Amenia creates new proposed SPO map

AMENIA — While examining the Amenia zoning subdivision maps, it became apparent to the Planning Board that the current Scenic Protection Overlay (SPO) map is protecting some areas that it should not be protecting while failing to protect other areas that it should.The most important area that the current SPO is not covering is the view from DeLavergne Hill, which the Planning Board considers to be a quintessential Amenia view.The current SPO map is mostly a ridgeline map that covers a lot of the scenic views of Amenia, but it also includes flat land, valleys and Bog Hollow Road, none of which should be included in the SPO by its definition.A presentation on the new proposed SPO map was given during the Planning Board meeting held on Thursday, June 2.Besides introducing the newly proposed map, the presentation discussed how the map was drawn and what issues were taken into consideration.The presentation said that the SPO should aim to protect visually interesting locations that have a “layered visual variety,” or “something to look at,” meaning a view that has an attractive foreground, midground and background full of color variation.The working group organized to redraw the map decided that due to the importance of DeLavergne Hill’s view, it would receive special attention and would be automatically included in the SPO, regardless of what method they decide to use to draw the rest of the map.There are two main methods that can be used to create an SPO map: a viewshed method and a data-driven method.The viewshed method would include all land that can be seen from the town’s 32 designated scenic view points.This type of map would be very easy to draw, but since this would cover nearly the entire town, it is not practical. If a modified version of this method were used, it would be difficult to decide which of the 32 view points would be excluded.The current SPO map was drawn mostly through this method and includes land that can be seen from three or more of the official scenic view points.The data-driven method divides the land up according to two criteria: quantity (areas that can be seen from multiple view points) and quality (“good things”). Because of the way this algorithm works, areas that are beautiful but not seen by anyone will not be regulated.The proposed SPO map was created mostly through the data-driven method.When drawing the map, the views from DeLavergne Hill were added first, then the most visible parts of the town and finally the top-scoring land use areas, or highly visible agriculture land.The total amount of land in the proposed SPO map is roughly 30 percent of the town. The working group creating the map chose this number so that the SPO wouldn’t be drastically changed. The current SPO covers roughly 20 percent of the town.Of the 30 percent, approximately 6 percent is made up of the view from DeLavergne Hill, approximately 17 percent is based on the land’s visibility and approximately 7 percent is based on land use.Land included in the SPO will still be allowed to be developed, but anyone wishing to develop that land must go through a site plan review to demonstrate to the Planning Board and the Town Board that they have taken the scenic impact into account. They will also need to screen major projects to preserve the scenic views of the region.

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