Land trust director blasts county council chairman over spending

The executive director of the Nation Ford Land Trust says it’s been frustrating over the past several years trying to convince the York County Council to agree to set aside land for open space.

The York County Forever account has an estimated two to three million dollars in it to buy some of that land. In addition, the county over the past several years has suspended a one-mill tax that raises funds to set aside land for open space.

Nation Ford Land Trust executive director Jeff Updike says that the county council in recent years has not approved deals to set aside land even with willing property owners.

Updike is a former county council member. Meanwhile, York County Council Chairman Britt Blackwell was asked  why the York County Forever money isn’t being spent to buy inexpensive land to be set aside.

Blackwell envisions using the money for an agricultural equestrian center that could host steeple chases rivaling those in Camden.

However, Updike says there can’t be an agri-tourism center in York County without farmland that’s already been preserved.