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You are a township trustee. You have heard about Conservation Development and would like to know how it might work in your community.You have a lot of questions about these projects: how density is calculated, how wastewater treatment ss handled, and how they are managed over the long term. Where can you find more information?

You are a community member who is interested in open space conservation. You would like to help get an open space plan started in your community. Where do you begin?

You are a developer who takes pride in producing high quality projects, and doing well financially at the same time. You are intrigued by what you’ve heard about conservation practices that might save you money, be good for the environment, and add to the marketing attractiveness of your product. How can you get enough information to evaluate the alternatives for yourself?

You are a member of a township zoning commission in a community with a Conservation Zoning resolution in place. A developer proposes a project with conservation provisions for a riparian area that he describes with much enthusiasm. What questions do you need to ask, and who would be good resources, to help you quickly evaluate the “common sense” conservation value of his proposal?

After more than a year of research, planning, writing, editing, and intensive discussion and review with experts, the Countryside Program Resource Manual has finally arrived from the printer. Over 200 pages, it is designed to be a ready reference on a wide variety of topics related to development and the environment — to answer just such questions.

Our goals in preparing the manual were two-fold: first, to provide technical information that would enable communities and developers to implement Conservation Development, an important tool for land preservation. Our second goal was to provide basic environmental knowledge that would help local zoning and planning commission members, planning staff, and developers, make better decisions about development. In many cases the best approach from an environmental standpoint costs less to build, less to maintain, and helps to ensure the continuation of our rural environment and quality of life. But we all need to know a little bit more to make that possible.

The manual is organized into three sections:

• First, an overview of Conservation Development and its benefits ..from an environmental and economic perspective, and how it fits ..into an overall community plan for open space preservation.
  
• The second part is a reference handbook, organized into twenty-six background sheets on environmental, engineering, legal, and general design topics. The handbook also includes a series of checklists for use by community boards and developers as they design and evaluate projects.
  
• The third part is a set of model regulations for use by townships, municipalities, and townships in amending their zoning and subdivision regulations to address Conservation Development.

The manual is designed as a three-ring binder that can be added to over time. The Countryside Program is planning additional research that will be concluded with additional sections for the manual. In the next column, we will review the basic components of the model regulation.

To obtain your copy of the Countryside Program Resource Manual, call the Countryside Program at 216.295.0511, or send e-mail to k.date@csuohio.edu.