Saratoga County Open Space Committee moves $50,000 grant funds, sets Ag District hearing and approves school easement

Acting Chair, Open Space Committee convened the committee in February and led unanimous voice votes to advance three agenda items: a transfer from the open space reserve to close a grant to the Town of Milton, a public hearing on additions to Saratoga County Agricultural District No. 2, and a permanent easement for school access and drainage related to the Zim Smith Trail parking lot in Mechanicsville.

The committee authorized a reserve-to-operating transfer to close a 02/2022 open space grant to the Town of Milton. Jason, Open Space staff, said, "This is an open space grant reserve fund transfer. This is the 02/2022 grant to the town of Milton ... We provide $50,000 to project cost that close on the property." The resolution will move funds from the reserve account into the county operating account and close the grant. The motion was approved by voice vote.

The committee also voted to set a public hearing on proposed boundary amendments to Saratoga County Agricultural District No. 2. Jason, Open Space staff, described the annual inclusion period: applications are submitted in October, reviewed by the agricultural protection board (which approved them in December), then forwarded to the full board of supervisors. He said the committee will present a full summary of the applications next month and the public hearing is scheduled for March at the county Law and Finance meeting; if there are no objections at the hearing the supervisors could adopt the additions and the county would forward them to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets for official mapping.

Separately, the committee approved moving forward with a permanent easement for vehicular access and drainage over a portion of county land to the Cannonville City School District, connected to the Zim Smith Trail Elizabeth Street parking area in Mechanicsville. Jason, Open Space staff, said the easement responds to the school district's need for bus access and athletic field access and that the county and school attorneys have been negotiating terms. He told the committee, "They will need to do some safety improvements. We need some stop signs, some striping in the parking lot. They had to address some storm water issues. All those things have been taken care of. Working on the final details of the easement now." The committee recorded the approval subject to final county attorney sign-off and the parties completing the agreed safety and stormwater improvements.

Committee members thanked staff for work on the easement and related issues. Steve, committee member, commented, "This whole thing erupted on us as a surprise, last fall. And there's been tremendous amount of work on short notice and led by Jason and others." Members discussed adding shared-road signage where the trail intersects Elizabeth Street and acknowledged pedestrian and bicycle safety steps, including striping and crosswalks in the parking lot. The county attorney's office indicated concern about opening vehicle access before the safety improvements are completed; the easement approval is therefore conditioned on resolving those details.

Jason, Open Space staff, gave updates on open space and trails programs: he reported draft applications for outstanding farmland and trail projects will be available and that committee review of applications typically follows a schedule used in prior years (previously mailed Jan. 12 with a March 29 deadline). He reported trails funding of "a hundred thousand dollars" was released in February with a June 28 application deadline. He also said a recent timber-harvest bid for a harvest in Northumberland came in higher than anticipated and that he will recommend an award to the board next month.

During other business, committee members raised recurring problems obtaining right-of-way approvals from National Grid for trail extensions. One committee member said working with National Grid has been "extremely challenging and frustrating," and proposed compiling a list of town-level right-of-way requests to present collectively to National Grid through county channels; Eric, county staff, offered his office's support to gather and present the mapping and requests. Another committee member suggested contacting local National Grid representatives first to seek on-site meetings and preliminary guidance.

The meeting closed with a motion to adjourn. The committee indicated follow-up items: a detailed summary of the Ag District inclusion petitions next month, final easement paperwork subject to county attorney approval, and staff recommendations on the timber-harvest bid at the next board meeting.