This chapter shall be known and cited as the "Town of Shelter Island
Nature Preserve System."
A.
The purpose of this chapter is to establish a Town Nature
Preserve System so that certain Town-owned and privately owned properties
can be protected from inappropriate use and development.
B.
Due to the growth of the population and the development
of the economy in the Town, many properties located in the Town are subject
to human activity and development. It is necessary and desirable that the
natural diversity which currently exists in and on the lands and waters located
in the Town to be preserved as natural areas for the benefit of present and
future generations in order to achieve any of the following objectives:
(1)
Heritage: to protect natural areas which provide living
museums of the original heritage of the Town and contribute to the public
health and welfare of the inhabitants. Rural ambiance and environmental quality
have traditionally contributed to the Town's economic base and continue
to provide economic opportunity to the residents of the Town.
(2)
Environmental quality: to protect the existing natural
areas and, where desirable, to promote an improved environmental quality of
natural areas in the Town, including but not limited to critical environmental
areas, significant coastal fish and wildlife habitats and unique site types.
(3)
Habitat for aquatic and upland ecological communities:
to preserve ecosystems and the rich diversity of flora and fauna living thereon,
including rare, threatened, endangered and protected species.
(4)
Unique geological features: to protect the diversity
of unique geological features found within the Town, including beaches, dunes,
bluffs, swales, kettleholes, kames, morainal highlands and outwash plains.
(5)
Wetlands: to protect wetlands as a means of flood control,
water purification and breeding and nursery grounds for shellfish, finish
and other aquatic flora and fauna.
(6)
Recreational, educational and scientific opportunities:
to provide opportunities for wilderness experience, diverse recreational activities
and environmental educational programs and academic research programs.
(7)
Buffer areas: to provide buffer areas to existing natural
areas.
(8)
Watershed areas: to protect watershed areas critical
to recharging precipitation into the Town's sole-source aquifer or maintaining
surface water quality.
(9)
Aquifer protection: to protect tracts of land that are
critical to the Island's fragile sole-source aquifer.
C.
It is the intent of this chapter to create a nature preserve
overlay system for the Town to supplement but not replace existing Town regulations
and procedures.
D.
It is, therefore, the public policy of the Town to secure
for the people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring
resource of natural areas by establishing a Town Nature Preserve System and
to provide for the protection from inappropriate use and development of the
Town-owned and privately owned properties placed within the Nature Preserve
System.
The following words and expressions, where used in this chapter, shall
have the meanings ascribed to them by this section:
The Town of Shelter Island Conservation Advisory Council.
The process by which any Town-owned or privately owned property shall be included within the Town of Shelter Island Nature Preserve System in accordance with the procedures set forth in § 91-5.
A structure intended for use as a single-family dwelling (including
an associated well, septic system and utilities) with, at a minimum, permanently
installed kitchen and sanitary facilities. A dwelling unit may include other
buildings, structures and improvements customarily incidental and subordinate
to the principal building.
A document which contains, at a minimum, conservation goals, objectives
and policies with respect to the use and management of a particular parcel
of land and includes a description of the particular types of activities,
programs, actions and tasks to be undertaken in furtherance of or to implement
those goals and objectives, which is to be reviewed as specified in the plan.
Any area of land or water which is formally designated to be maintained
as nearly as possible in its natural condition; said area either retains,
to some degree, its primeval character (though it need not be completely natural
and undisturbed at the time of its dedication) or has endangered, threatened,
special concern or rare species of flora or fauna, unique geological or hydrogeological
features, wetlands or features of scientific or educational value; and which
area is used in a manner and under limitations consistent with its continued
preservation, without impairment, disturbance or artificial development, for
the public purposes of scientific research, watershed preservation, aquifer
protection, education and aesthetic enjoyment and providing a habitat for
plant and animal species and communities and other natural objectives.
A system of nature preserve protection areas located throughout the
Town, created by the process for designation of such areas as established
by the procedures set forth in this chapter.
The official list of properties that have been included by designation
in the Nature Preserve System.
The Town of Shelter Island, located within the County of Suffolk,
State of New York.
The duly elected and constituted legislative body of the Town of
Shelter Island.
