Farmland and other open-space preservations are becoming more limited opportunities on the East End of Long Island, N.Y., despite abundant tax money now available for such purchases. The main reason is a dwindling number of such parcels, even as competing bids for residential real-estate development escalate. But sometimes the hangup is disagreement over just what the preservation would entail–neighbors can often seek to impose their wishes. A case in point can be seen in this week’s Newsday report on an apparently foiled buy of 10 acres in the North Fork hamlet of South Jamesport. The land, near Peconic Bay, appears to be nothing more than a fallow farm plot of the sort that is disappearing in favor of luxury homes–in fact, four of them are on the drawing boards. Suffolk County thought it would acquire the parcel instead, but wanted the town of Riverhead (which contains the hamlet) to look after it. Some neighbors suspected the county had ideas for inviting bay beachgoers from who knows where to stage there (even though it’s quite a hike to the water). Riverhead officials, who are on a frugal bent, didn’t want the management costs, either. So the plan seems to have fizzled. Preservation deals often involve several parties, both governmental and nonprofit such as the Peconic Land Trust, whose leader knows they can be fraught. Even when they basically go through, as in the recent $56 million acquisition of a 30-acre historic farm in the East Hampton hamlet of Wainscott, the demands over how to proceed rattle on. –May 12, 2026
Suffolk County’s bid to save North Fork land falls through – Newsday
Tim W. Ferguson 