CHARLTON — The people who live in Charlton, even if they don’t live on a farm, like the amount of farmland in the town and want to maintain it.
According to a recent survey, the town and its residents are ready and willing to take steps, and spend money if necessary, to keep Charlton — a town of about 4,000 people and more than 6,000 acres of farmland — looking like Charlton.
That was the message Wednesday night at a meeting to present a new Farmland Protection Act to the public.
“We’re really trying to search for the perfect balance between farms and houses,” Town Supervisor Alan Grattidge said.
Using a $25,000 Farmland Protection Grant, the town hired Behan Planning and Design to conduct a study of the biggest threats to farmers and develop a plan to preserve agriculture in Charlton.
Agriculture is the town’s largest industry, Grattidge said. “Other parts of the county have their gray infrastructure with their factories and businesses, and we have agriculture.”
Behan presented several suggestions to a group of more than 30 residents Wednesday that ran the gamut from changing zoning regulations to developing tours of farms, allowing bed and breakfasts to open and letting tourists camp on farms.
The development of nearby Malta, particularly the ongoing construction of the Global Foundries plant there, was of particular concern to town officials.
“As the chip fab plant comes online, it’s going to put more and more pressure on us,” Grattidge said.
Rick Lederer-Barnes of Behan Planning and Design echoed Grattidge’s concerns: “Development pressure is creeping toward Charlton,” he said. The Global Foundries project will be “definitely a growth-inducing project,” he added.
In order to protect Charlton’s rural character from development similar to Malta’s, Lederer-Barnes suggested expanding the town’s agricultural zoning district, strengthening requirements that land be subdivided to maximize the farmland protected, and restricting the ability to expand water service because “water tends to grow houses just like it grows fields.”
Other suggestions to preserve the town’s agriculture industry included educating farmers about grants, school tax credits and easement sale opportunities. The goal behind those and other suggestions is to keep farms financially viable without forcing cash-strapped farmers to sell land to developers.
Lederer-Barnes also suggested that Charlton develop a marketing strategy to appeal both to farmers looking to relocate and to county residents interested in learning about farming and enjoying the town’s rural character.
Dawn Szurek, a Charlton resident whose mother rents a portion of her 320 acres in West Charlton to several farmers, said the town’s lifestyle is one that needs to be preserved.
“Not everybody wants to live the same way. If you want the convenience of the city, you move to the city. If you want to live in suburbia, you move to suburbia,” she said. “It’s a different kind of lifestyle.”
She added that this is the right time for the town to move toward protecting farmland, before it becomes over-developed. “I think if we waited longer, it’d be too late,” she said.
Grattidge said the town plans to take into consideration suggestions from the public after the meeting and will present a finalized plan to the Town Board for a vote in the near future.
