
|
Neighborhood
Advocacy Program
HOW TO HELP
SAVE OPEN SPACE
IN
YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
-
Find a map of your neighborhood. (You
can this from the Acton GIS Viewer at http://host.appgeo.com/ActonMA/,
from the the Town Engineering Office, or by
contacting ACT)
-
Find your house lot and color it in.
-
Look for nearby vacant parcels and oversized
lots.
-
Determine who owns these lots and what
acreage they have. You may need to go to the
Assessors Office at Town Hall for this
information.
-
Know your zoning district to see what could
be built on the open land. (ACT can help you do
this)
-
Look for potential access to land- locked
parcels. For example:
Frontage
could be purchased from a neighbor
An abutting property could be purchased outright
to gain frontage.
-
Invite your neighborhood over to look at
maps and to discuss the local "build-out"
potential.
-
Talk to each other about people's long range
goals and objectives with respect to their
property. For example, are they retiring soon and
leaving the area? Do they want to stay at their
home, but need tax relief? Have all their children
graduated and are they planning to move on?
-
Talk about options (You may want to invite
an ACT Board member to help you.) These include:
Conservation
Restrictions,
which will reduce the owner's taxes and keep the
land open forever.
Joint purchase of the land by a group of
neighbors and resale with restrictions.
Joint purchase and with a "bargain sale" to the
Town or to ACT
-
If Neighborhood Land is Already Slated for
Development:
Organize
the neighborhood to attend all Planning Board
meetings and Conservation Commission wetlands
hearings. Citizen interest is very important to
these boards.
Get the wetlands maps - know the setbacks,
whether or not there are intermittent streams,
etc. Talk with Conservation Commission.
A Final Note:
Many a person has thought nearby by
land is "too wet", "won't perc" for a septic system,
or "has too much ledge" only to find that as land
becomes more valuable, such problems can often be
overcome.
|