Conservation organizations hope change will spur more land protection
By Gwendolyn Craig
The more than century-old title saga involving an Adirondack Park town and a conservation easement at a state campground may have spurred Gov. Kathy Hochul to add title insurance into her 30-day budget bill amendments last week.
“We’re really happy to see that,” said Julia Goren, interim executive director of the Adirondack Mountain Club.
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New York is the only state in the country that does not accept title insurance. The state Office of the Attorney General requires perfect title for land acquisitions and conservation easements, even if they go back to frontier times.
A poster child for why title insurance is needed
The town of North Hudson and its population of 250 became a poster child for how this policy can be inhibiting. It has spent around $50,000 so far attempting to clear a more than 120-year-old title issue delaying an approximately 300-acre conservation easement at the Frontier Town Campground and Day Use Area. The cost could be more, depending on the outcome of litigation between the town and at least 19 heirs of 3/8ths of the property.
Land trust organizations also said the title review process has slowed their ability to conserve more land as they continue to hold over 100,000 acres at a fair market value of over $150 million for the state.
In the governor’s State of the State agenda revealed in January, she mentioned the need to “streamline” the land acquisition process, including “the use of title insurance to expedite land acquisitions.” But stakeholders eagerly sifted through her proposed executive budget later that month, only to find no mention of title insurance.
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Lawmakers at a February budget hearing on environmental conservation asked Sean Mahar, interim commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, about how title insurance might be included. Mahar had said the DEC was discussing it with the state Attorney General’s Office and language could be included in budget bill amendments.
On Feb. 20, the Hochul administration included title insurance in its budget bill amendments. Under the Transportation, Economic Development and Environmental Conservation bill, it notes “the attorney general may accept a title policy from any title company licensed by the state of New York that names the people of the State of New York as insured for the acquisition of real property.”
Another Adirondack example
ADK is experiencing the state’s current title insurance policy involving its Cascade Welcome Center in the town of North Elba. The state promised ADK a $500,000 grant through the Environmental Protection Fund in 2021 for the welcome center. ADK has yet to see the money. It still has a sign on the front of its building noting the $2.5 million property was purchased using some EPF funds.
First there were delays involving an easement with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Now that those are resolved, the title review process is delaying the state funding. It has taken over 6 months, Goren said.
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Should the budget bill amendment make it into the final state budget, it probably won’t help ADK and its welcome center, Goren said. But she hopes it will help all the land trusts be reimbursed and continue protecting more lands on behalf of the state.
A final state budget is due April 1.
Top photo: Frontiertown campground gate. Photo by Melissa Hart
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