Jones Mountain preserved!!!
Enormous thanks to the Jones family for their generosity to this and
future generations of New Hartford residents
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New Hartford residents OK open-space buy
Friday, January 6, 2006
BY KARI BANACH
Copyright © 2006 Republican-American
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NEW HARTFORD -- Town voters made history Thursday when
they approved a $1.575 million open-space purchase two
weeks after a yes vote on the town's first open-land
acquisition.
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Nearly 200 residents packed the town's Senior Center for the
unanimous vote to buy downtown's 166-acre Jones Mountain
from the family of former resident Frank Jones.
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On Dec. 21, a smaller crowd unanimously approved buying
118 acres atop Cotton Hill for $1 million from former resident
Walter Goula for open space.
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Thursday, First Selectman Bill Baxter told the crowd, which
applauded itself after the vote, that preserving 284 acres so
quickly was a tremendous feat.
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Partners in preservation: representatives of the
town of New Hartford, the New Hartford Land Trust,
the Trust for Public Land, and Frank and Jeanne
Jones of the Jones Family celebrate after the
January 7, 2006 vote to preserve Jones Mountain.
Back row, from left: William Michaud, Chair, New Hartford
Open Space Preservation Commission; William Baxter, New
Hartford First Selectman; Thomas Klebart, Treasurer, New
Hartford Land Trust; Caren Ross, founding Chair, Open Space
Preservation Commission; Alicia Betty, Trust for Public Land;
Frank Jones and Jeanne Jones
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"This town should be very proud of itself," Baxter said. "I talk to
officials in other towns who look at us with envy because
we've been able to mobilize and look at what the town is and
what it should be."
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The site, which overlooks downtown, includes a maze of
hiking trails through dense forest and meadows. Several
streams run through the property.
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Officials in this rural community of 6,600 have long touted open-space acquisitions as a way to slow residential
development. The town has a 90 percent residential tax base and the costs of services as the population grows are
footed mainly by private taxpayers.
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Frank Jones, who resides in Massachusetts, was present Thursday with his daughter, Jeanne, of Colebrook. The pair
didn't comment during the hour-long discussion before the vote.
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Residents posed few questions. All comments shared were in support of the proposal.
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The crowd first voted to increase the town's $1.5 million open-space fund to $2.45 million to pay for both the Jones
and Goula properties until state funding comes through.
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The town was awarded $900,000 in state Department of Environmental Protection grants for the land in November.
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That funding will be received this year, officials said.
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The average taxpayer will pay between $25 and $30 annually for 20 years to cover the cost of Jones Mountain, said Bill
Michaud, chairman of the town Open Space Commission.
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If it were developed, the cost of services for new homes there, it is estimated, would likewise add $25 to $30 per year
to homeowners' tax bills, Michaud said.
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"That wouldn't go away after 20 years," he said. "We're making a choice to spend ... on residential development (or) to
preserve the land and enjoy the benefits that come with that."
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About $179,000 in remaining costs will be covered by the town land acquisition fund -- fees paid to the town by
subdivision developers in lieu of dedicating open space in their site plans -- and the general surplus.
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Jones property buy OK’d
ROBERT CYR, Register Citizen Staff
01/06/2006
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NEW HARTFORD -- A town vote Thursday night in favor of purchasing the 166-acre Jones property closed the chapter
on a two-part open spaces acquisition project that began with a bond resolution in 2004.
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The purchase of the Goula property, the first of the two buys, was approved at the end of 2005 with a price tag of $1.1
million.
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The Jones property purchase totals $1.57 million, and when anticipated state DEP grants came in $100,000 short in
2005, the town scrambled fast to come up with the shortfall in the face of a Feb. 28, 2006 purchase deadline for the
property.
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The original 2004 bonding note for $1.5 million was changed to $2.45 million, with little or no cost offset remaining
after the New Hartford Land Trust established a challenge grant to meet the $119,000 shortfall for the purchase.
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Selectman Bill Marchand said that money will be borrowed from the town surplus fund and transferred to the open
space acquisition fund, and the sooner that money can be paid back, the better.
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Open Space Preservation Committee Chairman Bill Michaud said although the town will be losing interest dollars
earned on the used surplus funds, the overall savings to the town will far overshadow any initial, short-term losses.
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"If the Jones project is dropped, houses are going to go up there," Michaud said in December 2005. "It will end up
costing the town more money."
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Treasurer Blake Hall outlined to the town meeting of over 200 people that, after some short-term borrowing to cover
the anticipated DEP grant of $450,000, the remaining $119,000 balance will be covered by a fund-raiser from the New
Hartford Land Trust, which has already raised over $111,000.
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Michaud said he made projections of how much each household would pay to remunerate the 20-year, $946,000
bond, and it came close to what taxpayers would give up in resources if the land were developed. The largest
difference being that the $25 or so increase per household in taxes per year would end after the bond is paid off, but
residential housing would pose permanent increases, he said.
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Hartford Courant News Briefs
January 7, 2006
NEW HARTFORD
Residents Approve Open Space Bonding
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NEW HARTFORD - Residents took final action this week to preserve about 284 acres of open space.
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At a special town meeting Thursday, residents approved an increase in the authorization of open space bonding from
$1.5 million to $2.455 million to secure 166 acres on Jones Mountain, the hill that rises behind New Hartford Center,
and 118 acres off Cotton Hill Road. The town meeting was prompted by the need to meet purchase deadlines while
the town waits for $900,000 in state grants.
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Voters in 2004 authorized $1.5 million in bonding.
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Last year, owners of the Jones Mountain and Cotton Hill properties negotiated deals to sell their land. In August,
voters approved spending $1.1 million for the Cotton Hill parcel owned by Walter Goula. The approval was contingent
upon state reimbursement of half the price. In November, the town received approval for a state grant of $450,000 for
the Goula purchase. That left a $100,000 shortfall on the Goula deal, but the owner agreed to drop his price by that
amount.
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On the Jones Mountain purchase, residents agreed Thursday to meet the asking price of $1.575 million through a
combination of $946,000 in bonding, a $450,000 expected state grant, $60,000 from the town's land preservation fund
and $119,000 from the town surplus, in expectation of repayment through fundraising by the local land trust.
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