ORANGE COUNTY, N.Y.—Orange County legislators voted to infuse an additional $4 million into the newly reactivated open space fund at the recent Rules as well as Ways and Means committee meetings.
Alan Sorensen, county planning commissioner, requested the funding—all to be financed through county bonds—from lawmakers as part of the approved 2025 county capital plan.
Noting that almost all of the $1 million seed money used to reactivate the fund last summer has been spent, Sorensen said the need for land preservation justifies the increased investment.
“We can fund not only acquisitions of land for parkland … but we are also funding conservation easements on farms,” he told county lawmakers at an April 16 committee meeting….