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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDraft Natural Resources Strategies & PoliciesGroundwater (1 of 2) Policy: Maintaining and improving the quality and quantity of groundwater remains a major and ongoing goal for Barnstable, not only to ensure a sustainable yield of high-quality drinking water but to maintain a healthy environment. Ultimately, the Town will strive for a long-term goal of achieving an untreated water supply. Strategies: • Continue to conduct long-range land use and capital facilities planning for future provision and protection of Barnstable’s public water supply. • The Town will continue to partner with independent water districts to analyze data and implement plans to acquire future wells and associated lands before development occurs and designate Zones of Contribution and Wellhead Protection Zones for future public supply wells. • Continue to prioritize the public acquisition of lands within 400 feet of a future public supply well (Zone I), as well as Zone II areas most susceptible to contamination. • Practice water conservation measures to help ensure adequate water supply. • The Town’s Water Supply Division will continue to manage its Water Conservation Program, providing education and free water conservation products to the public. • Continue to implement the Town’s Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan as it relates to the protection of drinking water, particularly in the identification and treatment of Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC) such as PFOS. • Continue to prioritize expansion of the public water supply where private wells are vulnerable to contamination from wastewater effluent, saltwater intrusion or other contaminants. Strategies Continued: • Ensure, in addition to the state’s permitting determinations, that all water supply wells, public and private, are located to avoid water withdrawal impacts on ponds, streams, coastal embayments, and wetlands. • Prevent groundwater mining or overdraft and ensure that withdrawals do not exceed the safe yield of the aquifer. • Ensure that public and private supply well pumping does not cause saltwater intrusion. Groundwater (2 of 2) Marine Waters (1 of 2) Policy: The unique maritime character of working harbors, coastal villages and other developed areas should be protected and, if possible, enhanced. Development in high hazard areas should be limited in order to minimize the loss of life and structures, and to reduce erosion and other environmental damage resulting from storms, natural disasters, and sea level rise. Coastal water quality and habitat must be maintained and improved to allow shellfishing and recreation as appropriate, and to protect coastal ecosystems which support shellfish, finfish, and other coastal wildlife and native coastal plants. Manage the competing uses of marine waters, including fishing, fowling, boating, swimming, and public access to the shore. Strategies: • Control erosion in barrier beaches and coastal banks to the greatest extent possible to protect important wildlife habitat and recreational amenities and provide storm surge protection. Use natural solutions to improve the resiliency of our public beaches and ways to water. Incorporate DEP wetland regulations, as amended, to ensure such review is compliant with state law. • Buildings and infrastructure in areas of projected sea level rise should be designed for protection from flooding as well as to minimize risk to human health and safety. • Continue to refine and implement strategies for complying with the Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) established as part of the Massachusetts Estuaries Program (MEP). Refine plans to address the new Title 5 Septic System and Watershed permit regulations, including updates to the CWMP and filing for watershed permits, as needed. • Protect environmentally fragile areas and reduce nitrate-nitrogen loading in marine recharge areas. • Accomplish the Sandy Neck Beach Park coastal resiliency project. Strategies Continued: • Update and expand the scope of the Town’s Coastal Resource Management Plan (2009) to provide guidance for the various competing uses of all the Town’s harbors and coastal resources, including marine services and facilities, fisheries and aquaculture, natural resources, coastal landforms, coastal structures, and coastal land uses. • The Town will explore options for the zoning of coastal waters as a mechanism for balancing and regulating competing interests such as protecting habitat, protecting overall coastal water quality, and providing coastal access for passive and active water dependent recreational activities. • Consider moratoriums on new docks and moorings until the plan is updated, in order to evaluate the effects of these structures on shellfish and other habitat. • Continue to expand the Ways to Water program, to re-establish and/or designate through appropriate legal means traditional rights of way to marine waters to ensure that these are not lost or abandoned. Continue to develop and maintain maintenance, signage, and outreach programs, including GIS mapping for posting to the Town website and internet sites. • Continue to identify and protect the Town’s remaining eelgrass beds. Marine Waters (2 of 2) Freshwater Lakes & Ponds Policy: To the greatest extent possible, the water quality of Barnstable’s freshwater water bodies should be maintained to standards that support living organisms appropriate for the lake or pond, and allow recreation for the surrounding neighborhood, Town residents, and other recreational users. Strategies: • Wherever possible, land within 100 feet of any freshwater lake or pond should be maintained in its natural, vegetated condition. Where significant populations of rare, endangered or threatened species have been identified, every effort should be made to ensure permanent control over these buffers through acquisition by the Town or a conservation organization through acquisition, conservation restriction or deed restriction. • Within lake and pond recharge areas, development or redevelopment located within 300 feet of freshwater water bodies shall continue to be required to meet critical nutrient loading standards. Where existing development exceeds identified critical loading standards for a fresh water recharge area, redevelopment should maintain or improve existing levels of nutrient loading. • Continue to expand the Ways to Water program, to re-establish and/or designate through appropriate legal means traditional rights of way to freshwater lakes and ponds to ensure that these are not lost or abandoned. Continue to develop and maintain maintenance, signage, and outreach programs, including GIS mapping for posting to the Town website and internet sites. • Maximize the ecological health of the Town’s 5 herring runs. Habitat (1 of 2) Policy: Prevent loss or degradation of critical wildlife and plant habitat, minimize the impact of new development on wildlife and plant habitat, maintain existing populations and species diversity, and maintain areas which will support wildlife’s natural breeding, feeding, and migration patterns. Strategies: • In mapped Sensitive Habitat Areas, clearing of vegetation should be limited. In areas that have multiple habitat attributes, no clearing or cutting of vegetation should be permitted. In less sensitive areas, clearing may be permitted, but will be limited to the minimum area needed for building construction, roads, driveways and accessory structures, and as needed for safe sight distances. In any other undeveloped areas, clearing and alteration of topography should be minimized, with appropriate vegetation planted as needed to enhance or restore wildlife habitat. • In undeveloped areas outside Sensitive Habitat Areas, clearing of vegetation and alteration of natural topography shall be minimized, with appropriate vegetation planted as needed to enhance or restore wildlife habitat and serve as carbon capture to help mitigate climate change. • Continue to expand the establishment of greenways and wildlife corridors of sufficient width to protect edge species and species that inhabit the interior forest through the protection or acquisition of large unfragmented areas and the enforcement of open space residential development. Wildlife should be provided with opportunities for passage through developed areas where such opportunities will maintain the integrity of wildlife corridors. • Continue to actively maintain wildlife habitat through controlled prescribed burns, removal of dead trees and brush, etc. • Evaluate proactive planning and permitting to protect endangered species habitat while still providing recreational opportunity to the public. Strategies Continued: • Explore opportunities to increase aquaculture on the south side of Town. • Establish a living list of native and climate resilient tree and shrub species of all sizes that can thrive in current and future climate conditions projected for the region, paired with a list of complementary best practices for planting and maintenance. The tree and shrub list should also have guidance for urban vs rural streetscaping and for open space environments. Additionally, this list will prioritize local species and forestry practices that maximize the benefits of tree canopy development (ex. carbon capture, energy savings, pollution mitigation, stormwater surge protection, urban agriculture, recreation, etc.). Establish mechanisms for ongoing care and maintenance of canopy trees with an emphasis on education and civic participation. Habitat (2 of 2) Wetland Resources Policy: Preserve and restore the quality and functions of Barnstable’s coastal and inland wetlands. Reclaim filled or non-functioning wetlands where possible, including cranberry bogs. Preserve, and restore where feasible, the quality and functions of isolated lands subject to flooding and in need of additional protection, including vernal pools. Strategies: • Where the size of the lot permits, a buffer of at least 100 feet from the edge of coastal and inland wetlands, including isolated wetlands, shall be maintained in an undisturbed, natural state to protect the natural functions of these areas, including but not limited to mitigation of stormwater impacts and wildlife habitat value. Where the lot size does not permit a 100 foot buffer, the maximum feasible buffer shall be maintained but in no case shall this buffer be less than 50 feet. The Conservation Commission may require a larger buffer to protect sensitive areas or where the site conditions such as slopes or soils suggest that a larger buffer is necessary to prevent adverse impacts. • Continue state and federal grant funded measures to restore impaired ponds, salt marshes and estuaries. • Continue to identify, certify, and map vernal pools, and ensure that they are not used for stormwater management. Strategies: • The Barnstable Open Space and Recreation Plan (OSRP) is incorporated herein by reference. The Town will pursue the objectives and implement the actions laid out in Sec. 9.3 of the OSRP. • The Town will pursue the goals of its Open Space and Recreation Plan, adopted in 2018, including: • Protect and maintain a maximum amount of open space to enhance environmental protection, recreational opportunities and community character. • Use land protection to protect water supply, protect fresh and marine surface waters, preserve historic, scenic and cultural resources, and provide opportunities for farming and agriculture. • Provide diverse recreational opportunities and access throughout Barnstable and ensure that the current and future needs of all user groups are met appropriately • Provide adequate public access to and safe enjoyment of the Town’s open space and recreational resources and programs, particularly its fresh and marine shoreline areas. • Promote greater coordination and communication about community open space and recreation needs within government and among stakeholder groups in the Town Open Space Other Regulations and Processes Strategies: • The Town will consider regulations that place more responsibility on property owners regarding environmentally sound practices, and lead by example with its own practices, including, but not limited to: • Requirements or incentivizes for ecological landscaping and the reduction of lawn areas. • Requirements for vegetated buffer zones/wildlife corridors along water bodies. • Bans on fertilizer. • Restrictions on irrigation. • Investment in staff time and training to properly enforce existing and new regulations. • Adopt processes that ensure the participation of Natural Resources staff in the early stages of the development approval process and in the planning for conservation land acquisition.