Trees and open space are worth more than lip service to one local real
estate developer.
He will pay $ 477 up front and $ 200 per month to install an eight-line
"save the trees" hot line that will allow individuals to donate money over
the phone to acquire open space in the town of their choice.
The lines, a first in the state for this purpose, are expected to be in
operation sometime after Tuesday.
"The '540' lines cost less to install and service than a '900' line," said
Frank Parlato, the developer making a name for himself with repeated offers
to sell land for parks.
Currently, Parlato hopes to sell the Town of Hamburg 1.28 acres that
include the small, scenic Buttermilk Falls so Hamburg can develop access to
town-owned parkland along 18 Mile Creek; and he has 22 acres (including
3,000 feet of frontage along Tonawanda Creek) that he has offered to
Clarence for a new town park.
"But the fund-raising effort has nothing to do with those parcels," Parlato
said. "It would be inappropriate to use the funds for any parcels I wished
to sell."
"I have a plan here that will help every town raise funds for open-space
acquisition, and I think it will solve the problems of over-development and
the loss of forest land here in Western New York," he added. "I hope 1993
will be the first year that we reserve more forest land here than we
destroy."
The idea of a fund-raising phone line is "intriguing," said Michael
Alspaugh, the county planner who is liaison to area conservation
commissions. "But," he said, "I don't know how many of them would be able
to handle the money -- or be interested in buying open space."
"Most of the northern and eastern townships have such commissions,"
Alspaugh continued. "The southern part of the county hasn't got as many set
up. But many of them go the route of easements or in-lieu (of taxes)
payments from developers and think those funds ought to be used to benefit
the new subdivision, not the whole town."
"Still, it's an intriguing idea," the planner said, "and it sure is a good
way to find out the level of interest in open space on the part of the
public."
Here is how it will work:
Eight "540" lines, which are like "900" lines, only cheaper because they
are limited to local calls, will be installed in downtown office space
donated by Hunt Real Estate.
The caller dials 1-540-TREE and gets a recorded message that says if they
stay on the line, they will get a $ 10 charge added to their next phone
bill.
The caller has 20 seconds to hang up at no charge. If he or she stays on,
that $ 10 will be posted, and at the push of a button the donation can be
raised to $ 20, if the caller wishes.
"The phone company will collect the money and disburse the checks, and I
won't see any of it," Parlato said.
"We will track the calls, and the conservation commission in the town where
the caller lives will get the money -- provided they agree to put it toward
green-space acquisition.
"If there is no open-space commission in a community, we will either hold
the money until one is formed or disburse it to green-space acquisition
elsewhere in Western New York. For example, the state has some prime areas
they would like to acquire -- like Woodlawn Beach -- but they lack the
funds."
Parlato is not daunted by those who say public interest may not equal his.
"People talk about saving the rain forest in Brazil," Parlato said in a
letter. "But they ought to care about saving the forests in their own back
yards. At its present rate of growth, Western New York could lose most of
its remaining forest land in the next five to 10 years."
Parlato has bought at least three suburban subdivisions and reconfigured
them for fewer lots. He usually marks out a permanently deeded "forest
preserve," which then becomes property owned in common by all the lot
owners.
The result is a three-fold benefit: As a developer, he has far lower costs
for roads, sewers and utilities; the remaining lots command higher prices
because of the common woodland; and he saves trees, too -- a goal about
which Parlato seems almost fixated.
He feels so strongly about saving trees, Parlato said in an interview, that
he wanted to pay the costs of the "540" lines himself. He hopes they will
get enough play to establish a reasonably effective flow of funds to those
towns that have open space commissions -- and encourage every community to
establish one.
"People tell me that there is no group collecting money to save forest land
in the more rural townships, and that this idea would help," he said.
"There is land that could be bought on Grand Island, Amherst -- even
Buffalo has a chance for land purchase and reclamation."