Protecting Byram Lake

January 2009 -- The North Castle Town Board voted unanimously on Wednesday, January 28, to fund almost half the purchase of the 30-acre Dubos property, an acquisition that will help protect Mount Kisco's drinking water reservoir.

Byram Lake, looking south. The lake supplies all of Mount Kisco's drinking water.

Westchester Land Trust joined Mayor J. Michael Cindrich of Mount Kisco, Howard Arden, chairman of the North Castle Open Space Advisory Committee, and Kerri Kazak, a leading open space advocate in North Castle, in speaking in favor of the acquisition and the funding.

The village of Mount Kisco has reached an agreement with the owner, the Rene Dubos Center for Human Environments, to buy the land for $475,000. Westchester Land Trust has agreed to contribute $15,000 in seed money and will receive a conservation easement, ensuring that the property will remain undeveloped forever. Mount Kisco and North Castle will split the remainder of the purchase price.

A closing is scheduled for Friday, June 19.

The property is in North Castle, between Byram Lake (Mount Kisco's reservoir) and Route 22. It slopes down toward the reservoir, and had the property been subdivided for a half-dozen houses, as had been contemplated, runoff from the land would have threatened the quality of the drinking water.

Rowboats on the shore.

The property is in a priority area of New York State's 2009 Open Space Conservation Plan, in particular the Northeastern Westchester Watershed and Biodiversity Lands priority area. (This link will get you to the plan; then click on Regional Priority Conservation Projects and Region 3.) Byram Lake supplies water to Mount Kisco's 10,000 residents, to Northern Westchester Medical Center, to the village's business district, and to parts of Bedford and New Castle.

It is also a linchpin of the North Castle Biodiversity Plan, prepared in 2007 by the Wildlife Conservation Society/Metropolitan Conservation Alliance. 

The property was threatened because the Rene Dubos Center had an agreement to sell it to a developer for more than $1 million. It had planned to use the money to pay off its debts and to fund other programs.

Development of the Dubos property would threatene water quality in the lake

But in 2007, the New York State Attorney General's Office and the Village of Mount Kisco went to court to prevent the sale, supported by Westchester Land Trust, Mianus River Gorge Preserve and Westmoreland Sanctuary.

They argued that the Dubos center had acquired the land as a donation, for the purpose of protecting the land in its natural state, and that therefore it could not sell it for other purposes.

For Mount Kisco, the cause was so important that it offered to pay off the Dubos center's debt. When the court ruled that the land could not be sold to the developer, Mount Kisco kept its word and reached an agreement to buy the land for $475,000.

Westchester Land Trust thanks the Village of Mount Kisco and the Town of North Castle for a job well done.

(All the photos on this page were taken by Bill Kuebler)