Environment DEC
From the June 2005 issue
Governor Introduces Community Preservation Act
Communities will be able to continue their efforts to create new parks and recreational facilities
Governor George E. Pataki submitted legislation that will assist local governments throughout New York State in preserving community character by providing the means to fund local community preservation and open space initiatives. "As New York's economy continues to grow, more and more local governments are dealing with the pressures of increased development and the impacts of sprawl on the quality of life in their communities," Governor Pataki said. "Over the last 10 years, the state has protected more than 910,000 acres of open space and created new parks and recreational facilities for the benefit of our children and future generations. This legislation will provide all communities with the means to build on and continue this important work on the local level."
Details of Legislation
The Governor's Community Preservation Act legislation would allow cities, towns and villages in New York State to impose a real estate transfer fee of up to two percent of the sale price of real property to fund the establishment and preservation of parks, nature preserves, recreational areas, open spaces, agricultural areas, wetlands and marshes, watershed areas, beaches and shorelines, rivers, forest lands, waterfronts, historic places and wildlife habitat.
The bill is modeled after legislation previously approved by Governor Pataki in 1998 to authorize the five east end towns on Long Island to implement a real estate transfer tax, the proceeds of which are dedicated to the purchase of open space. On Long Island, this transfer tax has raised more than $165 million since its enactment, and helped leverage extensive private and other public funding sources. In 2003, the Governor approved similar legislation for the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County.
The bill includes a mandatory planning component which requires approval via local referendum. It also would require municipalities to establish advisory boards comprised of local residents to review and recommend acquisitions of real property in order to preserve community character. Community preservation fund monies could also be used for the management and stewardship of such land interests.
State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Acting Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan said, "Under Governor Pataki's leadership, New York State has developed one of the most comprehensive open space conservation programs in the country. The Community Preservation Act will ensure that New York State stays in the forefront of national efforts to protect open space by allowing residents in communities who choose to participate to preserve environmentally sensitive lands, support farms and forest land and protect the quality of life in their communities."
Quality Communities
The Community Preservation Act is consistent with the Governor's Quality Communities Initiative and would complement the state's Open Space Conservation Plan and the newly enacted $3 million Quality Communities Planning Grant Program by providing local governments with a locally derived, dedicated source of revenues for the protection of important open space resources, which can then be leveraged with private and state funding.
Governor Pataki has made the protection of open space a priority with record funding in the Environmental Protection Fund and the 1996 Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act. In the last decade, he has announced the protection of more than 910,000 acres of land across the state-expanding the state's land holdings by 20 percent and creating new state parks and forests, and the state's first ever Farmland Protection Program.
