Nearly 30 years have passed since Saratoga Springs adopted its first open-space plan in 1994 and almost two decades since it adopted its 2002 Open Space Plan Update. Thanks to a $5 million bond fund authorized by voters in 2002 to protect, preserve, enhance, and improve environmentally sensitive, recreational and scenic land, the community has:
- Preserved the 166-acre Pitney Farm for agriculture in perpetuity;
- Protected two properties near Loughberry Lake, the city's water supply;
- Established Blodgett Park as a public launch site for canoes and kayaks on Kayaderosseras Creek;
- Created the Spring Run Trail off East Avenue;
- Established Waterfront Park on Saratoga Lake.
Now just $200,000 remains in the City's open space bond fund.
So what's next?
Tina Carton, who in 2016 was named the the City's sustainability coordinator (her full title is Administrator of Parks, Open Land, Historic Preservation and Sustainability), is leading the effort to answer that question. In December, she announced the formation of a 10-member Steering Committee to oversee an update of the City's 2002 Open Space Plan.
The committee includes representatives of the Open Space Advisory Committee, including its chair, Tom Denny.
Skidmore College senior, Elijah McKee, spoke with Denny about his role as the chair of the Open Space Advisory Committee and the work they are doing to preserve the "City in the Country."
They talk about the history of open space planning in Saratoga Springs, about the plans for the immediate future and about the survey that planners are asking residents to take.
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