Open Space Update

The Open Space Committee focuses on protecting land through conservation easements, donations, land swaps, rights of first refusal, and acquisition. In November 2004, the citizens of North Castle voted overwhelming for the creation of a $3 Million Dollar ten year bond fund for open space acquisition. Money from this fund was used as follows:

  1. Quarry Heights - In 2006 the Town purchased a parcel of land adjacent to Quarry Park in North White Plains to expand the park.
  2. 30 Acre Byram Lake Preserve - In 2009 the Town contributed $230,000 towards the purchase of the former Dubos property, a 30 acre parcel on Baldwin  Road that drains directly into Byram Lake, the sole source of drinking water for the Village of Mount Kisco. Mt. Kisco contributed an additional $230,000 towards the purchase, and Westchester Land Trust contributed $15,000.
  3. 73 Acre Levene Property - Mianus River Gorge - In 2014, the Town contributed $500,000 towards the $2.8 million dollar purchase of the 73 acre Levene property by Mianus River Gorge Preserve. In return, North Castle received a conservation easement on the land. This parcel contains exceptional conservation value including a pristine tributary to the Mianus River and the Bargh Reservoir, steep slopes, extensive wetlands, vernal pools, and wildlife corridors. It also linked the Mianus River Gorge’s main reserve area and its Castlebrook parcel. 

Although the Open Space Bond Fund expired in 2014, the Open Space Committee continues its efforts to protect and preserve open space in North Castle. 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.

We also continue to look for funding sources and opportunities to bring partners together to collaborate on preservation and leverage our financial contribution to preserve a greater amount of land.

63 Acre Errico Property — In October 2021, Westchester Land Trust in partnership with the State of New York and the Town of North Castle, permanently protected the 63 acre Errico Property located along Byram Lake and Byram Hill Roads. The property is part of a significant 700-acre forest block that includes The Nature Conservancy’s Eugene and Agnes Meyer Nature Preserve and Butler Memorial Sanctuary, as well as the drinking water supply lands of Byram Lake Reservoir owned by the neighboring municipality of Mount Kisco. The land has diverse habitats including a pond, meadow, wetlands, steep slopes with large rock outcroppings and an upland forest. The Westchester Land Trust (WLT) was awarded $1,062,000 in funding for this acquisition through a CWIA/EPF Water Quality Improvement Project Grant administered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Town of North Castle contributed $250,000. WLT will own the land and the Town will hold a conservation easement on the land ensuring its permanent protection. The two will partner in the management of the property as a nature preserve. The property will be opened to the public for hiking and nature study once initial inventories and management plans have been finalized, and a recreation trail is established.