Assemblyman Billy Jones (D-Chateaugay) announced that legislation he co-sponsored will activate the infrastructure land bank created for the Adirondack and Catskill parks by a recent constitutional amendment (A.8136). When fully implemented, municipalities will be allowed to apply to NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for easements on forest preserve lands for the construction of essential infrastructure.

“For many years, a common concern of municipalities was the difficulty of securing forest preserve easements for vital infrastructure,” Jones said. “Even utilizing a few hundred feet of forest preserve lands to install an electric line to prevent blackouts or straighten out a dangerous curve on a road required a constitutional amendment. This lack of flexibility in the constitution meant critical infrastructure projects could be delayed for years.”

New York State’s constitution requires that forest preserve lands remain forever wild, and prohibits the sale, lease or exchange of the lands to any entity, public or private. This prohibition often proves challenging for Adirondack municipalities, who sometimes found the only way to implement infrastructure projects was to ask for an amendment to the state constitution, a process that requires passage by two separately elected state Legislatures and then by a statewide ballot measure.

Recognizing the difficulty this posed to municipalities, New York voters in 2017 approved an amendment to the state constitution creating a 250-acre “Health and Safety Land Account” for forest preserve lands. Municipalities would be allowed to apply to the DEC to secure easements to address bridge hazards, eliminate dangerous curves, install water wells and necessary appurtenances within 530 of a public highway and construct stabilization devices for existing utility poles adjacent to highways.[1]

To implement the “Health and Safety Land Account,” the constitution requires the state to acquire more than 250 acres of land and dedicate those lands to the forest preserve. The legislation that Jones co-sponsored adds 1,420 acres of land to the forest preserve – approximately 214 acres in the Catskills in the town of Olive in Ulster County and approximately 1,206 acres in the Adirondacks in the town of Moriah in Essex County.

“This is a big victory for Adirondack communities,” Jones said. “Local governments can make necessary infrastructure upgrades, such as removing dangerous curves on roads and providing their residents with safe drinking water, reliable electricity and expanded broadband access.”

The measure passed the Assembly and Senate and is awaiting the governor’s signature.

[1] www.dec.ny.gov/lands/113414.html