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Planners weigh mapping and open‑space options to protect land suited for septic systems
Summary
Staff recommended adding USDA prime‑soil and septic‑suitability maps to zoning guidance; commissioners debated incentives, easements or an official map to preserve soils valuable for future community septic disposal while avoiding making soils an automatic PUD trigger.
At the April 7 meeting, planning staff summarized recent conversations with the Department of Environmental Conservation and USDA and recommended incorporating soils maps into Jericho’s zoning guidance to inform PUD open‑space design rather than using soils as an automatic PUD trigger.
Chris Flynn told the commission that USDA and DEC staff cautioned maps are useful for planning but not reliable for site‑by‑site regulation without test pits. He recommended adding prime and statewide‑important soils to the zoning maps so PUD applicants could identify where open‑space dedications would best preserve soils that are suitable for future septic disposal.
The commission discussed several incentive and implementation options, including easements, negotiated compensation for land set aside, and transferable development rights. Flynn framed the issue as a community‑resource question: "The most valuable commodity in Jericho is the land... especially the land that will support septic," and he urged sensitivity about treating such soils as private property while creating ways to protect them for future shared use.
Commissioners expressed practical concerns about crafting a legal mechanism: one member said easements or septic rights might be feasible but would likely require compensation and complex agreements. Others favored using PUD open‑space language to explicitly allow future septic disposal as an acceptable open‑space purpose (without granting the town an automatic right to take or use the land).
The wastewater task force was reported to have promising boring/test‑pit results for candidate disposal sites; commissioners noted that pairing soils mapping with a feasibility study and an eventual official map or incentives program could help secure disposal capacity over time.
Outcome and next steps: commissioners endorsed adding soils mapping to planning guidance rather than making soils alone trigger a PUD; staff was asked to draft guidance language for PUD open‑space treatment of septic‑suitable soils and to coordinate with the wastewater task force and feasibility study.
