Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment - Town of Guilford

Section H OPEN SPACE
H.1 Introduction
See separate Map Atlas for map references
Open space provides the framework for experiencing and enjoying our natural assets and provides
access to them. This chapter identifies, catalogues, and analyzes Guilford’s open space rather than the
natural resources it supports, and describes it in regional, state, and national terms. Among the most
important open space for natural resources are those areas that protect public sources of drinking water
and critical habitats such as unfragmented forestland. The Planning and Zoning Commission’s (PZC) Build
Out Study (2002) indicated that of Guilford’s approximate 30,000 acres, roughly 7,500 acres are committed
as open space and roughly 8,100 acres remains as privately-held vacant land. It is this undeveloped, vacant
land where opportunities exist to further protect Guilford’s natural resources. The Town’s commitment to
acquire additional open space will help make this possible.
H.2 Benefits and Functions of Open Space
Open space provides multiple natural resource-related benefits and functions. For example, within a
given area of open space, a stream affords habitat for aquatic organisms, a travel route for terrestrial
organisms, and a food and water source. The open space resource affords access to that stream,
recreational pastimes like fishing, wading, and exploring, and a view of the stream. The integrity of the
open space includes the air above it, the geology below it, a flood buffering function, and the irrigation the
stream may provide to abutting farmland. Open space:
• protects natural resources (water and drinking water supply, wildlife habitat and corridors, soil
resources, air quality, ecological processes)
• enhances quality of life
• provides opportunities for personal rejuvenation
• contributes to our sense of place
• provides outdoor recreation
• protects public health and safety (floodplains, wetlands, vegetated steep slopes, aquifer recharge
areas)
• shapes community character (scenic vistas, buffer strips, greenways, open space dedications
related to development)
• protects historic and archeological sites, historic structures and grounds, historic districts, town
greens
• benefits the region beyond the Town’s borders (e.g., contributes to the State’s green infrastructure 1)
The economic benefits of open space are many. Studies have shown that, compared with residential
development, open space (without need for roads, schools or emergency services) provides a net fiscal
benefit to towns. Economic benefits of open space that accrue to private landowners include:
• tax benefits when landowners participate in the P.A. 490 program
• tax relief through conservation easements
• resource management for agricultural and forest products, fisheries
• enhanced property values for owners of land that abuts open space and conservation easements
H.3 Definition of Open Space
Various definitions of open space are used by the State of Connecticut, the Connecticut General
Statutes, the Land Acquisition Commission (LAC), and the Town Assessor. This section clarifies these
distinctions. Appendix H-1 itemizes the way in which these terms are applied to Guilford’s open land. The
NRIA uses the Connecticut DEP’s definition of “open space,” which is broader than that used by LAC:
Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment Town of Guilford, CT H1
Open Space