New York State has rolled out a draft of its 2014 Open Space Conservation Plan—crafted with the goal of preserving undeveloped properties for their natural, scenic, cultural and historic resources—and many of the areas recommended for preservation are located throughout the South Fork.
The list of open spaces includes pine barrens in Southampton and East Hampton towns, land on Shinnecock Bay and at Lazy Point in Napeague and Camp Blue Bay in Springs, the Stony Hill Woods in Amagansett, a portion of the Montauk Moorlands and about 1,000 acres of contiguous forest in Southampton Town. They are all what the Department of Environmental Conservation considers “open space,” or “land which is not intensively developed for residential, commercial, industrial or institutional use” that is publicly or privately owned.
The Open Space Conservation Plan serves as a blueprint for the State’s Open Space Program, which guides the investment of money from the Environmental Protection Fund used to protect water quality and habitat, provide outdoor recreation and maintain natural resources, in addition to, this year, mitigating climate change. The plan was first drafted in 1992 and has typically been updated every five years, most recently in 2009.
In an effort to encourage the state to financially invest in open space this time around, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. is proposing that the state set aside $150 million of a $4.5 billion legal settlement to partner with local townships and nonprofit organizations to acquire and manage the properties in the plan.
The $4.5 billion comes from a string of nationwide legal settlements with banks and insurance companies, including such firms as Bank of America, MetLife and Citibank, all of which were sued by several states for reckless mortgage practices that ultimately led to the 2008 financial crisis. New York was awarded its chunk of the settlement in August, and the $4.5 billion will be folded into the 2015-16 budget.
Mr. Thiele said the state would be better off using $150 million of that money for one-time investments capital projects, like open space preservation, rather than recurring spending items, so that officials do not become dependent on the money only to have it eventually run out. The assemblyman said that dedicating that money for open space would also help make up for drastic cuts the EPF has suffered due to the downward turn the economy took several ago.
The EPF balance is currently $162 million, up $9 million from last year, but significantly lower than where it should be: Legislation passed in 2007 called for the fund to have $300 million by 2009.
“It puts us in a unique situation to access state money,” Mr. Thiele said of his proposal. “I just want to make sure that open space conservation is on the table. The towns are spending more money on the East End for open space conservation than the state is.”
Southampton and East Hampton towns use their Community Preservation Funds, which are supported by a tax on real estate transfers, to purchase and preserve open space. Since the CPF was established in 1998, Southampton has generated more than $384 million to protect more than 3,000 acres of land, while East Hampton has accrued about $255 million to protect about 1,780 acres.
Mary Wilson, the community preservation manager for Southampton Town, said that even though the municipality already partners with Suffolk County on many of its acquisitions using CPF money, the town would certainly welcome “any tool that allows us to leverage the funds” to preserve all kinds of land from pine barrens to watershed parcels to beaches. Additionally, Ms. Wilson pointed out that a partnership with the state would allow the town to manage the property as well, something that is not permitted when the county is involved.
“We would have a management partner, not just a buying partner,” Ms. Wilson said. “It would just build on those blocks.”
Scott Wilson, the land management specialist for East Hampton Town, did not return a call for comment.
Mr. Thiele’s claim about the town-to-state ratio for money spent on open space does not go unsupported. Jessica Ottney Mahar, director of government relations for the Nature Conservancy, which has a chapter in East Hampton, said New York State has decreased the EPF’s designated funds by nearly $40 million over the years—while in reality, state funding should match that of the town.
Ms. Ottney Mahar said the conservancy would support Mr. Thiele’s proposal.
“We have a long-standing track record of working with New York State, towns and the counties,” she said of her own organization. “There’s a lot of stuff in that plan that’s really great for Long Island. [It’s] really rich with areas that can be protected further.”
The Peconic Land Trust would also be on board. Its president, John v.H. Halsey, said a combination of the plan and the settlement money is what Long Island really needs for its open spaces to be preserved in the wake of cuts to the EPF.
And, like the Nature Conservancy, the organization is no stranger to financial partnerships.
“For over 30 years, the trust has worked with all levels of government, landowners, communities and partner organizations to conserve Long Island’s unique and valuable resources,” Mr. Halsey wrote in an email. “We thank Assemblyman Thiele for his support of the [plan] and applaud his request for additional funding.”
Because he just made his proposal last week, Mr. Thiele said he is still working on garnering support from his local colleagues in the legislature as well as local environmental groups like the Nature Conservancy and the Peconic Land Trust. However, he expects his proposal to become a part of state budget negotiations come January.
In the meantime, the DEC will hold two public comment sessions on the plan at its regional headquarters in Stony Brook on October 22, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Written comments will be accepted through December 17. The 311-page plan is available on the DEC’s website.
“We’ve had a very ambitious Open Space Conservation Plan,” Mr. Thiele said. “But you have to put money in it to implement it. This is an easy thing for them to support.”
on Oct 12, 2014