Open Space Bond Warrant Article
A $4 million conservation bond, approved by 65% of East Kingston voters in March 2023, will continue to protect open space in East Kingston via conservation easements. Read Conservation Gets 65% of Vote in East Kingston.
This bond comes 20 years after the first $4 million conservation bond was approved by voters in 2003. That bond has conserved 600 acres on 16 properties to date and prevented more than 120 houses from being built in town.
"Land Protection ... is a tool to protect our growth rate. The public should be aware if our population continues to grow, our Fire, Police and Road Agent budgets will increase which will become a burden on the residents in taxes," wrote Joe Cacciatore, EK Select Board Chair, in An Explanation of Article 4 in EK Edition.
Save Taxes, Save Land. Conservation saves taxes. How? The tax revenue generated by new houses does not cover the increased costs of schools and town services for those new residents. It's cheaper to conserve land once, than to pay for services forever.
Forty-two percent (42%) of East Kingston land is developable. Conserving land in town will:
- save taxes (single family homes, in contrast, raise all our taxes and don't pay for themselves),
- help maintain East Kingston's rural character, and
- protect water and wildlife resources (see Southeast Land Trust of NH (SELT) letter of support)
View the presentation. Read Select Board Chair Joe Cacciatore's rationale for supporting open space.
Read why SELT, East Kingston Planning Board Vice Chair Tim Allen and residents Matt Freeman and Gordon Powers supported the conservation bond.