Sustainable Solebury

 Why is Solebury different from other communities?  

Why did you choose to live in Solebury Township?

The answers are as varied as there are residents, yet there are themes.

Commitment to the community that goes back more than 300 years. Respect for nature, individual, community. It is a legacy that is passed down through the generations.

As stated in the Solebury Township Comprehensive Plan:

Solebury Township seeks to establish and maintain a Sustainable Community that balances the rights of property owners to reasonably use their land with the community’s expressed goal to conserve and preserve its natural and historical character for the benefit of all, present, and future residents. Aggressive conservation and preservation or natural and historic resources is necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents from unreasonable risks and nuisances caused by the environmental, economic, and transportation impacts associated with unbalanced land uses. A holistic approach emphasizing thorough evaluation of the individual and cumulative impacts potentially associated with significant land use proposals must be evaluated in the context of the current and future projected land uses for surrounding properties and municipalities. This vision is derived from the residents of Solebury Township.

The Comprehensive Plan identifies goals to establish and maintain a Sustainable Community. The distribution and nature of land uses must maintain restore or enhance the natural and historical character of the Township. Goals of the plan are:

Protecting the natural environment and our resources –

• Conserve, protect and restore the natural landscapes of Solebury Township, including woodlands, wetlands, floodplains, streams and riparian corridors, meadows and hedgerows, providing a healthy living environment for people, plants and animals.

• Conserve agriculture, agricultural lands, and soil resources controlling growth, preserving farmland, and minimizing soil disturbance and preventing accelerated erosion, especially in highly valued and sensitive areas such as prime agricultural land and steep slopes.

• Conserve and enhance natural vegetative cover to promote conservation of soil, water resources and animal habitats.

• Conserve, protect and enhance the quality and quantity of groundwater resources for reasonable uses by the residents

• Maintain, restore and enhance the quality of Solebury waterways through the prevention of degradation from increased sediment, pesticide and nutrient loading, increased storm flows and decreased groundwater discharges during low flow periods. Post-development runoff volumes from any land area should be minimized in relation to pre-development runoff, with permitted levels of impact related to the sensitivity of specific resource areas, such as Special Protection Waters, feeder streams to the Delaware Canal, headwaters areas, and first order streams.

• Maintain the water budget on individual properties and throughout the Township. To ensure protection of groundwater resources and the processing capacity of subsurface soils for wastewater renovation, the volume of groundwater recharge over any specific area must be maintained at pre-development levels to the maximum extent feasible, through a combination of best management or engineering practices.

• Protect, establish and maintain greenways and open space corridors as natural linkages between and among open spaces and developed areas, allowing people, plans and animals opportunities to thrive and move through the diverse landscapes of Solebury Township.

 Protecting unique history and culture of Solebury -

• Protect and promote the maintenance and continued economic viability of historic and cultural resources and scenic landscapes.

Accommodating development in a sustainable manner and achieving community balance-

• Maintain the free flow of local traffic through a combination of traffic management techniques that protect the safety of residents as well as the scenic nature of the Township roadways.

• Review and refine Township land use planning and regulatory tools to promote patterns of activity and conservation that facilitate achievement of these goals, including the Zoning Ordinance, the Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, the Park and Recreation Plan, Open Space Plan, the Sewage Facilities Plan and relationship(s) with the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority.

• Promote sustainable development that is designed to (1) conserve, maintain and enhance natural and cultural resources while providing opportunities to implement community development objectives and meet projected housing needs, (2) minimize traffic impacts, (3) minimize impacts on public welfare, such as unreasonable increased demands on public services and schools, (4) ensure wastewater disposal services can be maintained indefinitely on any developed property, without endangering public health, safety and welfare, and avoiding discharge or wastewater to surface waters, and (5) ensure a reliable and safe source of water supply can be provided indefinitely from water resources of the Township, preferably from resources available on each property.

• Prevent cumulative impacts from new land use practices and infrastructure from diminishing the quality of life or property values of Solebury residents. Cumulative impacts results from the incremental impact of the action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions, eventually resulting in adverse effects on water resources, wastewater management, transportation, air quality, stability of tax revenues in relation to budgetary needs, etc.

• Maintain and develop community facilities accessible to all residents, including Township administrative services, fire protection, ambulance service and libraries.

• Develop, maintain and enhance parks and recreation facilities throughout the Township, preferably in close proximity to where people live and connected by public access ways or trails.