To guide the future development of the Town of Union Vale in accordance with its comprehensive plan so that the Town may realize its potential as a place to live and work, with the most beneficial and convenient relationships among the agricultural, residential, institutional, commercial and light industrial areas within the Town and with due consideration to the following factors:

To encourage the conservation and sound management of the natural, open space, scenic and historic resources throughout the Town in order to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the community and the value of the land.

To enhance the appearance of the Town as a whole, by ensuring that all development shall be orderly and beneficial to the Town, by eliminating inappropriate and poor quality design in the provision of site improvements and in the exterior appearance of structures, and by controlling the erection and maintenance of signs throughout the Town.

To protect residential areas and to provide privacy for families and ensure quality of life by the protection of such areas, among other factors, from the visual and noisome intrusion of nonresidential uses and, wherever reasonable, by the gradual elimination of nonconforming uses which exert a deleterious influence on the surroundings.

To facilitate the provision of efficient transportation, water supply, sewage disposal, schools, parks, trails and other public facilities and services, including emergency protective services, appropriate to a rural residential setting.

To protect the character of specifically identified scenic and historic resources and sensitive environmental areas, including groundwater, streams, wetlands, floodplains, significant wildlife habitats and visually prominent ridgelines.

To facilitate the provision of a variety of housing choice in the Town consistent with the capability of the community's land resource and the level of public facilities and services within its rural residential setting.

To sustain to the extent remaining the Town's farm activities and foster the preservation of its irreplaceable agricultural land resources.

To foster the creation of economic development activities within the Town consistent with its rural residential character yet capable of providing goods, services and jobs to Town residents.

To complement the New York State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code as adopted by New York State effective July 2002 and to ensure compliance with all other applicable laws, rule and regulations - local, county, state and federal - governing the use and development of land and the use of structures within the Town of Union Vale.

To promote and support implementation of the Town of Union Vale Master Plan (2001) and to concomitantly manage growth in a manner consistent with Dutchess County land use policies as set forth in Directions (1987) and Greenway Connections (2000).

Except as otherwise expressly stated in Article XII, § 210-86, Definitions, all words and terminology within this chapter shall carry their customary meanings.

Words used in the present tense include the future; the singular number includes the plural and the plural number includes the singular; the word "lot" includes the words "plot" and "parcel"; the word "structure" includes the word "building"; the term "occupied" or "used" as applied to any given building or land shall be construed to include "arranged," "designed," "constructed," "altered," "converted," "rented," "leased" or "intended to be used or occupied"; the words "shall" and "must" are intended to be mandatory and not optional.