The Saratoga County Trails and Open Space Committee voted June 4 to advance a proposal to reallocate a $58,581 county grant awarded to the town of Clifton Park in February 2023 for a pocket park to a proposed, larger Clifton Park conservation project.

Jason, a planner in the Office of Planning and Economic Development, told the committee the Clifton Park packet in the meeting materials requests reallocation of the 2023 award. He said the county’s open space program provided the original grant and that the county paid 50% of the project cost at the time: “Straight up county grant, 50% of the project cost.”

The applicant’s packet, included with the committee materials, shows the 2023 award supported a 1.7‑acre pocket park on Bluejay Way adjacent to the Mission Ferry Nature Preserve. The new proposal is for a roughly 32‑acre parcel the presenter and one committee member described as “far superior” to the prior pocket‑park project and more aligned with the county’s open‑space protection goals.

Nut graf: The decision matters because it would move a previously awarded, specific‑use county grant into a larger land‑protection project. Staff said the change is administratively possible but will require the county attorney to amend the earlier resolution; the committee voted to advance staff’s recommendation and asked that a draft resolution be brought back next month.

Committee members reviewed the county’s record for 2023, which the presenter said included a $400,000 open‑space budget, $283,000 in applications that year, and funding for all three open‑space applicants. Other 2023 projects cited in the packet included a Greenfield parcel purchased next to a community park and an application for the Town of Northumberland (listed in 2023 materials as an agricultural parcel) that requested $200,000.

Committee discussion focused on whether the original award imposed restrictions that would bar reallocation. A committee member asked if the original grant required that county funds be used only for the pocket park; Jason replied that the award was a county grant and that there was nothing in the packet that prevented reallocation but that staff would “work with the county attorney’s office to undo that portion of that resolution and reallocate the funds.”

Another committee member, who said he chaired the committee in February 2023, said he had supported the original Clifton Park pocket‑park award at the time but called the new, larger parcel “a far superior project” and voiced support for reallocating the funds. Following that discussion, the chair asked for a motion to advance the reallocation; a motion was made and the committee voted in favor.

The committee did not adopt a formal amendment or resolution at the meeting. Staff said no resolution had been drafted and that the next step is for county staff to prepare a resolution for the committee’s consideration next month and to coordinate with the county attorney on the legal amendment to the prior award.

The committee received additional program updates at the meeting: eight pending open‑space and permanent‑protection projects in the docket, 21 pending trail projects administered by the planning department, an incomplete timber‑harvest restoration at the Town of Northumberland delayed by May’s wet weather, and ongoing coordination with the New York State Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration on the Zim Smith Trail environmental assessment. Staff also noted a trail user counter will be installed this week to provide near real‑time trail usage data.

Ending: Staff will bring a draft resolution amending the February 2023 Clifton Park award to the committee at its next meeting and will work with the county attorney’s office on the required change to the prior resolution; no final transfer of funds occurred at the June 4 meeting.