So developers promised to keep a chunk of land undeveloped, set up a non-profit to do so, and then vanished, without bothering to pay the taxes. The county eventually foreclosed on it, and now the county is preparing to auction it. The neighbors, of course, aren't happy, even though the land would be hard to develop.
As the Town's zoning policies move toward allowing conservation subdivisions, in which just this kind of land preservation is encouraged, we'd better make certain that this isn't going to be a recurring nightmare. I suspect that we have better standards for such things in 2010 than they had in 1989, but it would be great to see all that explained.
Update: The parcel wasn't auctioned:
An appeal had also been made to Tompkins County legislators the previous week regarding another parcel, a 25-acre wooded lot in Dryden that neighbors wanted a chance to preserve. It was taken off the auction block as "redeemed" after the owners made a payment.
There's also a notice for the Freeville Family Fun Fair.
Posted by simon at June 3, 2010 8:35 AM in planning and zoning