ROCKLAND — During their November 21 meeting, the Rockland Town Board announced a public hearing for their first meeting of December to discuss applying for the Restore NY Grant. The board opened the public hearing to begin the first meeting of December, and after fielding questions from the attendees, voted to close the public hearing.

Immediately following, a motion for a resolution to apply was passed, with the Livingston Legacy Holdings LLC project as the centerpiece of the application.

During the correspondence section of the meeting the Beaverkill Valley Land Trust, the group that owns development rights at the Twin Village Golf Course, sent a letter to the Town Board in hopes of introducing themselves.

As stated in their letter, the group noted that they buy the development rights to protect properties from being developed.

Another letter received by the board was in regards to their designation as a pro-housing community, which will make the Town of Rockland eligible for funding programs. The board resolved to designate Rockland as a pro-housing board in a meeting earlier this year.

Following the letters, John Evans and members of the Livingston Manor and Roscoe Central School Districts spoke, fielding questions in regards to the upcoming merger vote on December 19.

There was a similar informal meeting earlier in the week at the Roscoe Diner where community members were invited to ask questions about the potential merger.

The merger was originally voted down by both communities back in 2021-22, but a significant increase to incentive aid (from seven million to more than 30 million) caused the respective school boards to revisit the idea.

Once the Town of Rockland Board and the attendees of the meeting were satisfied with their questions, the board approved some budget modifications and adjourned the meeting.