The Peconic Land Trust, which acquired approximately 15 acres of the Deep Hole Creek parcel in June, has sent out requests for proposals for prospective buyers of the site.
As the parcel’s interim owner, the trust protects the property until a conservation buyer can be found to maintain or farm it, said Holly Sanford, the organization’s senior project manager. The purchase of the property was funded by more than $650,000 in community donations, with the trust taking out a line of credit as well.
The purchase of the site and Southold Town’s inclusion of the bulk of the 15 acres into its farmland preservation program spared the New Suffolk Avenue site in Mattituck from development.
According to the trust, the parcel contains 12.2 acres of protected farmland, a 2.05-acre residential area that is home to a small, seasonal cottage, and a .69-acre unbuildable buffer. The site had once been envisioned for a seven-lot subdivision, which sparked the rapid fundraising effort last year.
The future of the land, which had been farmed for 50 years but has lain fallow for the past 10, is up to a future buyer — hence the sending out of the RFP.
“It will be cultivated as farmland, or as a vineyard,” Ms. Sanford said.
The property is listed for $1.6 million.
Peconic Land Trust development officer Alison Delaney said last November the parcel’s location along New Suffolk Avenue, an “iconic road on the North Fork,” is one of the reasons it stands out to the community.
“Because so many people live in the neighborhoods off of New Suffolk Avenue, and because so many people like that as a scenic drive down to the waterfront, and it is the last large parcel that’s undeveloped on the creek, I think it just stood out,” she said.