Farmland Protection in Practice:
Town of Clarence Greenprint
Recorded on February 22, 2021
The Greenprint was born in 2002 when Clarence residents voted for a $12.5 million bond to preserve open space. Fifteen hundred acres have been preserved at a lower than expected cost to taxpayers. In 2014, then supervisor David Hartzell said, “Any time you spend money in a municipality, there is always some kind of blowback, but this is the only program where I have yet to receive any complaint,” adding that “the Greenprint was a major reason that Moody’s Investment Services raised the town’s bond credit rating, because the program increases property values and makes Clarence a more desirable place to live.”
This webinar is intended for planning and zoning board members, local government officials and staff, and anyone interested in farmland conservation.
This event was made possible with support from American Farmland Trust (AFT). Seneca Trail RC&D is a Regional Navigator for AFT’s Farmland for a New Generation program (FNG-NY). The focal point of the FNG-NY program is the New York Farmland Finder, a website that helps link farmers seeking land and landowners who want to keep their land in farming.
About the Presenter
Jonathan Bleuer is Director of Community Development for the Town of Clarence. He joined the department in 2013 as a Municipal Planner with the Town of Clarence in 2013 and was promoted to Director of Community Development in 2019. Education in Environmental Design and Urban Planning at the University at Buffalo provided him with a unique approach to the preservation of key physical assets and strategic planning for sustainable community development. Jonathan has been on the board of directors of the WNY section of the American Planning Association and an adjunct instructor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo.