Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News

The Long Island Pine Barrens Society has concluded a six-month study of Long Island’s land preservation efforts and has warned that if the present rate of land acquisition continues, the region will “fail by nearly half” to secure 25,000 acres of open space and 10,000 acres of farmland before final build-out of Long Island, projected for 2015.

The study chronicled the 50-year history of land preservation on Long Island from creation of the Fire Island National Seashore to the landmark Farmland Preservation Program to saving the Long Island Pine Barrens. While praising Long Island land preservation efforts as “second-to-none nationally,” the White Paper, issued April 19, describes the challenge of saving open space and farmland in a region where land prices are high and government programs are fragmented.
Housing is scarce and competition fierce for parcels of available land.

Pine Barrens Society President Alan Singer said, “Preservation of the Pine Barrens required an almost ‘Apollo program to the moon.’ While the total expense of Pine Barrens preservation was smaller, the current cost of land and the little time left to accomplish the goal will require a still greater effort,” he said. “Instead of faulting a most worthy past effort, we must re-double our efforts to obtain the needed funds and streamline processes and procedures for the end-state,” he added.

The report documents the efforts of federal, state, county and town governments to purchase open space and the development rights to agricultural lands. It concludes that Long Islanders have committed $1.27 billion dollars to the effort over half a century, securing nearly 60,000 acres of open space and farmland. Further, Long Islanders have spent more money on land preservation than the residents of 45 of the 50 states.

The report backs a plan by The Nature Conservancy embraced last January by more than 100 business, environmental and civic leaders and elected officials. Called “Long Island’s Last Stand,” it identified and prioritized the preservation of 35,000 acres among
the 70,000 remaining “up for grabs” before all the land on Long Island is either developed or saved. This milestone is projected by planners for 2015, but some say most of the land use decisions concerning the future fate of this acreage will be made in the
next three to five years.

“Most Long Islanders embrace this worthy goal, vote in record numbers to fund it and commend government for our progress to date,” said PBS Executive Director Richard Amper. “However, what worked in past decades cannot succeed in the current one, absent a significant increase in funding levels and expanded and expedited processes
for saving the land.” Entitled, “On Course for Failure: A Call to Action on Open Space,“ the report lists more than a dozen recommendations for accelerating the purchase of open space and development rights on farmland. Among the needed actions are extension of existing and creation of new funding sources, increased personnel and streamlined procedures. A recent study by the independent Long Island Index also concluded that the Island needed to expedite land preservation efforts.

The Pine Barrens Society called on Long Island leaders to review the assessment; then press for coordinated accelerated acquisition. “Environmentally, drinking water and habitat are at stake. Economically, tourism, farming and housing our workforce can afford
are all at stake. And in terms of quality-of-life, everything is on the line,” Amper concluded.

The group's report called for more government spending and streamlining the land acquisition process. Reaching the 35,000-acre goal would cost an estimated $3.2 billion -- $2 billion of which could come from existing sources such as a dedicated portion of Suffolk's sales tax revenue, it said.

Robert Wieboldt, executive vice president of the Long Island Builders Institute, disputed that figure, saying that at least $5 billion would be needed -- money that he said might be better spent on infrastructure.

Nassau and Suffolk county officials said Wednesday that they supported open space preservation but that land costs and the willingness of owners to sell their land or development rights placed constraints on local governments.

Two-thirds of the proposed funding would come from existing government programs, but they must be extended and/or altered.

The report breaks down the money this way:
-- Suffolk County’s quarter penny sales tax, which partly funds open space and is due to sunset in 2013, must be extended to 2020
-- Nassau County will have to float a $100 million bond act
-- New York State has to give the Island more money out of its Environmental Protection Fund in addition to shepherding through a $2 billion bond act
-- Brookhaven Town has to put on the ballot in November a real estate transfer tax, called a Community Preservation Fund, which funds open space preservation and get it passed, joining the five East End towns which extended their CPFs last November from 2015 to 2030.

Source Press Release from Long Island Pine Barrens Society www.pinebarrens.org
April 19, 2007
http://www.pinebarrens.org/openspace.asp
Long Island Business News www.libn.com
http://www.libn.com/breakingNews.htm?articleID=7514&sourceReferrer=flashReport
Newsday www.newsday.com
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liland0419,0,4537102.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines