Letters

The Central Pine Barrens Commission solicited comments from the public concerning a proposed increased-density golf course resort in the Pine Barrens of East Quogue, known as the Lewis Road Planned Residential District.

I wrote to the commission, opposing the development by referring to the dangers of the underlying zoning vehicle, known as a PRD. I used as my example three horse farm PRDs located in the Pine Barrens in which representatives of the Lewis Road PRD were involved. All of the following is documented on record.

In 2019, several articles appeared in different newspapers describing a lawsuit by the Peconic Land Trust against an Amagansett property owner who removed around 100 trees on a land trust easement and who plans to replace those trees with ornamentals, allegedly to facilitate the operation of a farm. While the East Quogue horse farms don’t involve Peconic Land Trust easements, I noted that similarities existed in that mature trees were chained-sawed and farm and residential debris was discarded on reserve areas.

It should be noted that one of the previous owners of a horse farm, a local equestrienne, never cut down a tree, proving that a farm can operate without the need to chainsaw perimeter screening or, for that matter, lopping off the bottom branches of mature trees.

In my opinion, chain-sawing trees that buffer a reserve serves no purpose other than a landscaping fetish.

Susan Cerwinski

East Quogue