The Orange County Planning Department, in partnership with the Orange County Land Trust and with funding provided by the Hudson River Valley Greenway, is currently working to provide an updated Countywide Open Space Plan. During the last two decades, the landscape of the County has significantly changed. Influences such as climate change, development pressure and changing energy infrastructure are expected to have widespread landscape impacts. Orange County continues to be one in five counties out of New York State’s 62 counties to increase in population according to the 2010 Decennial Census prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Planning for growth requires protecting valuable natural resources, cultural resources and the working landscape (farms and forestry lands) while balancing the need for development, housing, and transportation infrastructure. Updating the Plan will provide necessary guidelines to help balance this growth and establish and preserve buffers between open space and developed areas, as well as identifying critical linkages to promote connectivity between existing and future assets. 

For more information visit the project website at https://openspace-ocnygis.hub.arcgis.com/.  Here you can follow the project to stay up-to-date on our progress, access all of the latest maps, and take our upcoming Public Surveys to provide your input, helping to create a dynamic and adaptive plan that works for municipalities and community members alike.