NEWTOWN, PA-The Bucks County Board of Elections has approved the inclusion of a referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot that calls for an $87-million open-space bond. It follows by 10 years a $57-million open-space initiative that won overwhelming approval of the county's voters in 1997 and helped preserve more than 15,000 acres between then and year-end 2006.

The current proposal “would ensure that land preservation continues in Bucks County,” says Michael Fitzpatrick, a lawyer with Langhorne-based Begley Carlin & Mandio LLP and one of three chairs of Save Bucks County, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group devoted to campaigning in favor of the bond. “There is no organized opposition,” he says, and the referendum is not in reaction to any specific developments, but rather an effort to continue the earlier program.

“It is the same as the previous bond with one new component,” Fitzpatrick tells GlobeSt.com. “That is the inclusion of Delaware riverfront preservation and access to the Delaware.” Proceeds of the $87 million are divided among five programs. The acquisition and preservation of riverfront land would utilize $7 million.