FAQs

Community preservation plans generally consist of:

1. A plan summary

2. A list of community preservation focus areas tailored to meet the unique needs of the municipality

3. Priority parcel rankings

4. An evaluation of alternative land use protection techniques

5. Graphics such as maps or charts that relate to any priority parcels, survey results, or resource inventories collected during the development

1. A community preservation plan has unique legislative requirements that must be followed. 

2. All eligible property parcels in the city are ranked using public input on local priorities for community preservation. 

3. A community preservation plan, once adopted, can be the basis for creating a community preservation fund.

a. Builds resiliency

b. Planning for the Future

c. Implement Open Space Plan Goals

d. Protection, expansion of our urban forest

e. Stormwater and Watershed Management

f. Urban Agriculture and Local Food Production

g. Increased Access and Environmental Justice

h. Water Quality Protection- Esopus, Rondout and Hudson

Here is the language from the legislation that dictates what it could be used for: 

Preservation of community character shall involve one or more of the following: (a) establishment of parks, nature preserves, or recreation areas; (b) preservation of open space; (c) preservation of lands of exceptional scenic value; (d) preservation of fresh and saltwater marshes or other wetlands; (e) preservation of aquifer recharge areas; (f) preservation of undeveloped beach lands or shoreline; (g) establishment of wildlife refuges for the purpose of maintaining native animal species diversity, including the protection of habitat essential to the recovery of rare, threatened or endangered species; (h) preservation of unique or threatened ecological areas; (i) preservation of rivers and river areas in a natural, free-flowing condition; (j) preservation of forested land; (k) preservation of public access to lands for public use including stream rights and waterways; (l) preservation of historic places and properties listed on the New York state register of historic places and/or protected under a municipal historic preservation ordinance or law; (m) undertaking any of the paragraphs of this subdivision in furtherance of the establishment of a greenbelt; and (n) preservation of land which is predominantly viable agricultural land, as defined in subdivision seven of section three hundred one of the agriculture and markets law, or unique and irreplaceable agricultural land, as defined in subdivision six of section three hundred one of the agriculture and markets law.