3. The Conservation of the Community's Natural Environment, Including the Protection
of Its Unique Natural Features and the Wise Use of Its Land Resources.

Human activities depend on, and must be sensitive to, vital natural resources and the natural environment in which people live. Activities that degrade natural resources ultimately diminish the quality of life experienced by the residents of the affected area. The Town of Red Hook will strive to ensure the careful stewardship of the natural environment for the enjoyment of present and future generations by:

a.   Protecting surface and groundwater resources, particularly existing and potential public water supplies.

b.   Restricting land use and development activities within sensitive aquifer recharge areas that could pollute the groundwater resource

c.   Protecting natural drainage areas by carefully regulating development within and adjacent to wetlands, streams, and flood prone areas.

d.  Preventing increased flooding in downstream areas by controlling increased runoff rates and volumes that may be associated with changes in land use and development activities through project-specific requirements for effective storm water management techniques.

e.   Preventing erosion and sedimentation by controlling the quality of runoff through project specific requirements for the installation and maintenance of effective soil erosion and sedimentation controls, particularly in areas with erodible soils and/or moderate-to-steep slopes.

f.   Limiting development density within areas not served by municipal and/or municipally-approved central water and sanitary sewer service to levels that will neither impair the quality or reliability of the groundwater resource nor exceed the capability of the soils to assimilate sanitary wastes.

g.   Reviewing, monitoring, and otherwise regulating both existing land uses and proposed development activities with the potential to pollute the community's air, soil, or water, or to cause other environmental nuisances, such as excessive noise, light, or odor.

h   Developing an inventory of important wildlife and plant communities and habitats within the Town, so as to protect these communities through the preservation of undeveloped areas and open space corridors.

i.   Conserving prime (USDA Soil Conservation Service Class 1 through 4) and other important agricultural soils.

j.   Identifying, designating, and protecting other critical environmental resource areas.

k  . Controlling the indiscriminate disposal of wastes and providing for their safe and effective disposal.

l.   Carrying out the community�s responsibilities under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), including the consideration of more restrictive, or locationally-specific, Type I thresholds appropriate to the Town to classify proposed actions that would more likely be expected to have a significant impact on the environment and, thus, require the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement.

m.   Encouraging the use of innovative land use techniques, such as conservation easements, transfer of development rights and cluster development, to both protect significant, irreplaceable natural resources and to focus new development interest towards either areas of the particular development parcel or of the community where less disturbance to the Town's natural resource base would occur.