Combined ballot

See Also:   Information for the County of Steuben
(Elections Office, local League of Women Voters, links to other county election sites)

Justice; New York Supreme Court; Judicial District 7

• John J. Ark, Republican, Conservative

Proposition 1 Proposal Number 1, An Amendment to the Constitution

Amendment to Article 14, section 1 of the Constitution, in relation to the use of forest preserve lands for wells for a municipal water supply in the hamlet of Raquette Lake, Hamilton County.

The proposed amendment would allow the State to convey one acre of forest preserve land to the town of Long Lake for public use as the site for drinking water wells and necessary related equipment for the municipal water supply for the hamlet of Raquette Lake. In exchange, the State would receive at least twelve acres of land that is at least equal in value to the land conveyed to Long Lake. The land the State receives would be incorporated into the forest preserve. The Raquette Lake reservoir would be abandoned as a source of drinking water supply. Shall the proposed amendment be approved?

What will this amendment do if approved?

This amendment will make constitutional an action that has, in fact, already taken place. In 2004, the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) gave extraordinary permission to the town of Long Lake to drill wells on Adirondack forest preserve lands, an action that requires a constitutional amendment.