32 Acres Purchased For Open Space Acquisition Program

101 Old Rt. 304, DePew House, Preserved

New City, NY – Rockland County Executive Ed Day and Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann announce 101 Old Rt. 304 in New City, known as the DePew House, is the latest property to be purchased and preserved through a partnership under the County’s Open Space Acquisition Program. The 32.2 acres which includes a historic house and barn, was purchased for $2.9 million utilizing a mix of County American Rescue Plan Act funs and capital funds.

“This latest acquisition is a major bonus to the 55 acres we’ve secured since last year, and the ongoing purchase of the 235-acre Eagle Valley Assemblage from the Open Space Institute,” said County Executive Ed Day. “Our county is making good on the promise I set when I first took office in 2014: to safeguard Rockland’s natural beauty and environmental integrity for generations to come. I appreciate our partnership with the Town of Clarkstown which allows us to stretch our Open Space Acquisition dollars further and acquire additional worthy properties.”

The Town of Clarkstown will be contributing approximately $1.131 million to purchase a 39% share of the property, similar to the partnership which preserved the historic Cropsey Farm property on S Little Tor Road in New City in 2006.

Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann said, "Preserving our town's history is an investment in our future. By saving the DePew House and property, we honor the stories of those who came before us and ensure that future generations can experience the richness of our past.  We are proud to partner with the County to preserve this important piece of history for our Town and County."

The Peter DePew house is a 1,485 square-foot historic dwelling built of locally quarried sandstone.  It dates to the early 1700s and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

“The forested wetlands on the DePew farm are not only valuable to Rockland’s primary source of drinking water, Lake DeForest, but they also serve as a sensitive, and disappearing, ecological habitat for woodland animals, birds and amphibians,” said Kevin McGuinness, Coordinator of the County’s Division of Environmental Resources. “The property received the highest ranked by our Open Space Committee out of the 17 properties nominated for potential acquisition.”

All properties nominated to Open Space are vetted by an Open Space Advisory Committee made up of representatives from the Division of Environmental Resources, Department of Planning, Department of Health, and the Finance Department’s Tax Enforcement Unit. Field inspections are then performed, and each property is scored using a point system based on their attributes which include:

Connecting open spaces, preserving environmentally sensitive resources, protecting farms, preserving historic and cultural places, protecting the Hudson River, promoting opportunities for recreation, protecting rivers and streams, and protecting the watershed.   

Once scored the top-rated properties are presented to the County Executive’s team to review and decide which parcels to purchase based on the Advisory Committee ratings.

Those properties are then sent to the County Legislature for funding approval.

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