Kingston advisory board holds inaugural meeting, elects officers and reviews new open‑space fund

Julie Noble, the city’s sustainability coordinator and staff liaison, opened the inaugural meeting of Kingston’s Community Preservation Advisory Board and outlined the board’s role in advising Common Council on spending from a newly created real‑estate transfer tax fund. “This is the inaugural meeting of the Community Preservation Advisory Board. Welcome, everyone,” Noble said.

The board elected Bert Samuelson as chair and Kevin McAvoy as secretary during the meeting. Those internal housekeeping votes preceded a detailed briefing from Noble about the Community Preservation Plan, the fund that supports it and how the board will handle proposals and conflicts of interest.

Nut graf: The Community Preservation Plan and its accompanying local laws establish a dedicated fund—fed by a county‑level real‑estate transfer tax—to pay for land protection, parks, habitat and other open‑space purposes. The advisory board’s recommendations must go to Kingston’s Common Council, which holds a public hearing before approving expenditures.

Noble told members the preservation effort grew from earlier planning work: a natural resources inventory and an open‑space plan that were combined into a parcel‑level Community Preservation Plan. Under the city’s local laws (local law numbers 8, 9 and 10 of 2024) and the state statute referenced in the briefing, each parcel in the…