Town Board Workshop

and Councilman Kale is making his way up. So, well, welcome everybody to the Christmas version of the Webster Town Board's workshop for December 18th. 2025. Uh tonight we only have one presentation and uh Josh Artuso, the director of community development, is going to give a presentation on uh open space preservation in Webster, past, present, and future. Josh, I'll hand you the the tab.

Thank you, Supervisor Flity. So, I'm going to briefly go over uh some past strategies that the town has employed roughly through the time period between uh their closer buildings. Um it actually allows the closer buildings. Um it actually allows the uh developer to create some shared open spaces uh to protect natural features on the remaining land while maintaining the overall density. Um and the reason this is to encourage better design um to create conservation areas as well as community amenities such as trails or recreational um courts for example. Um the excess land is then either dedicated to the town of Webster or it is owned and maintained by a homeowners association. Uh then we have the uh definition of a park district. So for those that uh may not know what a park district is, uh it's a special district for specific neighborhood recreation andor natural open space. So these park districts are

either established uh via a petition by the residents of the specific neighborhood or uh a petition to the town board uh which creates a resolution creating these districts that are for very specific areas. and they're financed uh for upkeep and maintenance through the local assessments of the properties benefiting from the actual park district. Now, these are not public parks in the traditional sense like um true parkland. They're really intended for the residents of that specific neighborhood. So as as the town uh grew um these were created to maintain natural buffers uh natural open spaces in in these neighborhoods. So we currently have a total of 35 park districts throughout town. Um they're comprised of a total of 85 parcels and it totals approximately 380 acres of land that are designated as park districts. So then um another strategy that's

that's been used in the past was the open space preservation program um originally established in 1992 to allow the town to acquire either interest or rights in real property uh for the purpose of preserving open space. So um there were approximately 47 parcels and totaling 951 acres that were preserved over various periods of time. Um in 2010 the tax incentive associated with the open space preservation program um was no longer available for new properties to enter into. And I think there's a variety of reasons why, but I'm not really going to go into much detail on that tonight. Uh, and then there's the uh past town purchases of open space and development rights. So, for those that may not know, back in 2002, there was a uh public referendum being proposed, which is a townwide vote of the residents on whether or not to

pursue a bond for open space purchase. So, in 2002, um the bond referendum was for approximately $22.5 million. um that did go to a townwide vote by the residents and it ultimately uh did not pass. So I think uh there was some effort to kind of go back to the drawing board um identify priority properties and try to get that overall number um more more reasonably acceptable by the residents. So, two years later in 2004, there was another uh townwide referendum, a vote of the citizens, and in that case, um it was approved at the time. So, there was a uh $5.9 million bond that was approved for open space purchases. Um, so that money from the bond coupled with some other grants that the town had obtained was ultimately uh utilized to acquire $915 acres at an average cost of around just under $7,500 per acre at that time. and the the bond repayments uh

associated with that uh bond referendum are set to end this calendar year in 2025. So in terms of uh the what we're referring to as the present strategy um the past six years 2020 through 2025 um there was a joint effort by u members of the town and the open space committee as well as the friends of Webster trails. Um I know uh Supervisor Flity was very intimately involved in this effort as well as uh Chris Bo from Parks and Recreation uh and members of the open space committee themselves. And the effort really uh tried to identify parcels of interest that are currently undeveloped that um would be potentially acquired by the town should there be interest by the property owner. Um I believe there was 85 parcels comprising approximately 2400 acres associated with that effort. Um, and I believe uh, Supervisor Flity

actually went doortodoor for a good portion of of those property owners um, just introducing himself and uh, gauging whether or not there would be any interest uh, in in selling their land to the town. Um that effort I and correct me if I'm wrong. I think that took place uh it started in 2021 and went through for about 18 months or so, Tom.

Uh about mid21 to mid22.

Okay. Um, and I believe that ultimately, um, by and large the people at the time that were being engaged, I don't necessarily think anyone indicated that they were interested in selling at that time. Is that a correct statement?

I I think people that were interested in selling uh didn't understand that uh if their property was worth 10,000 an acre, we can't buy it for 30,000 an acre.

Right? So there there were some some expectations when it comes to cost I guess um some obstacles in that regard. Um we did we do have that list. Um, we mapped it out actually, uh, tried to identify strategic parcels that could fit into the existing parks or trail system throughout town, as well as other, um, pieces of undeveloped property with natural features that are um that we would like to protect. Um the town has also been pretty aggressive in pursuing grants um for open space preservation. We were successful in obtaining a New York State DEEC forestry grant. I believe this was in 22 or 23. Um and it was ultimately used for the purchase of what ultimately became the the Gary Woods uh forest. Um, so we're always looking for uh grant

opportunities for uh open space preservation. Um, we've also accepted several donations from private land owners uh some of which actually approached the town uh on their own valition. They had some extra land and uh it just so happens that they were willing to to uh dedicate it over to the town. So from those efforts uh in the past six years there's been approximately 100 additional acres preserved through both the grants, private donations and other types of acquisition from private property owners. And as you could see this is a map that shows um parks and open space throughout the town. There's various categories. Um the red that you see kind of scattered throughout the town, those are the park district parcels that I was describing. Um the blue areas are townowned uh park spaces. So things like um Finn Park, um Kent Park, and the other local parks. Um the big neon pink looking color is

Webster Park which is a Monroe County park. Um and there are some other the tax incentive open space parcels that still remain in the program today are highlighted in in like a lime green. So as you could see um we do have open space uh spread out in various portions of the town. very there's several different categories of open space. Um, and we look to continually keep this map uh as updated as possible as new things come online. So, future strategies for consideration uh next year and beyond. So, as most everyone in this room knows, we are in the process of updating the town's long range comprehensive plan. And as a part of that effort, we want to uh research and identify tools uh and best practices that align with the goals and objectives that come out of the updated comprehensive plan. And although it's not finished, um some of the tools that have been mentioned um that we would like to that could be considered

um options to consider moving forward. So, while we like the concept and what the park districts do for the neighborhoods in terms of providing, you know, residents with open space, uh, green buffers and recreational opportunities, um, there does come with that a lot of liability to the town. So, we'd like to explore different ways where we can continue the concept of the park district or open space preservation for neighborhoods, but minimize the town's liability in that situation. And there's a couple different tools uh and different ways of going about that that we'd like to explore further. Um, another option, several towns uh in Monroe County have have become Tree City USA uh design. Um, that requires uh I think there's four primary requirements associated with that. One of which would be to implement a tree preservation ordinance and have some type of regulatory process

that um there's a review before Um people remove vegetation of a certain size or magnitude. Um many municipalities have their conservation board act as their um reviewing board that reviews applications for that sort of thing. And with that comes um official recognition. I think u there's some funding available for replanting of trees and and other uh benefits of enrolling in that program. Um another potential thing we'd like to explore further is the is is a rebranding of sorts of the existing park districts to clarify um the use restrictions. So, you know, they're often um mistaken for public parks. And for those park districts that have specific amenities like tennis courts, uh playgrounds, and other things, uh sometimes the residents don't appreciate other town residents utilizing the the amenities that they're

actually paying to upkeep and maintain. So, we did start earlier this year a analysis of our park districts. Um, unfortunately, that project has kind of been placed temporarily on the back burner due to some other high-profile projects. Um, but this is something that we want to pick back up in the very near future. um it does generate a lot of confusion for residents uh liability for the town and we we would like to explore ways to improve upon our messaging and communication with the residents on on these park districts. Um another tool uh for consideration is is strategic purchase of development rights and the town has done this in the past. Um essentially you enter into an agreement with the property owner um and the town buys the rights to develop the property which the town's intention is to preserve the property. So it essentially restricts the private property owner um from of developing their land. They're compensated as such

for that. Um, so that's another tool that we'd like to to explore a little bit further. Um, you know, at the planning board level, are there ways for new developments that are coming through, new subdivisions? Um, are there ways of maintaining these open space uh, green space areas without necessarily dedicating them over to the town? Um, some other tools and other mechanisms would be to potentially include that additional land um for private subdivisions, but restricting portions of the rear yards to preserve the trees. So, they'd still have a a backyard that they can do with what they want, but then there's actually adjacent uh open space areas that would not be able to be um clearcut or removed. Um I've presented and actually our um summer interns did a presentation on on a portion of this uh to the board a few months ago. Um looking at updating the

town's environmental protection overlay district maps and regulations also known as EPODs. Um so the we do have u quite a robust analysis of the existing and proposed uh wood lot areas based on the current definition of our town code. Um there are some anomalies in in the actual text of the code that goes with the maps that we'd like to address and and tighten up. And obviously the maps that we have are quite old and outdated. Um some areas have grown up with trees and have you know grown into the definition of a wood lot area that are currently not captured on our maps and likewise other um approvals have been granted for development in some of these areas. So, we really do want to update and strengthen our environmental protection overlay districts and the associated regulations. Other tools we're going to be looking at um analyzing, adjusting, and amending the town code uh pertaining to lot coverage

and off- streetet parking requirements that are associated with new development. Um currently our definition is a little bit unique of lot coverage. Um basically it it's supposed to limit the amount of imperous service on any one given uh parcel of land and it and generally includes things like parking lots, sidewalks and and other hard surfaces in addition to the building itself. Currently, our code only counts the building towards lot coverage. So, um that's one way of of getting the code more in alignment with with modern um standards and protecting additional green space. Likewise, our off- streetet parking requirements are very very out ofdate and and not consistent with today's standards. And I often use the example of the Wendy's uh fast food restaurant on Ridge Road, primarily a drive-thru operation with a small sitown area. And when that went through the approval process, the code required

approximately 120 parking spaces for a Wendy's. Obviously, there's not that much parking there. They had to get a variance to deviate from that large parking requirement. But if we can update these to more modern standards, I think that would also be another uh useful tool in green space preservation. And of course, there's always the option to revisit the concept of a townwide referendum uh for additional purchase of open space at the taxpayers's expense. So those are some of the future strategies um that are under consideration and with that I would be happy to hear any um comments, feedback or answer any questions that anyone might have.

So you had mentioned that the uh EPOD maps are are they 100% updated or

well

we still have work to do on them. I take it.

We have internal drafts. Um, we have a little bit more QAQC to to finalize, but then we would then be able to bring it to the board. There is, you know, the there would be a public hearing, probably a community meeting to to get some feedback before making any uh formal decisions. But yes, it is something that can be moved forward. Yeah, I would definitely like to go forward with that. Um, as far as the codes go, I know that I don't want to get very specific, but there was recent incidents where some clear cutting was done that should not have been done. Okay. Um, is there any way to put into the code when that happens there's automatic penalties? I think that's more of a legal question.

That's something that we're currently researching. Um John and I are aware of that issue. Our code doesn't currently provide recourse for that. Um we're researching options for the town to implement to address that in the future,

right? Because sometimes you'll and it's not just with developers, it's with other people, too. It's easier to come and ask for forgiveness than permission. And if if you know we don't have any recourse, it's going to happen more than thorn more than not. And you know, I hate I don't want to say that, you know, a precedent has been set, but someone just got away with something in my opinion that they really shouldn't have.

Correct. And I think it's important that the code is updated to address situations like that.

I 100% agree. I I think John, unfortunately, this is not the first time we've seen where we have code, but we don't really have any teeth to enforce it,

right?

And unfortunately, we don't find that out until after it's happened.

So, it always seems reactionary, but each time um certainly it's very wise and pertinent to address it at that time so that moving forward that doesn't happen again. But code is only code is only as good as its enforcement. Well, thank you for your presentation, uh, Josh. Also too, it's great to to have this presentation to show the town that, you know, our we do care for open space and we try, you know, our best to try to preserve it. And I would recommend you know like in the future instead of spending all these money on the project that it may be obsolete or it may be you know we know that it doesn't any potential um positive that people would you know agree upon or supporting it. we should put that money into purchase open space, you know, green space to help preserve this for the, you know, the next

generation. And, you know, that's my input.

Thank you, Jenny.

Jennifer,

I think it's great. I appreciate the presentation going back into the past. Um, I took a special interest early on in my tenure as a board member with the um, park districts because I used to live in one before I moved. Um, and it's it is something that's very tricky in how to handle those because many people who live in those park districts are not even aware they live in a park district. So, one of the things to consider along the lines of what um Councilman Cahill and Councilwoman Katali have said is in relation to clear cutting. that is going to be something that is going to have to be ironed out um before any efforts of giving those, you know, rights back to the property owners that back into them because I can see that being one of the first things that people do is yay, I now have five additional acres I didn't have before and they start clearing it out for so so

it'll be um important to communicate to the neighbors that are in those areas precisely what they back up to and what it is and how it works. And then if it is given back to those residents that back up to them that there is very specific code for addressing how that land is to be used and managed with some teeth.

Josh, thank you. And I mean obviously I've been um with you all along as you were putting together this presentation. So uh the only thing I would say especially since we have a pretty nice crowd here tonight um is that um I saw Dave Mali, one of my favorite uh people that comes to this. He snuck up to the screen to look at the map very closely and then he went to get a thing of water and he probably didn't even notice that there's the picture on the wall of the green space map. There it is. Now, the funny thing is that picture that's on the wall back there near the water fountain or water is the same picture that's in the town hall foyer. It's aged. It's a couple years old. I I don't know. Maybe Mark or Dave or Alex can tell me what the footing is of how many total acres it was back then. I want to say it was 3500.

Right. How many acres?

Total

That's not the right total. It's more than that. But anyway, what Josh showed up here on the map, that's the most updated one. Uh I I would like to think that maybe even before I'm out of office in 12 days, we can get the total of all of those uh to show what it what it is at this point. Yeah.

With some of the additional uh green space that's been obtained.

Um I I will tell you the park district thing. Um I think you did a great job, Josh. I'm glad that Jennifer brought up the fact that she used to live in one. Um and and it showed kind of the ambiguity uh and the how confusing it can be. Um to be very honest with you, when the ash trees when the ash ash bos came a couple years ago, uh we had to go and cut down a lot of these uh dead ash trees and the ones that were on the park district land. We went and put on tax bill of the people that live in that neighborhood. That was the first time that those people that lived in that neighborhood knew that they had a park district attached to their neighborhood. So, that's not a cool way to find that out. And Josh, uh, in the project that you've been working on with assessment, and there's about 400 total acres in those 35, uh, park districts, uh, some of those park district residents are have pseudo HOAs that they get together and they vote on 20 $25,000 of work in the 30 acres around their house, trails, and ponds. The majority of the 35 don't even

know that they have that wooded land that is totally isolated to fair use,

which I thought was a fantastic thing. I thought that was the greatest thing ever that those neighborhoods actually came together and leveraged that land. So much so that I went and talked to a group of my old neighbors and they didn't appreciate it as much as the folks Yeah.

in in the Candlewood subdivision did.

So, that's one that I hope you do finish off. Uh, and I hope you get it rebranded because uh, poor parks department. You call it a park district. I I'm layman term. That's a park. I can go and take my kids in there. No, you can't. That's for the sole enjoyment of that neighborhood. Uh, and they pay on their tax bill in a special district for any improvements of it. Um, the only other thing I would say on that is that in Josh's presentation, and I'm I'm really glad that some of the new town board members are here tonight for 2026, um, the part that he said about going into the future and looking for ways to preserve green space, but do it in such a way that the town and their taxpayers don't have the liability in the future. And there is many many ways that some of them that he articulated that it could be done with conservation easements and things of that nature. But when a developer puts together a 50 acre parcel and says, "Hey, we want to cluster it and we'll give you town 30

acres of it for green space." That's no gift to the town and the taxpayers. That's a liability. That's a white elephant. And we should try to in the future get away from the town having that liability. And as I talked to all the other town supervisors the last couple years and the supervisors association, they don't do this anymore. They haven't done it for years. They don't take that on. They've come up with other creative ways that Kyle has already been t been involved in this to try to research. And I hope the new board takes that research into 26 and finds ways to preserve that open space but take the liability and risk out of the town taxpayers because we saw it firsthand with the ashbors. What will be the next situation that happens that all of a sudden the town's got to go pay half a million dollars to take care of something and that's to the taxpayers or in the situation of the park districts, it's to the people that lived in that neighborhood who had no idea that they were going to get a special district charge on their tax bill. I uh I'll leave it at that. And that, unless anybody else has any other comments, will conclude the last town board

workshop of 2026. 25. Luke, can you give us two minutes? I'm going to do my uh matra to find out who is going to talk at the open mic. So, if you shut us down, I'll be ready to get us back on in two minutes. All right.