Community Preservation Fund

What is a Community Preservation Fund (CPF)?

New York State law allows municipalities to establish a dedicated community preservation fund for the protection and stewardship of parkland, open space, farmland, and historic buildings. Purchases of residential or commercial real estate higher than the City of Kingston median home price, would be subject to a one time transfer tax to the City of Kingston. Revenues from this tax would be deposited into the Community Preservation Fund and made available for conservation purposes.

How would a Community Preservation Fund benefit Kingston and it's residents?

Kingston is a special place, with many natural and historic features that make it unique. A CPF is a powerful tool that would allow Kingston to protect open space as well as natural and historic resources for the long term benefit of people and the environment.

How will the Community Preservation Fund be administered?

The Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act is very specific about how CPFs are administered, and expenditures must be based on the Community Preservation Plan,  which is a parcel level inventory and analysis of conservation values and opportunities across the city. The City of Kingston Common Council adopted our Community Preservation Plan in 2023. A committee appointed by the Common Council will evaluate potential projects based on the Plan and make recommendations to the Council for the release of Community Preservation funds.

How is the Kingston Land Trust supporting the CPF and how can you help?

The Kingston Land Trust has thus far supported multiple initiatives that have led to present moment in which we are able to consider a Community Preservation Fund. The KLT played a supportive role in the development of Kingston's Natural Resource Inventory in 2018, Open Space Plan in 2020 (click here for more information on both the NRI and OSP), and Community Preservation Plan in 2023. Now, the KLT has commissioned a poll of Kingston voters to gauge public support for the idea of a CPF. This is a step in the process done by other land trusts in the Hudson Valley where a CPF has been put before voters. Based on the results of the polling, a public education campaign will follow to build awareness and support for a Kingston CPF. The campaign will include mailings, newspaper placements, and fliers. Both a poll and an education campaign are very costly and this is why we are turning to you and other Kingston friends to help support the initiative. A strong showing of financial support from friends like you will enable us to get major funding for this work. Your donation then will be greatly multiplied.

To get involved in our effort to support the establishment of a Community Preservation Fund in Kingston, contact Michael Drillinger, Board Chair of the KLT, at michael@kingstonlandtrust.org.
 

Can the CPF be used to help create affordable housing? 

Unfortunately, the CPF cannot be a tool to preserve affordable housing. New York State Legislators have discussed including housing in the NYS Community Preservation Act. However, until housing is encompassed in the law, we cannot use the Community Preservation Plan or a subsequent fund to address housing issues in the City of Kingston. Here is the legislation.

We are aware that our efforts to protect and create access to open space through parks and other green infrastructure has the potential to contribute to increased local property values that leads to the exclusion and displacement of middle or low income residents (a process known as "green gentrification"). This is one of the motivations driving us to be a part of local efforts to address the affordable housing crisis in our service area. Through a lot of community input and feedback, we have determined that as a land trust we can best support this effort by helping establish a Community Land Trust that aims to maintain permanent affordability in housing. Learn more about our work in this arena on our Land For Homes page.