New Pine Bush legislation
January 01, 2019
A new tool for protecting Pine Bush land has just been added!
We are exceptionally grateful to the Governor, Senator Amedore and Assemblymember Fahy for making this a reality.
By Christopher Hawver
On December 21st , Governor Cuomo signed important Pine Bush legislation sponsored by Senator Amedore and Assemblymember Fahy (S. 8596/ A. 11039) into law. This action amends the NYS Environmental Conservation Law by adding to the powers and duties of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission with the ability to acquire real property. Currently, the Commission must work through the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and/or a non-governmental organization to conserve land within the Albany Pine Bush.
As the urbanized and suburbanized communities in which the preserve is located continue to grow, there are landowners who wish to sell their ecologically valuable land to the Commission for conservation purposes. The current process for working with willing landowners to add parcels to the preserve has not been able to move as quickly as the real estate market demands.
With this bill now signed into law, the Commission can work with a team of partners to now execute these strategic acquisitions with landowners directly, which could otherwise have been lost to development.
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