Letters

Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt sends congratulations to Southampton Town on the recent Community Preservation Fund purchase of the 8-acre field in Sagaponack. The field sits next to Poxabogue Pond, the second-largest of the greenbelt’s chain of rare and fragile coastal plain ponds.

Given the parcel’s status as one of the last undeveloped parcels in close proximity to the pond, Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt has long petitioned for its protection as open space. This property serves not only an important buffer for Poxabogue Pond itself but for the entire coastal plain pond system, a system that also functions as an important source of fresh water for Sagg Pond to the south.

We find it regrettable that given the opportunity to preserve the parcel as open space, the town has instead designated it for agricultural use. Because the groundwater flow from the parcel will infiltrate the pond, permitting it to be used for agricultural purposes, whether traditional or organic, will threaten this fragile water system.

We have appealed to the Southampton Town Board to change the land use designation on this 8 acres to protect the Long Pond Greenbelt coastal plain pond system. But our entreaties have been rebuffed. We therefore turn to the Southampton community to come to the greenbelt’s defense.

Anyone wanting to add their name to a petition calling for a change of use to open space, please contact Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt at greenbeltnews@aol.com.

Dai Dayton

Sandra Ferguson

Friends of the Long Pond Greenbelt