Dear Editor
As the shared leadership team of the Kingston Land Trust, we urge Kingston voters to vote yes on this November’s ballot measure to create a Community Conservation Fund. The fund will increase Kingston’s ability to protect clean water, historic Kingston resources, recreational and natural lands, and urban agriculture through a transfer tax on luxury real estate transactions.
This fund is overseen by a Citizen Advisory Board, which may include you, and is a public resource that, in accordance with New York State law, requires open space, lands of exceptional scenic value, marshes and wetlands, undeveloped shorelines, public Can only be used to secure access. From preserved lands and hiking trails to historic sites and properties. Land can only be acquired from willing sellers and cannot be acquired in any other way.
In our region, the towns of New Paltz, Marbletown, Gardiner, and Red Hook have community conservation funds that are successfully utilized for municipal ecological management.
Kingston Land Trust believes that this fund will go a long way in achieving the conservation and public land access goals set out in the Open Space Plan adopted by the Common Council in 2020. This plan we helped create in the community with local residents. This fund will help balance investment in urban growth with protecting the unique and important ecosystems that support us all.
The ballot scale is on the back of your ballot, so don’t forget to turn it over. To learn more about this Kingston voting measure, visit preservekingston.vote.
Signed,
Kingston Land Trust Shared Leadership Team
