The Stanford Town board adopted a new, comprehensive assessment of the town’s natural resources at its Sept. 11 meeting.
The new Natural Resources Inventory is more than a hundred pages and outlines the location, condition, and significance of various natural resources including streams, wetlands, forests, soils, wildlife and farmland.
The NRI replaces the town’s previous NRI, created in 1982. It will be used as a reference when making zoning and land-use decisions by the town’s various boards and landowners. The document is also an educational resource, encouraging stewardship of the land.
Work on the new NRI began in 2022, spearheaded by ecologist Gary Lovett, and was a joint effort among Stanford’s Conservation Advisory Commission, the state Division of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Hudsonia Ltd., and the Dutchess County Department of Planning and Development.
“The depth of this work is truly astonishing, and it was long overdue. I just can’t thank all of you for getting it over the finish line,” said Wendy Burton, the Stanford town supervisor. Lovett died in December 2022, and the NRI is dedicated to his memory.
Some residents had questions about the recommendations in the NRI’s appendices made by Hudsonia, an environmental research center at Bard College. Hudsonia assisted in the review of Critical Environmental Areas in Stanford, which are ecologically sensitive regions that support biodiversity or contain habitats of endangered species. These areas come with stricter zoning and land use rules. Hudsonia recommended expanding the Millbrook Meadow and Snake Hill CEAs, and creating one new CEA at Lower Wappinger Creek. For now, the town board will not be adopting their recommendations and wrote a clause into the resolution clarifying its position. CAC Chairperson Curtis DeVito read the resolution aloud at the meeting, and was met with applause.
The board also introduced a draft proposal for a year-long extension of the moratorium on large-scale batteries, which expires soon. The board commended the work of the zoning commission, whose members have been attending state-run lectures to understand the risks of large-scale energy storage systems, but said it needed more time to consider whether to allow them in Stanford. A public hearing on the proposed extension r is scheduled for Oct. 8.
Additionally, the board unanimously voted to declare its intent to become the lead agency pursuant to the State Environmental Quality Review Act in the review process for Burdick Park, a nature-focused pocket-park project on Hunns Lake Road. The five-acre parcel was donated to the town and will have walking trails, a pollinator garden and birdhouses. No buildings are planned except possibly a gazebo.
The next Stanford Town Board meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 8.