Yorktown and Cortlandt region

The county legislature has taken up the idea of selling Yorktown’s Hilltop Hanover Farm.

The measure was proposed Monday and quickly set aside. It will likely be referred to committee when the legislature meets next on June 7.

“I fully understand that people are trying to maximize revenue, but selling that farm is not the way to go,” said Legislator Michael Kaplowitz, D-Somers.

Kaplowitz, along with former County Executive Andrew Spano, championed Hilltop Hanover’s $3.1 million purchase in 2003.

At issue is 60 or so acres, mostly on the west side of Hanover Street in the Croton Heights section of town, that remained after the county designated 120-plus mostly wooded acres of the farm to the west as parkland.

It was Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins, D-Yonkers, who proposed the county take steps to sell the farm. He cites a $500,000-plus annual operating cost and the opportunity to reap needed revenue in the face of a $166 million budget gap.

“If we’re in a period of economic distress, we should be looking at whether that is an appropriate investment of the people’s money,” Jenkins said.

County Executive Rob Astorino is open to the idea.

Yorktown Supervisor Susan Siegel said the town was not notified that the legislature was even contemplating the farm’s sale.

Read the full story on Sunday in The Journal News.

Photo: Kaplowitz and former County Executive Andrew Spano announce the county’s purchase of Hilltop Hanover Farm in 2003. Dave Kennedy/The Journal News