Scenic Resource Protection Guide for the Hudson River Valley This project was funded in part by the New York State Environmental Protection Fund through the Hudson River Estuary Program of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. About the Hudson River Estuary Program The Hudson River Estuary Program uses the science of ecology to help people enjoy, protect, and revitalize the Hudson River estuary. Created in 1987 through the Hudson River Estuary Management Act (ECL 11-0306), the program focuses on the tidal Hudson and its adjacent watershed from the dam at Troy to the Verrazano Narrows in New York City. The core mission of the Estuary Program is built around six key benefits: • Clean Water • Resilient Communities • Vital Estuary Ecosystem • Estuary Fish, Wildlife, & Habitats • Scenic River Landscape • Education, River Access, Recreation, & Inspiration. The Estuary Program works in close collaboration with many partners – from nonprofit organizations to businesses, local governments to state and federal agencies, interested residents, and many others. For more information, visit www.dec.ny.gov. About Cornell University’s Department of City & Regional Planning The Department of City & Regional Planning at Cornell University is the home of leading programs in urban and regional planning, historic preservation planning, and regional development. Its faculty, students, and alumni work to transform planning and the lives of the world's citizens by bridging social and economic concerns, physical design and sustainability, utilizing a diverse tool kit of methods and ways of critical thinking. For more information, visit https://aap.cornell.edu/academics/crp/about For additional copies, contact: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Hudson River Estuary Program 21 South Putt Corners Road New Paltz, NY 12561-1696 [email protected] Recommended Citation: Frantz, George. 2021. Scenic Resource Protection Guide for the Hudson River Valley. Department of City & Regional Planning, Cornell University, and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Hudson River Estuary Program. Ithaca, N.Y. Cover photography by George Frantz. Unless noted all photos elsewhere in document are by George Frantz. Acknowledgements There are too many people to acknowledge their contributions individually, but this guidebook would not have been possible without the support of numerous local elected officials in the region, and the many, many appointed lay volunteers of local planning boards, environmental boards, conservation advisory councils, land trusts, and just simply concerned and committed local citizens, who gave their time and energy to assisting the student teams to test their scenic resource inventory methodologies in their communities. We also wish to acknowledge the assistance of the staffs of the local county planning agencies – Dutchess County Department of Planning and Development, Greene County Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Planning, Orange County Department of Planning, and Ulster County Planning Department who graciously provided both critical GIS mapping data, and technical support to the student teams. This project was funded in part by a grant from the New York State Environmental Protection Fund through the Hudson River Estuary Program of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 Introduction 4 Purpose of This Document 4 Scenic Resources and Why They Are Important 6 Two Centuries of Open Space Protection in the Hudson River Valley 8 Elements of Landscape and Scenery 10 Classifying the Landscape 10 Desirable Landscapes 15 Undesirable Landscapes 19 Existing Protected Lands 20 Identifying Scenic Resources in the Community 23 The Art of Seeing 23 Public Input 24 Mapping Scenic Resources 25 Prioritizing for Protection 27 Case Study: Creating a Scenic Resources Map for the Town of Putnam Valley 28 The Tools for Protection 31 Conservation Easements 31 Land Ownership 32 Land Use Planning 33 Regulatory Approaches – Zoning 34 Case Study: Town of Cornwall Overlay Districts 36 Regulatory Approaches – Cluster Subdivision 39 Regulatory Approaches – Site Plan Review 41 Vegetation Management 41 Mitigating Visual Impact 43 Conclusion 46 Appendix 1. List of Resources for Local Governments 47 Scenic Resource Protection Guide for the Hudson River Valley Executive Summary Introduction The local governments and citizens of the Hudson that is recognized, visited, and enjoyed by the general River Valley are critical players in the protection of public for their inherent visual qualities. the unique ecological resources and landscapes that This guide focuses on identifying and protecting those have contributed to its growth and economic scenic resources that are visible from the public prosperity., This landscape provides an unparalleled domain: our roads and highways, parks and other setting within which to live and work, but it is also a public areas. It should be noted that many scenic driving force behind a growing tourism sector. It is resources are privately owned properties and not critical to a rebounding agricultural sector and accessible to the public. Nor need they be to still evolving regional food system. Protecting this unique contribute greatly to the visual quality of the Hudson landscape, both along the river, and in the hinterlands, River Valley. has been a multi-generational effort dating back over a century. A scenic resource can also be a critical ecological resource, such as a stream or wetland, old growth This scenic resource protection guide has been forest, or important wildlife habitat. Scenic resources developed to assist local governments, and residents as are often major contributors to the region’s economy, they continue to work together to identify, plan, and in the form of agricultural fields, orchards and protect the important scenic resources within their vineyards, or in the form of tourist destinations such community. It is another tool that local governments, as the multiple state and regional parks, and and citizen groups, can utilize to achieve their numerous historic landmarks and communities. collective goals of revitalizing the Hudson River waterfront and restoring public access to the river, Continuing a Tradition while also promoting the restoration and protection of There is a long history of open space protection the river for future generations. initiatives in the Hudson River valley dating to the first But what is a scenic resource? In the Hudson River half of the 1800s. The Conservation Movement in the Valley, scenic resources can be found and experienced USA in the late 1800s brought together government everywhere: they are locations or features in the local and business leaders, and local communities, to landscape that are viewed, visited, and enjoyed for advocate for the protection of America’s and New their aesthetic quality. Often they are visible through York’s natural beauty. Many were inspired by the the living room window, or from the porch or deck, or Hudson River School artists and authors such as John the car windows. For the purpose of this guide, Burroughs working from his Riverby home and his however, the definition of a scenic resource is slightly nearby Slabsides retreat in Esopus. From the narrower: a scenic resource is an area, feature, or site beginning, open space protection in the Hudson River 1 Valley has been marked by citizen action and Key elements in the inventory and analysis of scenic partnerships between individuals, citizen groups, non- resources include: profit organizations, and local, state and federal • The landscape character, or the objects or features governments. within a landscape that give it a unique identity, and sense of place; Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), both • The scenic attractiveness, or how the features of a regional and national, have played a critical role in landscape such as topographic features, water open space and scenic resource protection in the features, vegetation and cultural/human features, region. Over the past half-century, they have raised relate in terms of their line, form, color, texture, millions of dollars and protected tens of thousands of and visual composition – aesthetic qualities; acres through acquisition and conservation easement • The integrity, or degree of intactness and programs, often acting where government is not able wholeness of a landscape, and the lack of disruptive or incompatible visual elements within to. Today some 27 local and regional land trusts the landscape; involved in open space protection in the Hudson River • The relative value placed on a viewshed by the Valley typify the passion and commitment to community and visual prominence of features protecting open space and scenic resources in the within the viewshed, based on distance from an valley. observer. Scenic resources are a reflection of community values, Through action by the State, local government, and so the participation of residents from throughout the private organizations and individuals, some 580,000 community is a critical component of any endeavor to acres of publicly or privately protected lands in the identify and prioritize the protection of community region are now protected. scenic resources. Community consensus on what Inventorying Scenic Resources constitutes a scenic resource, what the significant Although the primary objective of a scenic resource scenic resources in the community are, and what level inventory