Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy last week announced plans to move forward in the preservation of a massive property on the North Fork.
Mr. Levy said the county will immediately begin the appraisal and mapping process for the preservation of more than 300 acres of open space known as the North Fork Preserve in Riverhead.
According to the County Executive, a drawn-out lawsuit regarding the property, which began in 2006, was resolved recently, allowing county administrators to move forward with the process known as “planning steps” for the preservation of the land. Two resolutions for planning steps have already previously been approved by Suffolk County Legislature.
The southern 172-acre portion of the property was included by Mr. Levy in the third Suffolk County Master List of environmentally sensitive properties back in 2006, while the northern parcel was subject to a separate resolution. But the process was put on hold due to shareholder litigation.
“Now that the litigation is settled, I gave the order to move ahead with the planning steps,” Mr. Levy said in a written release issued last week. He added that acquiring the property for preservation would help to ensure the rural nature of the North Fork and that the vast property had been one of the largest remaining parcels targeted for acquisition by Suffolk County.
on Jun 23, 2009