Commentary: Balancing act

Long Island Business News, Mar 12, 2004 by LIBN Staff

Richard Amper was called to arms in December, when the director of the Suffolk County Planning Commission, Tom Isles, reported to the Legislature that the county had preserved a measly 500 acres of land in 2003.

With 90,000 acres of developable land available on Long Island until a projected buildout in about 10 years, only a fraction would be preserved at the current rate, according to Long Island Regional Planning Board numbers.

Seeing the potential for a huge disparity in the balance between development and environmental interests, and a threat to the East End's economy, Amper says it's time for another Pine Barrens-like effort - when business, environmental and community groups came together to save about 100,000 acres of forest through the 1993 Pine Barrens Act. The act protects a 52,000-acre core preservation area where no new development is permitted and a 48,000-acre area where limited development is allowed.

At the time, it was seen as an unlikely possibility, but, Amper says, because everyone saw the larger picture - the need to protect the Island's water aquifer, fast - it was pushed through in just one state legislative session.

Under a plan he's now floating to anyone who will listen, Amper says the county should buy development rights to 45,000 acres of land mostly on the East End - 20,000 acres for open space, 15,000 for farmland and 10,000 for parks.

The cost: about $1 billion on the open market.

To pay for the massive project, Amper says the county should borrow $700 million against the East End community preservation fund, $300 million from a proposed real estate transfer tax in Brookhaven (a similar proposal was shot down in court last year over the wording) and $50 million through voter-approved preservation bond acts.

Clearly, we need to protect the farming industry on the East End, which is still the top money-making agricultural sector.

And Long Island's flourishing yet still-vulnerable wine industry and related tourism efforts need time to grow into the powerhouse they have the potential to become. But we must balance those needs with other pressing issues.

The Long Island Builder's Institute correctly cautions that land prices would skyrocket even higher if so much open space was taken off the table, further impeding our ability to address the affordable housing crisis.

There may not be much land left on Long Island, but there's still enough to address all our needs. Amper's plan at least puts the debate into proper prospective.