Voters in the Albany County town of Bethlehem have voted to preserve more than 300 acres of farmland and open space in Glenmont and Selkirk.
With the approval of Proposition 2, the town is free to spend nearly $3 million to purchase 307 acres of land that would then be "protected forever" for agriculture and open space. The local measure set off pitched debate in the town, where Democratic Supervisor David VanLuven cheered the result late Tuesday:
"Over the last 15 plus years, I've been talking to Bethlehem residents and they have expressed frustration and concern as our farmlands and forests and open spaces in town have grown, subdivision after subdivision," said VanLuven. "And Bethlehem, in my experience, is a town that does. We don't just complain, we actually step up and take responsibility for the things that we care about and we invest in. We're investing in our sidewalks infrastructure, we're investing in our water and sewer, and we're in our parks and we're also investing in our open spaces."
VanLuven says he and the town board “welcomed the referendum because it was an opportunity for our community to engage directly in the largest municipal farmland protection effort in Hudson Valley history.”
Jessica Loy was among town residents who voted “yes.”
"We need to protect our environment, we need to protect our open space," said Loy. "We are having a crisis and climate change. And if we don't become pro more proactive, we're really going to be decimating our planet for our children."
Cindy Kaiser cast a “no” vote.
"It's really just the town using our tax dollars to buy land and then later using it for whatever they want it for, instead of actually keeping it open land like farmers will do," Kaiser said. "And it's making people who do farm and have land not be able to afford land here. And it's actually making less open space that more."
Glenmont resident Steve Peterson thinks the money could be put to better use. Peterson was instrumental in getting the permissive referendum on the ballot, and says he did so to show people that it is a tool that anyone can employ across New York.
“I was challenging the use of the town of the committee's sales tax revenue surplus when it was identified that the town supervisor was taking $2.2 million of it and moving it over him moving it over to the farms and forest funding without any discussion," said Peterson. "And without any knowledge or any asking the community whether you think that a total of $3 million for a land purchase is something you would be interested in.”
VanLuven says now that Prop 2 has passed, the town will be exploring several options.
"As we move forward, we'll be able to set aside a portion of that as parkland, work with the veterans organization to have areas where they can do therapy for veterans suffering from PTSD," said VanLuven. " But most importantly, are in addition to that, to place agricultural easements on these properties so that for the next for generations to come, these lands will continue growing crops rather than subdivisions."
VanLuven says the town has already been talking to agricultural nonprofits about potentially leasing portions or using or purchasing portions of the land to start farmland incubator programs. He believes Proposition 2 will serve as a model for other communities.
