Open Space Committee - Update
In November 2004, the citizens of North Castle voted overwhelming for the creation of a $3M bond fund for open space acquisition. Over 2,442 acres in North Castle consist of privately owned, unprotected, and undeveloped land. Obviously $3M can’t buy 2,442 acres, but fortunately there are many protective tools available. The OSC’s focus is to protect as much of this land as possible through conservation easements, donations, land swaps, rights of first refusal, and finally, when all else fails, acquisition. The OSC is determined to recommend expenditure of bond funds for acquisition only where and when, using the money to leverage funds from State, County and private sources, the money can make the biggest impact.
The following is a brief overview of some of the many projects the OSC has been involved with in 2005:
1. Miller Hill / Washington Headquarters. This site of great historical importance has deteriorated to a terrible condition. The OSC led the effort to get this site preserved, and as a result there is a preservation effort under way today.
2. Rolling Hills. This a seven house subdivision located on Green Valley Road and Round Hill Road that is currently before the Planning Board. Due to the environmentally sensitive nature of this site and its location in a nature corridor, the OSC joined with the Conservation Board in recommending that at least three of the lots be donated to the Town as permanent open space.
3. Pembroke Square (now Armonk Square). This is a high density retail and residential development proposed for three acres in downtown Armonk that is currently before the Planning Board. The current plan includes placing a road with parking through the Historic District located on Bedford Road. The OSC has recommended protecting the Historic District by eliminating the Bedford Road access and decreasing the density of the plan. This can be achieved through a land swap between the Town and the developer so that one acre of open space could be added to the plan by moving some of the required parking to an extension of the town parking lot by Memories Restaurant.
4. Seven Springs. On April 20, 2005, the OSC held a work session with the Town Board to explain why Seven Springs, the 213 acre parcel, located by Byram Lake is the OSC’s number one priority parcel for acquisition. At the conclusion of this meeting, the Town Board agreed that if the owner, Donald Trump, was willing to sell, and we could get the other towns involved to contribute money, that the Town Board would commit $1M of the bond fund to purchasing Seven Springs.
5. Dubos. This 30 acre parcel on Baldwin Road drains directly into Byram Lake. The owner, the Dubos Center, a non-profit organization, has tried to sell it to the developer Capelli. The sale was litigated since Dubos had received the property in return for its promise to keep it a nature center. The sale of the property is now before the Attorney General. The OSC has spoken with the Assistant Attorney General handling the case and he understands our position that the donor’s intent to keep this land a nature preserve must be honored.
6. DEP Purchases in the Kensico Watershed. The NYC Department of Environmental Protection has a large budget for purchasing land in the Kensico watershed. The OSC met with the DEP earlier this year to review parcels in North Castle that are in the Kensico watershed which we thought the DEP should purchase. The DEP is pursuing a number of these parcels.
7. Conservation Easements. The OSC continuously contacts private landowners to discuss preserving their property with conservation easements. A conservation easement is a tool for protecting a parcel from future development while often providing tax benefits to the landowner that gives up these development rights.
8. Armonk Bowling Alley. This site on Old Route 22 is of extreme environmental importance because of the role it plays in the Kensico basin. The Kensico Reservoir holds drinking water for approximately one million NYC residents and more than 500,000 lower Westchester residents. The NYC DEP has expressed interest in purchasing the site, removing the impervious surface, which contaminates runoff, and restoring a natural wetland system. In addition, NYC would pay property taxes to the Town. The OSC is working to make purchase and protection of this site a reality.
