By Elizabeth Holder, Chair of the Commission on Conservation and Agriculture.
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It has been 12 years since Middletown has had funding dedicated toward the purchase of open space. During that time the state has awarded grants to towns and Middletown has too often been left out.
Previously the city was able to buy over 1,100 acres of open land -- some to be preserved as farmland, some for passive recreation, and some for athletic fields. The bond authorizations that made this possible were issued in declining amounts -- a $5 million bond in 1989, $3 million in 2002, and $2 million in 2007 -- while land values have increased.
The proposed bond would be spent over a 20-year period. It would greatly enhance Middletown's ability to go after state grants and other matching funds by making it clear that we would have our portion of any required funding as land for purchase became available.
The Commission on Conservation and Agriculture has a ranking system, based on state criteria, that is used to evaluate all parcels that are offered to the city. This numerical ranking system is typically used to choose properties for purchase that will best serve the interests of the city. The commission seeks matching grants whenever possible to extend the available funding and bring state and private funding to our city.
Please come to the Common Council meeting on August 5th at 7:00 to support the open-space bond authorization. The unusual combination of urban, suburban, and rural areas in Middletown is one of the things that makes our city truly unique.
3 comments:
Thank you for writing this - our citizens have supported open space bonds in the past and hopefully will support this as well. Two questions - Do you know what the amount is and whether it targets specific areas of Middletown or could be used for any land within the city?
Let me put a question on the table please.
When it comes to open space and how the taxpayers of middletown, not the state bonds'you assume pay for upkeep of open space, who pays for your this and what's the budget for the upkeep of your hopeful acquired open space?
The bond authorization is for 5 million over 20 years and land in any area of the city could be purchased. One of the criteria in the ranking tool is proximity to high-density areas of the city’s population. We hope to make open space more available to all areas of the city, though where undeveloped land for purchase is located limits us to some degree.
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