A vision of healthy and abundant wildlife habitat in Charlotte

While Charlotte has made great strides to conserve farmland through land trusts, our town has a lot of work left to do to protect vital forest land. Tackling the climate and biodiversity crises will depend on our forests. We need the mitigating effects of mature forest blocks to absorb carbon dioxide, filter air and water pollutants and protect us from floods. Better protection of forests will not only benefit biodiversity, but ultimately all of us. Forests are integral to Vermonters’ way of life.

Every Charlotte Town Plan, past and present, has clearly stated Charlotters’ desire to maintain the rural character of our town and protect its open landscape and natural areas. This desire is also plain to see from recent workshops and meetings for the Charlotte Village Planning Project. Despite this desire, our Rural District has become more fragmented and sprawling each decade, carved into 5-acre lots along our rural roads while our villages remain largely unchanged.

Photo by Lee Krohn.
View of Charlotte from Mt. Philo.
Photo by Lee Krohn. View of Charlotte from Mt. Philo.

To reduce sprawl and fragmentation, Charlotters have voted to adopt land-use regulations that help protect habitat blocks, corridors and other Areas of High Public Value. Even with these efforts, our town commissions and review boards have found it challenging to apply these regulations. Mapping these areas is essential. That’s why the Charlotte Conservation Commission is actively engaged in the process of finding resources to update our maps.

We can make it easier for boards to apply our regulations and avoid costly court challenges. We need to swap out ambiguous words like “should” or “may” for words like “shall” or “must.” Successful regulations need to be clear, specific and consistent to be enforceable, legally defensible and fair to applicants.

We are now at a crossroads. With growing development pressure and legislation that moves planning authority away from municipalities, it is time to meet the moment and update our land-use regulations. Charlotters need regulations that will actually protect the fields and forests that our flora and fauna depend on and that make our town unique.

Our current 5-acre zoning has led to sprawl and fragmentation. Nearby towns have adopted stronger regulations to preserve the rural character, open landscape and natural areas that Vermonters value. Charlotte can do that too, but successful regulations will need broad support.

To kickstart this important conversation, the Charlotte Conservation Commission has proposed updates to the regulations that reflect the policies in our voter-approved Town Plan. The commission crafted the updates after reading through regulations in nearby towns and guidance from regional and state partners like the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, Vermont Natural Resources Council and the Chittenden Country Regional Planning Commission. The commission has met with the planning commission but needs your support to keep this conversation moving forward.

Please join us in this conversation and help us ensure our town’s forests and wildlife habitat are healthy and abundant for years to come. Share your support for Charlotte’s conservation vision at public meetings, with the planning commission, on Front Porch Forum and other social media channels, or by email to [email protected].

(The members of the Charlotte Conservation Commission are Maggie Citarella, Maggie Korey, Susan Blood, Pete Demick, Claudia Mucklow, Sharon Mount, Dave McNally and Nate Caress.)