Schenectady County, N.Y. — The Schenectady County Legislature will hold a public hearing on Monday, April 4, 2016 at 7pm to hear public comment on the addition of three parcels to the County Agricultural District. The County Legislature will vote on the addition during its regular meeting on Tuesday, April 12, 2016.
“We are very pleased to consider adding these three parcels totaling 264 aces to the County’s Agricultural District,” said Anthony Jasenski, Chairman of the Schenectady County Legislature. “The Agricultural District helps to maintain agricultural lands and open space in Schenectady County. Maintaining a viable local agricultural industry is an important part of our economic development efforts.”
Under NYS Agriculture and Markets Law, the County is required to establish an annual thirty-day review period to give land owners an opportunity each year to enroll in the Agricultural District. The Schenectady County Legislature has established the period from December 1st to December 30th as the annual review period.
Last December, the County received three applications for inclusion in the Agricultural District during the open enrollment period. The County’s Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board met in February and unanimously approved the three parcels and forwarded this recommendation to the County Legislature for their consideration.
Two of the parcels are located in Glenville (229 acres) and one parcel is in Duanesburg (35 acres). The two Glenville parcels will be used to produce maple syrup. The Duanesburg parcel will be used for hay.
If approved, the Schenectady County Agricultural District would consist of 19,028 acres comprised of 336 tax parcels, or approximately 14 percent of the County land area. The majority of the agricultural district is located in Duanesburg (57%), followed by Princetown (17%), Glenville (15%), Rotterdam (11%), and Niskayuna (1%).