The Town’s Comprehensive Plan sets several goals that address the need to recognize, preserve, and protect the Town’s natural and cultural resources and ecosystem services. These goals will be used as a platform to guide the development of the Green Infrastructure (GI) Plan.
The majority of Town lies in a suburban environment and lacks large tracts of undeveloped, forested land that can qualify as core habitat. Because of this, the completion of an urban tree canopy (UTC) assessment to further inform the GI model and produce prioritized maps is essential to this project. A UTC will also allow the Town to identify areas which are in need of reforestation and preservation of the existing canopy.
In 2014, the Town’s Planning Department completed a Vision Plan. One focus of the Vision Plan was on sustainable development and identifying areas of Town that are in need of parks and trails. The creation of a UTC and overall GI Plan will expand upon the information obtained during the Vision Plan process.