Growing Greener

In March 2006, the Board of Supervisors passed the Growing Greener Ordinance. This ordinance provides for the preservation of open space of at least half the acreage of most proposed developments. It will preserve the landowner’s value and will not change the number of homes that can be built on a parcel from the number that previously could be built.

The Growing Greener Committee worked with a land planning expert from the Natural Lands Trust to draft the ordinance which is based on a state-wide program called, “Growing Greener: Conservation by Design”.

This results in an ideal model for integrating open space in the development process.

Conservation Development

Conservation Development, also known as conservation design, is a controlled-growth land use development that adopts the principle for allowing limited sustainable development while protecting the area's natural environmental features in perpetuity, including preserving open space landscape and vista, protecting farmland or natural habitats for wildlife, and maintaining the character of rural communities. 

A conservation development is usually defined as a project that dedicates a minimum of 50 percent of the total development parcel as open space. The management and ownership of the land are often formed by the partnership between private land owners, land-use conservation organizations and local government. It is a growing trend in many parts of the country, particularly in the Western United States. In the Eastern United States, conservation design has been promoted by some state and local governments as a technique to help preserve water quality. Source: Wikipedia