Webster Open Space Committee

Who we are and what we do 

The Webster Open Space Committee is an incorporated 501 c(3) comprised of a group of volunteer citizens who share a desire to see Webster’s natural beauty remain intact for present and future generations. 

With the pace of development in Webster only set to increase, it is more important than ever to ensure that development which forever compromises our natural resources is balanced by a real effort on the part of our Town Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board to preserve these resources. While part of this effort historically has been to advocate for the protection of entire parcels through donation or purchase, we are also committed to pursuing code and zoning amendments which would ensure that development occurs with minimal impact to Webster’s threatened natural resources. 

While we have, in the past, worked with the Town and Friends of Webster Trails to identify properties of conservational interest and engage in landowner outreach, with the upcoming Comprehensive Plan Update underway, we are currently focusing on advocacy and informative outreach.

We aim to ensure that Webster citizens are informed and thereby enabled to participate in local Government and Planning procedure, holding our Boards accountable to their responsibility to Webster residents. Our Boards must protect residents from inappropriate development, and mitigate the loss of greenspace by restricting inappropriate approvals and variances, and imposing conditions upon development approvals which serve to ensure that any new development is held to the most rigorous restrictions allowed by our Code in order to protect existing greenspace, and existing quality of life.

In order to ensure that the Boards themselves are empowered to act in the best interest of Webster residents, not only the practices of Boards but the Code to which they adhere must change to meet the demands of 2025 and beyond. Our Code should be amended in the upcoming Comprehensive Plan in order to strengthen the ability of Boards to impose existing greenspace protections: removing a majority percentage of existing vegetation outside of the lot coverage maximum should be prohibited in all zones; woodlot environmental protection overlays should be strengthened, and a Tree Preservation ordinance, which prohibits the removal of a percentage of trees over a certain size, should be implemented. Zoning amendments, such as a greater use of Special Use Permits in more zones, which would enable increased Town Board oversight of new development, should also be considered.

With these amendments, Webster will be better placed to preserve its special quality of life in the upcoming years. As development pressure is only set to increase, we cannot continue to adhere to outdated development practices designed to encourage unmitigated growth, from a time when there were far fewer people and far more available properties. We must act now to change our approach, ensuring that all future developments are held to more rigorous standards which ensure that Webster’s natural heritage is retained for our future—and that it remains a place “Where Life is Worth Living.”