Vermont Land Trust - Community Project Guidelines

VLT Community Project Guidelines

VLT seeks to conserve land that communities have identified as an important component of the local landscape. VLT works with communities to conserve land with significant recreational, scenic or historic attributes. In these guidelines, community refers to groups or individuals linked by a connection to a place, its recreational lands, natural setting, buildings or history.

I. Community Project Categories — A project must fall into at least one of the following three categories:

1. Lands that help a community preserve a sense of place and heritage, such as the gateway to a village, backdrop to the town, or historical site. The focus is on the land rather than on buildings, although historic preservation may enhance the project.
2. Lands that tend to bring people together for a common activity, including recreation, such as a ball field, swimming hole, town green or local trail system that is connected to a village or urban center.
3. Land that gives a broad spectrum of people in a community the chance to make a physical, educational and/or spiritual connection to the natural world, such as a town forest adjacent to a village or school.

II. Minimum Criteria – Each project must meet the following minimum criteria:

1. There must be clear enthusiasm from and partnership with the local community. Some of the ways a community can show support include a written community conservation plan (where the project helps fulfill the plan), a written petition, letters of support or official town endorsement. Selectboard approval is not required if community support is otherwise demonstrated.
2. The project must benefit the broad local community, rather than a narrow segment of residents.
3. If the project involves public facilities or public access for recreation, there must be a plan for the future ownership and management of the facilities and public access.
4. VLT must hold a legal interest (e.g., conservation easement, covenants, etc.) in the property to ensure that both the community benefits and the conservation values are preserved over the long term.

Notes:

• Local support for the project is an essential ingredient in a Community Project. However, community support alone will not create a Community Project. It must still fall into one of the three categories described in Section I above.

• There is no minimum acreage threshold for community projects. The key factor to be weighed is whether the property is of such significance to the community that VLT should expend staff and financial resources not only to undertake the project, but also to undertake a perpetual stewardship role.

III. Project Enhancements – The following attributes are not required, but may increase VLT’s interest in undertaking a project:

High Enhancements:

1. Project fulfills an unmet community need, or makes provision to meet an identified future need.
2. Project achieves multiple conservation goals of significant value (operating farm, managed forestland, important habitat, historical significance, archeological site, etc.).
3. High and preferably diversified financial leverage through local cash contributions, donated easements, bargain-sales or in-kind services.
4. A meaningful Town financial contribution to the project.
5. The expenditure from major conservation funding sources frequently accessed by VLT (such as VHCB and the Freeman Foundation) does not exceed $75,000. Additional funds needed for the project may, however, be provided by the community or alternative sources.
6. Public or non-profit ownership of the land, or if in private ownership, public recreational access is guaranteed, if appropriate.
7. Provides for access to land by a culturally, economically and/or racially diverse segment of the community, or the project serves urban residents without adequate access to public lands.
8. Adjacent lands are already conserved in a fashion which enhances project and community goals, or are strong prospects for conservation in the future.
9. Property has been identified as high priority through a local planning or ranking process.

Medium Enhancements:

1. Cash leverage from sources other than VLT’s established funding sources.
2. Medium financial leverage through local cash contributions, donated conservation easements, bargain-sale or in kind services.

Low Enhancements:

1. Abuts other conserved lands that have modest relationship to project values.
2. Contains other attributes (habitat, recreation, etc.).

Rev. July 2001

These links provide other information about VLT's community conservation program:

The following links provide information for you, if you are interested in conserving land that is not a community project: