Town, county close on former duck farm in Aquebogue
But money for land preservation is drying up
1 comments below
Trains run just north of the former Hubbard Duck Farm in Aquebogue, which has been purchased jointly by Suffolk County and Riverhead Town for open space. Officials say preservation funds are drying up. New program ideas are being floated.
The county also approved planning steps toward the purchase of the 150-acre Beagle Club property in Calverton.
At Tuesday's meeting of the Suffolk County Legislature in Riverside, several speakers urged elected leaders to purchase the huge parcel on the west side of Edwards Avenue in Calverton.
William Bluemel, who said he was one of 26 owners of the property, explained to lawmakers that the group had a deal to develop it about two years ago, but that deal fell apart. He supported the county's purchase of the land as open space, as did several other speakers.
Carrie Meek Gallagher, the county's commissioner of Environment and Energy, said in a recent interview that the chances of the county's buying the property would be greater if Riverhead Town partnered in the purchase.
"We have diminished funds available for open space purchases," she said.
At his state of the town address last Wednesday night, Supervisor Sean Walter said the town "has exhausted all future earnings" under the voter-approved 2 percent land-transfer tax that is used to fund farmland and open space preservation (CPF), and needs new sources of revenue if it is to continue its open space and farmland preservation efforts.
And he pitched a new plan moving forward, at least with respect to the town's own preservation programs (not the CPF).
"We will be creating a farmland land bank whereby developers will pay into the bank under the town's Farmland Development Rights program and, in turn, the developers will be given increased density," Mr. Walter said. "The town will then use the land bank funds to preserve farmland."
The proposal would be simpler than the current "transfer of development rights" program, Mr. Walter later said in an interview,
"Let's say the planning board tells you that you have to buy 40 credits," he explained. "Now, you have to go out and find a farmer, enter into a contract, take that contract and get it approved by the planning board, then after that the planning board has to approve your subdivision, Then you have to go close on the property with the contract that you have, take the closing documents, bring them to the planning board, then the planning board has to approve that agreement."
Under the new plan, he said, "All of that goes away. If you need 40 credits, we're going to determine in January and June what the average price of farmland is, you give us, say, $6 million for the 40 credits, if that's the price, and we'll put the $6 million into our coffers, and then we will go out and buy the farmland that we want.
The idea is modeled after the Central Pine Barrens Commission's land bank, he said.
"The system we have now is ridiculous," he said.
Riverhead has historically received far less CPF money from real estate tax revenues, than the other four East End towns.
tgannon@timesreview.com
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1 comments found
Brilliant : 3/4/2010
Sounds good to me. Spend dwindling money to buy a potential hazardous waste site, and then not have the $ left for remediation of it.
