Episode 3: Clarkstown Community Preservation Act

On this episode of the Hoehmtown Podcast, Supervisor George Hoehmann sits down with the Town's Director of Finance, Colin Schmitt. Colin Chairs the Town's newly created Greenway Commission and discusses the Clarkstown Community Preservation Act, a program that conserves and protects open space, farmland, water sources, natural resources, and historical landmarks.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi folks, Supervisor George Holman. Welcome to the Hometown Podcast. Today we're going to be discussing community preservation with our Director of Finance, former Assemblyman Colin Schmidt. We're going to be talking about the recent Clarkstown Community Preservation Act that's pending in the state legislature. So, what is the Clarkstown Community Preservation Act?

SPEAKER_00 0:27

The Clarkstown Community Preservation Act is a policy that the town board has recommended be instituted here in Clarkstown. In the state of New York, we have PDR community preservation legislation that local communities can request and that citizens can enact in a referendum election. And the tool of this policy is to ensure we have conserved land, preserved natural resources. It really is the strongest policy tool available currently in the state of New York to local governments to protect the natural world within your jurisdiction. And so it's been used very successfully on Long Island, across the Hudson Valley, and other places in New York. Clarkstown would benefit immensely from having a fully enacted Clarkstown Community Preservation Act. And really it's something that anyone who cares about open space, clean water, air, parkland, natural resources of any kind should truly be behind.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

So the Preservation Act actually essentially requires what, an act of the State Legislature?

SPEAKER_00 1:47

It's a multi-step process, and I think this is something that's very important to explain for constituents to understand. So the Clarkstown Community Preservation Act follows the model of many other communities. Probably the closest community that's got started to go through this process is Orangetown, our neighbor next door, but they haven't fully enacted it yet. The closest working community preservation program is the town of Warwick. So just a quick plug for anybody who wants to do a little extra homework, look at Warwick's community preservation program. It's been a fantastic success, and I think we're going to talk about that more. But it's a multi-step process. It started with the town of Clarkstown, town board, yourself and the and the board members started a Greenway Commission. I'm proud to be serving on that commission along with other staff and members of the community. The commission working with the town board recommended Community Preservation Act. So the first step was the recommendation, and then the town board passed a resolution requesting our assembly member and our senator introduce legislation in Albany. So a Community Preservation Act needs to be authorized by state legislation. The State Assembly needs to pass it, the State Senate needs to pass it, then the Governor needs to sign it. That then gets sent back down to the town, and the town is mandated to put out a vote to the public, the general public in a general election, to vote up or down, do they want to create a community preservation act, which is a community preservation fund mechanism? And after all of these steps, the local government, the state government, all the way to the governor's office, it goes back to the people who have the final say if they want to use this great tool to preserve and conserve our community.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

What type of conservation can we achieve with this act?

SPEAKER_00 3:53

There are many options for conservation and preservation if this policy is fully implemented. The most obvious is the direct purchase of open space, which is a critical priority for Clarkstown residents and residents across the Hudson Valley. Then there is a concept called PDR, purchase of developmental rights. So that impacts mainly agricultural lands, but potentially other lands, but mainly agricultural lands where a farmer, an agricultural user can continue using the property for what they've been doing. They could do that for generations to come, but they sell the current developmental rights at the current developmental value to the town to be put in a permanent conservation easement. And there's different legal mechanisms for how that's achieved, but it allows the use of the land to continue but exhaust the future development opportunity, effectively preserving it in perpetuity in its current use. You could also use the funding to preserve historic properties, historic landmarks. You could also look at water quality issues, flood mitigation and control issues, purchasing lands, parcels that impact water quality, that's something that's critically important. Aquifer recharge areas. The list really goes on and on. There's a lengthy uh section of state law and of the proposed bill here. It's several pages long of the potential uses that are very far and wide encompassing.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

So I know I'm very proud of what we've done in this administration with preservation of property and also historic buildings. Um, the uh Traphagen property um over at Jremond's and the full restoration that we were able to do, but that wasn't inexpensive. The town had to buy that property. There was no fund for it. Um, you know, the preservation of the budge house, uh the renovation of it, a lot of it, not all of it, but a lot of it was covered through a state grant. Sometimes you get grants, sometimes you don't. Um, but this can be really quite expensive as you try and do this. Like for example, uh, we were fortunate with the Storms Tavern, you know, that we were able to get donated, but the the work on it the town's gonna have to pay for. Now, fortunately, we have a grant, um, you know, grants that we're looking for, but um this preservation act would allow for properties like that, if they become available, for the town to target them, buy them, and there would be a fund that would be uh money would be in. How does money get into this fund?

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Sure. So you hit a lot of critical points there. Uh the first goes into the the Greenway Commission, which you started, which is required through this legislation to provide guidance to the town board to identify properties, historic properties, open space properties, anything else that might qualify. And then the town board and the town government is the administrator of a fund. And this fund is uh what the public has to authorize, and this is what the state legislation authorizes, which then allows the public to authorize in a in an up or down vote. And this is really the the best way to fund these purchases because all of the conservation and preservation that would occur through the community preservation fund comes from a less than 1 percent, three-quarters of a percent assessment on real estate transactions that the buyer would contribute to this fund. And there's some great exemptions. The first hundred thousand of uh improved real property is exempt, the first fifty thousand of vacant land is exempt. And what this does is it ensures there's no permanent tax on residents to fund what can be a very expensive preservation program. It also ensures, unlike some other proposals that there were uh some other places would do, say, a bonding effort, tens of millions of dollars in bond would be almost the tax for decades on every taxpayer. This would help fund through those real estate transactions. Our estimates indicate about $5 million a year would be generated at no cost to taxpayers, and we would be able to leverage that solely in its lockbox. That $5 million is lockbox and can only be used for these approved uses and for properties that go through the review process and meet the criteria that the town and the legislation sets.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

So which is neat when you really think about it, so it will become a dedicated fund so that if it's five million a year, it can build up over time. So there are some significant properties that could be acquired with this that would forever protect them. Um I know that many years ago, many at the 25 or 30 years ago at least, there was a movement in the 1990s for open space. The town created an open space committee. So this would be akin to what the town had done previously. However, the town paid for that. The residents voted on a referendum, they approved a bonding limit, and uh ironically, uh the town didn't acquire, you know, they didn't spend the full amount of money that was that was authorized. They spent, you know, a good n a good amount of it, but uh there was money that was still left. It expired before I became supervisor, but we've acquired some properties that are now forever protected, uh ridge you know, bridge lines and and things of that sort. So how would these properties be identified? You talked a little bit about the in in general, but the Greenway Commission would basically work with, I guess, town staff, the public, and they would make recommendations?

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Yes, the Greenway Commission would be the volunteer commission. There's the current composition, and once the legislation is enacted, the Greenway Commission would roll into the formal body required by the legislation, who would work with our experts in town government, but also seek public input and develop out a preservation plan and put milestones on okay, once the fund is up to X amount of dollars, these are priority one, two, and three. And then when we hit the next milestone of funding, these are the next priorities. And just to reiterate, what's so uh important about this legislation is there's no permanent impact on the taxpayer. We continue to see year after year compounding value and growth in our ability to preserve without uh lasting impact on taxpayer. It's uh solely that fee and assessment one time at a real estate transaction.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

So um so a property sells and then there's a a a fee that's assessed as a one-time fee during that transaction, which then goes into this fund, and this fund is protected. You know, the town can't go borrow against it or or or pull the money out for anything other than the stated purposes, which are land preservation, uh preservation of historic resources.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Correct. You're absolutely correct. It's lockboxed, it's protected, it can grow, and there's nothing more purely American than this opportunity for a public who is inquiring often about, oh, we see this property, we're wondering what we can do here. We want clean air, we want open space, we all want that. How can we do this? The public's going to be given a choice if our state legislators and the governor approve, which certainly encourage everyone. We uh a side note, we have an ongoing petition on town communications. Check out our social media, check out our website, sign the petition. We have hundreds and hundreds of people who have signed the petition. Let the legislators and the governor know the public wants the right to choose. And and that's what I applaud the town board for doing. This policy tool gives every member of our community the right to say, I want to preserve and conserve more open space and natural resources, or not. And living in this community, we we all live in this community, I think everyone is gonna rally and say, you know what? We do want more open space. We do want to preserve what makes us historically uh a charming community. And we want those natural resources to have just a little extra help from town government, and we want to fund it at no impact to taxpayers.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

And and when you think about it, uh not just uh years ago in the 90s, but um, you know, in more recent times, um the Nanuet School Board in the Nanuet School District uh under then Superintendent Mark McNeil, in you know, consultation with the town, actually uh went out for their own bond issue and they actually uh acquired uh what's now the Nanuit Outdoor Education Center and preserved uh whole uh whole chunk of the former St. Dominic's home's property. And the people voted for that overwhelmingly. That passed like 80 percent uh the their referendum back, you know, back then, uh about 15 or 18 years ago. And 15 years prior to that, uh the open space referendum passed, I think, at about 70 percent, um, you know, across the town. So when the voters have had the opportunity to weigh in on preservation, they've overwhelmingly supported it. Um and again, the construct is that these are restricted protected funds. The town just we can't go buy police vehicles, we can't go by um um, you know, um um you know, copper pipe or whatever it whatever you know we need for you know within town government. It's restricted completely for the preservation of open space, sensitive properties, and these will be properties that will be evaluated by the Greenway Commission and will make recommendations for the town town board to act.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Absolutely. And I think if you look at Warwick is a perfect example, it's it's the closest community to us in in terms of your travel distance, they've had it for over 20 years now. Their home values have increased, not just because of the 20-year average increase in home values, but locals, local government leaders, local business leaders, and local real estate leaders all tied directly back to their community preservation act having a significant increase to their home values. So this isn't just an investment in preserving our community. When when enacted, voters are investing back in creating additional value for themselves and their neighbors in their own asset, in their own most valuable economic holding, their home.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

So and again, as a young father, um, you know, and I'll throw that in. I mean, you're you you chose to move into this community. You you and your wife Nikki have have two young children, you're you're um raising here. What is this going to mean for families like yours?

SPEAKER_00 15:50

I mean, this is why this is such a great multifaceted tool, because it is a tool that will last for generations. The legislation lasts for 20 years. Warwick is already, again, the most the closest example has already seen and earned an extension of that program. But once the even a one piece of property is is put into this conservation protection, it's in perpetuity and ensures that my two beautiful daughters under two will never see that property you know change from the conservation value that we'll add on it today. And God willing, their children and people's children's children's children, that will be preserved so that the Clarkstown you see today, and that's something what attracted obviously, you know, somebody like myself who's who's you know moved into the Clarkst the Tarkstown community several years ago, the pride that people have in the town, the the love of you you have so much different that's great about a community, you have more rural parts, you have more developed parts. But keeping that balance, it's it's difficult. As you know, and as the members of the public know, it's difficult. But if you have a tool, a multimillion dollar tool that can compound to be tens of millions plus, a tool that can help you know help solve any scenario that comes up and preserve any scenario that comes up, that is a generational tool that's unmatched.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

So, Colin, you're more than a director of finance. You bring a wealth of experience in this realm. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

I've been involved in efforts to enact community preservation acts for over 20 years. I actually started as an intern in the State Assembly for former Assemblywoman Annie Rabbit, and at the time was the youngest aide ever hired in New York State Assembly history. And she was the main sponsor who passed the Warwick Community Preservation Act. And my first experience in this policy area was way back then working with groups to bring them on to support this important policy framework. And over the years I've I've been involved with this policy area. I've served in the New York State Assembly as an elected member of the Assembly, helped advance this policy at local and countywide levels. We've tried for years, both as an elected official and as a just a private citizen advocate, to get more statewide tools so we don't have to do this individual legislation. I've served as co-chair of the Legislative Sportsman Caucus, which is the largest bipartisan, bicameral group of conservation legislators in the entire country. And I've been co-chair of the Assembly of Minority Water Quality Task Force and numerous other um positions that I've held in my elected roles uh to protect our open space and conserve our natural resources.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Yeah, and and in addition to that, I mean, um you're also somebody that you're pursuing a degree, a um a legal degree, you're uh finishing up a law school, um, you know, um which is you know commendable, but it's also brought an added benefit of your bringing an additional perspective and knowledge and information from your studies, which we've really been able to help to apply here in Clarkstown.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Definitely. And I think um you know part of what I've learned uh uh from being an elected official and in appointed roles and in my service in the military is always be learning, and that's something that you advocate for all your staff and all your appointed positions, even if it's you know partially paid or part-time volunteers on our boards, is we always need to be advancing our our academic knowledge, whether that's formally in a classroom uh like I I'm able to do, or if it's just uh really the extra training that our boards get because there's always a little bit of a new approach, a new perspective, and ensuring we're continually re-educating ourselves, advancing ourselves so we can better serve the community. You foster that, the town board fosters that, and really anyone who gets pulled in to have an opportunity to help in Clarkstown is always encouraged to do that. And that continuing ed, whatever form it takes, really helps the taxpayer at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

I thank you for that, and you've been a great addition here. So, with everything you have done in the past in the legislature, this this Community Preservation Act, now as a new resident, something that's very important to you.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Absolutely. And that's why I'm grateful you have allowed me on the staff side to help spearhead this effort along with our entire team of vastly talented individuals. I'm grateful to bring those really decades of experience in this specific policy area and impart my knowledge, but meld it with our our great planning department, our our great legal team, and our other uh administrative and support staff to say this is what's going to work for Clarkstown, and allow the public at the end of the day to say we want it or not. I think they should say yes, and ensure this tool is here for generations to come, long after I've left and 30 finance directors from now, you're not going to be able to do that. They'll still have this program. They may forget who the the many people who helped make it happen, but it will still be there.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Yeah, and it listen, I think that that is evident and it shows in your commitment to this, and and literally this is a when you brought it to me and the town board, uh, we thought it was a natural because it it really is democracy in action. It's the people themselves deciding how we're gonna preserve and protect, not just the town board. We've been very committed to this. I mean, very proud of my record here. We've we've we've preserved and conserved hundreds of acres. We've created the first new parks and decades, you know, multiple parks and expanded parks. Uh we've done a lot in terms of preservation. You know, we're uh we're have been a leader in in in the the environmental movement as municipalities go, um, you know, everything from our solar field to solar in our buildings. Um and so this is really something that is going to be an enormous tool for us going forward.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

I absolutely and this could be our little plug also for a future episode of your podcast where we're gonna bring in some more folks to discuss the natural capital accounting resolution that has been recently adopted by the town board and how we're not only looking to do conservation and preservation of open space, but we're also looking to be leaders in the finance and comptrollers office and in your budgeting process of creating additional value for our natural resources. So people should subscribe to this fantastic podcast because what's going to come next, building off of this is even better.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Well and and I'll tell you that that it's interesting because you know that's also um that's a program with the with the uh natural resource accounting uh that actually was an initiative in the Biden administration, correct?

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Absolutely. It was uh enacted in in some aspects during uh President Biden's administration and uh we're working with some of the leaders who help put it together at the federal level and it's great as these are academics and nonprofit leaders who are working with us, no cost to us to implement some of these principles at the local level. Most places aren't doing yet but they're trying and there's a value to our open space and recreation spaces. It's more than just the smile you get when I or I get when I go with my daughters or kids and grandkids that people go out with. There's actually a a numeric value that benefits taxpayers and that's something also exciting they're working on that people are going to want to hear more about in the future. Before we wrap up how can people help us get this approved we urge everyone the if the the the least thing you want to do log on to social media or our website and sign the petition just sign and we're forwarding that to our legislators and the governor during this process to say please you need to pass this. That's the first thing. Second thing go on social media and share the petition share the word that this is a great conservation tool that you're standing in support. And then God willing the legislature does the right thing and the governor does the right thing and sends this back to the voters put a yes vote when it comes time for that referendum. It won't be this year the timing it the the vote won't be this year. It really depends on what the state legislature does. We're going to keep people informed so sign the petition let your social media followers know how great this is and when the vote comes vote to conserve open space vote to conserve and preserve our community and vote to increase the value of your own home all at no cost to taxpayers.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

It's a great program I want to thank you for your work on it I want to thank you for your work on the Greenway Commission. These are these are things that can really change the future face of Rockland County and the town of Clarkston so thank you for your efforts.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Happy to be part of it