Town Uses A New Tool To Keep The ‘Farm’ In Farmland

Farming runs in the blood of 23-year-old Water Mill resident Hank Kraszewski.His family has been tilling the soil for three generations, and he spent much of his childhood helping out on about 450 acres of farmland they owned throughout Southampton Town.

But like many local young farmers, Mr. Kraszewski faced the problem of wanting to build his own farming legacy, yet not being able to pay escalating prices for soil in the Hamptons. Fortunately, last year he became the first farmer to participate in a new program in which he was able to purchase 19.2 acres on Head of Pond Road in Water Mill from the Peconic Land Trust, at a drastically reduced price, because the town had purchased enhanced development rights to the property from the trust.

When it buys enhanced development rights, the town can dictate specifically how the land will be farmed, eliminating certain agricultural uses not directly related to the production of food. When uses such as horse and tree farms and outright estate landscaping have been eliminated in addition to residential development, the value of the land decreases even further, making it relatively affordable for the growers of food crops.

“For the future, it is definitely going to be the only way to make sure there are farms forever,” Mr. Kraszewski said. “There is no way there is ever going to be a house built on it or it be turned into somebody’s horse farm. It is always going to have to be farmed with some kind of traditional food crop.”

The idea of preserving farmland on Long Island is nothing new, according to Peconic Land Trust President John v.H. Halsey. Suffolk County initially began preserving farmland in the 1970s by making it possible for a municipality like Southampton Town to purchase the rights to residential development. The problem was that at the time no one anticipated that non-farmers would want to purchase preserved land for less traditional “agricultural” uses.

According to Mr. Halsey, non-farmers have been purchasing protected farmland to create extended lawns near their private homes, to keep horse stables or to plant trees, none of which addresses the community’s desire for fresh fruits and vegetables. Because there was so much interest in the land, and because property in the Hamptons is so expensive in general, the value of preserved land was steadily increasing to more than $100,000 an acre, far beyond the financial reach of local farmers.

“Unfortunately, we have learned over the last five to 10 years that a lot of non-farmers are buying protected farmland at very high prices, and I don’t think that anyone anticipated 40 years ago, when the purchase of development rights program to really protect farmland started, that there would be a market for non-farmers to buy this land,” said Mr. Halsey. “So, as a consequence, we are watching the unraveling of 40 years of farmland preservation effort slip away, simply because the land values on the protected farmland are going through the roof—pretty much exclusively on the South Fork of the island, east of the canal.”

To combat the problem, the Peconic Land Trust approached Southampton Town about using the Community Preservation Fund to purchase enhanced development rights, based on similar programs in Massachusetts and Vermont.

Farmers who purchase land for which the town owns enhanced development rights must commit to using at least 80 percent of it for food production. They are allowed to leave the land fallow—unplanted, to allow the soil to recover the nutrients needed for growing crops—for one or two years. However, if the land is not farmed for food for more than two years, the town has the right to step in and lease it to another qualified farmer.

Horse farms, wineries and tree nurseries are all prohibited, and if the owner ever chooses to sell the property, the town will request proposals for qualified bidders to purchase it.

The impacts are drastic. The value of the preserved land drops from approximately $100,000 an acre to approximately $25,000 an acre, because the added restrictions make the land undesirable to people who do not want to grow food.

Currently, officials hope to expand the number of properties for which the town owns enhanced development rights. Last week, the Town Board voted to purchase enhanced rights to 24.6 acres at the intersection of Newlight Lane and Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton for $2.46 million, or $100,000 an acre.

The property is owned by the Peconic Land Trust, which is leasing the land to a crop farmer, Peter Dankowski, for the next five years. Should the trust decide to sell the property at the end of the lease, it would issue a request for proposals, allowing qualified farmers, both new and established, to bid on the land.

Mr. Halsey said there are more than 100 acres of farmland in Southampton Town where the purchase of enhanced development rights is being considered.

Another farmer benefiting from the program is Jim Pike. He and his wife, Jennifer, had been farming a 7.5-acre property owned by James Hopping since 1987 when they were notified in 2007 that Mr. Hopping would be selling the property. After two years of negotiations, the Peconic Land Trust was able to purchase the land, on Sagg Main Street in Sagaponack, for $6 million. The development rights, including enhanced rights, were simultaneously sold for $4.3 million to Suffolk County and Southampton Town.

The sale meant the Pikes could purchase the land for $26,000 an acre, and that they could keep their farm stand on the property and continue to grow produce.

“This piece of property is a small part of our entire operation, but it is an important part because our farm stand and equipment are all there,” Mr. Pike said in a phone interview this week. “It was nice for us to be able to own it finally. It allowed us to buy it at a price where it didn’t break our bank, so to speak.”

Now, the Pikes are looking to expand, and they hope to sell the enhanced development rights on a 5-acre piece of property, also in Sagaponack, they own. They would use the proceeds from that sale to purchase a 14-acre farm parcel on Uncle Leo’s Lane in Water Mill for which the town already owns enhanced property rights.

“The program works for us,” Mr. Pike said. “I think that it is good for the future of production and agriculture on the South Fork.”

Mr. Halsey said last week he is hopeful about the future of the program, as well as the future of farming on the East End.

“We want to ensure that the historic form of agriculture that produces local food lives on,” Mr. Halsey said. “It is one of the many reasons that many people come here, because we still have farms and people can buy local produce that tastes better than that purchased in stores. It is part of the character of this place and it is really in jeopardy.

“It is not enough to prevent the development of land,” he continued. “You need to do everything you can to ensure that once you have made that investment to protect it as farmland, that it is actually farmed. That is really why the Land Trust embarked on this, and started working with the town to make this happen.”