Farm Preserve
Nov. 4: Dr. Ralph Solecki Event
Nov. 5: Full Moon Hike at Dam Pond Maritime Reserve
Nov. 11: Quack! A Fall Migration Hike with John Turner at Dam Pond Maritime Reserve
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