North East to receive $25,000 for farmland protection


 

NORTH EAST — The town of North East has won a $25,000 grant from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to develop a local farmland protection plan. That’s good news, according to Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) Chairwoman Dianne Engleke.

"We’re very pleased and excited that the town has been awarded this grant and the end results of the grant will be that the town and the farmland will be protected," she said. "That the Town Board will approve a comprehensive townwide farmland protection plan, that’s our goal."

On Wednesday (after this paper went to press) in New Paltz, New York Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker was expected to announce that roughly $372,000 will be awarded to 16 towns in upstate New York, including North East, to help develop agricultural and farmland protection plans. That’s in addition to the another $500,000 that went toward local farmland protection plans the month before.

Engleke said drafting such plans can be crucial for working farmers.

"It will give permanent protection for those people who want to continue to farm," she said. "It’s nice to have open space, in theory, but it’s even nicer to actually have it farmed."

"What this allows us to do is to work to produce a farmland protection plan for our community, identifying lands that we think are priorities to consider for protection for conservation purposes, and desirable properties to include either for acquisition or development rights," town Supervisor Dave Sherman said, adding that two such examples exist in the town already: Sunset Ridge Farm and Pleasant View Farm.

The supervisor credited the CAC with developing the application and pursuing the grant. He also said the Town Board has been busy working on farmland protection measures.

Last week the board decided to renew last year’s request to the state Legislature to enable the town to seek voter approval to participate financially in purchasing either land or development rights for agricultural land preservation.

"The legislation would allow us to seek a funding mechanism for the purposes of raising funds to be used as part of the town’s contribution toward farmland protection, primarily toward the purchase of development rights," Sherman said.

The state, meanwhile, has planned numerous workshops to help provide guidance to municipalities awarded farmland protection planning grant money.

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