Good Dirt

This Thanksgiving those who love Aquidneck Island have something extra to be thankful for.  On Monday, November 24^th, the Aquidneck Land Trust and the Town of Portsmouth signed a Purchase and Sale Contract with the owner of Green Valley Country Club, an 18-hole golf course open to the public, to conserve approximately 125 acres of this important open space property on Union Street and Middle Road in Portsmouth.

Conserving the Green Valley property is important for conservation and economic reasons.  The property is in a strategic conservation location.  It falls within the Lawton Valley Reservoir and St. Mary's Pond watersheds, two of Aquidneck Island's public drinking water supplies.  The property is also located within the Land Trust's Center Island Greenway and is thus contiguous to a number of other conserved properties.  Furthermore, pursuant to the Town of Portsmouth's 2002 Local Recreation, Conservation and Open Space Plan, the property is within a Town designated Recreation Area, Open Space and Active Agriculture Area and Resource Protection Overlay District.  In addition to buffering two public water reservoirs, providing public recreational opportunities and scenic vistas, Green Valley also has wildlife habitat which supports a diversity of species such as Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Eastern Cottontail Rabbits. 

Green Valley, a beloved local business, could have been developed into a major residential subdivision.  A November 2007 engineer's subdivision plan demonstrated that the subject 125 +/- acres of Green Valley, which is zoned for 30,000 sq. ft. residential lots, could have supported about 127 house lots.  Such a large residential subdivision would create an immense carbon footprint.  Based on the projected costs of municipal services to support a 127-lot subdivision, Portsmouth's Town Planner demonstrated that the net present value saved by Portsmouth over a 30 year period by keeping this land undeveloped would be over $5.7 million.  Another benefit of this conservation transaction relates to keeping a rein on traffic output.  Based on the Trip Generation Handbook, 7^th Edition, published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, a 127 lot residential subdivision would generate over 1,200 additional vehicle trips per day on the already busy and dangerous roadways of Aquidneck Island.        

Under the terms of the Purchase and Sale Contract signed yesterday, the Aquidneck Land Trust and the Town of Portsmouth will purchase a Conservation Easement on approximately 125 acres of Green Valley Country Club by the end of January 2009.  The total purchase price for the Conservation Easement is $2.56 million, with the Land Trust and the Town each contributing $1.28 million.  To assist the Land Trust and the Town, Green Valley allowed the total purchase price to be funded over a period of years: $500,000 due at the closing on the 125 +/- acre Conservation Easement by the end of January 2009, with the remaining payments spread out until August 2014.  The Town's contribution will primarily come from its open space bond approved in 2007.   

Regarding the signing of the Purchase and Sale Contract, Dennis Canario, Portsmouth Town Council President, said, "This signing is the culmination of months and months of good work with our partners the Aquidneck Land Trust and Green Valley.  The Land Trust first brought us this project to consider in early spring 2008.  After months of consideration, the Town Council approved it in June.  Then we set about reducing the agreement to writing which was just successfully achieved.  With this signing, we deliver on the clear mandate regarding open space conservation that Portsmouth voters announced with their robust approval ratings for the Town's 2007 open space bond and the State's 2008 open space bond."    

"We sincerely thank the Town of Portsmouth, its Open Space Committee and Green Valley for joining hands with us to protect this strategic open space property.  The decline in the real estate market has given us special opportunities to permanently extinguish development rights with Conservation Easements at favorable rates.  The perpetual extinguishment of 127 lots worth of development rights on this Island for under $3 million would have been hard to imagine not long ago.," said Ted Clement, Aquidneck Land Trust Executive Director.

Ron Raposa, President of Green Valley Country Club, stated, "Conserving this land is a way for me to honor my parents and grandparents, who worked this land for a long-time, enable the next generation of Raposas to continue running Green Valley as an important local business and do something that I simply feel is the right thing to do for the Town I grew up in.  I also want to applaud the Land Trust and Town for their long-term vision which will benefit current and future generations."

ALT's mission is to preserve Aquidneck Island's open spaces and natural character for the lasting benefit of our community.  The organization has conserved 2,012.72 acres on Aquidneck Island.  ALT is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.  For more information about ALT, visit http://www.aquidnecklandtrust.org/

As always, thank you for your continued support
for conservation on our Island.

This email update has been sent to the entire Aquidneck Land Trust email list. Please let us know if you do not wish to receive these email updates by replying to this message. If you have any questions or comments, please call 401-849-2799 x18 or jpohl@ailt.org.