High Intensity
This category encompasses land uses which impact the surrounding land to a high degree. These land uses may generate a lot of traffic, house many people, impact the environment to a large degree, or draw many people to an area. In order to simplify the Current Land Use Map (see the last page of this report), only areas with at least 10 acres of predominantly high intensity use were identified.

Land uses included as high intensity are:

1) Residential areas with five or more dwelling units per acre. This includes areas of multi-unit apartment buildings (e.g., Collegetown) and dense areas of single family structures (e.g., Fall Creek).

2) Manufactured home parks with densities of four or more manufactured homes per acre (e.g., Nate's Floral Estates in the City of Ithaca).

3) Commercial/residential centers of city and villages where mixed land uses of commercial, public/institutional, and high density residential exist (e.g., Village of Groton).

4) Large shopping centers and malls surrounded by parking facilities (e.g., Pyramid Mall).

5) Commercial areas along roadways that are not associated with large shopping malls (e.g., Rogan's Corners on Danby Road), as well as individual retail businesses that may exist within residential or industrial areas.

6) Buildings that contain either private or governmental administrative offices, as well as facilities that include business or technology services that are not predominantly retail oriented (e.g., Cornell Business and Technology Park).

7) Buildings, offices and facilities associated with manufacturing, processing, fabricating, warehousing, and other aspects of light industry, agri-business, or power plants and substations (e.g., Milliken Station).

8) All schools, university and college academic buildings, research facilities, and associated parking facilities. This includes other learning centers such as the Sciencenter and the Cayuga Nature Center.

9) Hospital, health clinics, medical offices, and nursing homes.

10) The Tompkins County airport, hangars, parking facilities, and runways.

Moderate Intensity
This category encompasses land uses which impact the surrounding land to a moderate degree. These land uses may generate some traffic, house some people, impact the environment to a moderate degree, or draw some people to an area. In order to simplify the Current Land Use Map, only areas with at least 10 acres of predominantly moderate intensity use were identified.

Land uses included as moderate intensity are:

1) Residential areas with more than 1, but less than 5 dwelling units per acre (e.g., Cayuga Heights).

2) Salt mining operations, gravel pits, and rock quarries.

3) Highway, public safety and fire department maintenance buildings, and related storage areas.

4) Places that store large numbers of vehicles for purposes of public use and transportation (e.g., Cornell's fleet storage and T-CAT bus garage).

Low Intensity
This category encompasses land uses which impact the surrounding land to a low degree. These land uses may generate a small amount of traffic, house a few people, impact the environment to a low degree, or draw a few people to an area. In order to simplify the Current Land Use Map, only areas with at least 10 acres of predominantly low intensity use were identified.

Land uses included as low intensity are:

1) Residential areas with no more than one dwelling unit per acre (e.g., houses along rural roads).

2) Active outdoor recreation facilities such as golf courses, marinas, campgrounds, stadiums, parks, and ball fields.

3) Public and institutional facilities such as houses of worship, cemeteries, correctional facilities, solid waste disposal, and sewage/water treatment facilities.

Agriculture
This category includes all of the larger areas of active agriculture in the county. In addition to lands which support common agricultural crops such as grains, vegetables and animal products, included in this category are pasture, tree farms, vineyards, fisheries and orchards. In order to simplify the Current Land Use Map, only areas with at least 100 acres of predominantly agricultural use were identified.

Forest and Brush Covered Lands
This category includes all of the larger areas of forested and brush covered land in the county. In addition to brush covered lands and deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests, included in this category are wooded wetlands, grasslands, marshes, bogs and shrub wetlands, and disturbed or barren land. In order to simplify the Current Land Use Map, only areas with at least 100 acres of predominantly forest or brush cover were identified.

"Vital Communities Workshop Report, 2000-2001", prepared by TCPD & ITCTC, June 2001