The Peconic Land Trust has gifted a conservation easement on 0.48 acres of Soundview Avenue Preserve to Southold Town for open space preservation.
The Town Board accepted the easement by resolution last Tuesday, following a public hearing. Locals who spoke praised the Peconic Land Trust for preserving the parcel, although local attorney Patricia Moore also questioned why the sanitary flow credits from the property weren’t being preserved.
“This is a wonderful private initiative,” she said, but it’s “a shame that we’re not preserving the sanitary credits. Any chance that we get to create a, let’s call it a transfer, or land bank, for sanitary credits is part of our pool of sanitary credits that support affordable housing.”
“Our limitation on providing affordable [housing] has always been based on sanitary, so the preservation of sanitary credits is going to be crucial and it’s a win-win here,” she said. “It’s moving a potential sanitary from what has been described as this sensitive area, but it will be then used and consistent with the board’s policies and affordable housing initiatives.”
The town indicated that sanitary flow credits could not be transferred because the parcel has wetlands and the buildable land was less than 20,000 square feet.
The Peconic Land Trust worked with neighboring landowners, who contributed funds to the trust so the trust could acquire the property, said town land preservation coordinator Melissa Spiro. “The Land Preservation Committee has reviewed this project and supports the Town Board accepting the easement donation by the Peconic Land Trust.”
Neighboring residents wanted to protect the parcel “so that it could continue to contribute not only to the scenic vista along Soundview Avenue, but also remain as a natural habitat for flora and fauna,” said Holly Sanford, senior project manager at Peconic Land Trust.
“It was the little engine that could, simply because it came to fruition through the community and it was a very tiny parcel, but a very important one, because it’s right there over the freshwater swale which runs the whole length of Soundview Avenue,” she said.
Ms. Sanford highlighted a 2020 letter written by conservation biologist Louise Harrison to town Trustees that emphasized the high diversity of plant species on the lot at a time when much vegetation on the North Fork has been threatened by the demands of deer overpopulation.
“Fortunately, due to the community’s enthusiasm and financial support, the trust was able to purchase this undisturbed property on Feb. 12, 2021, which was on the market as a residential parcel with development potential,” she said.
Ms. Sanford told a reporter the community involvement inspired a similar model to preserve Deep Hole Creek. The Peconic Land Trust acquired approximately 15 acres of the Deep Hole Creek parcel in June, thanks largely to community activism.
As the parcel’s interim owner, the trust will protect the property until a conservation buyer can be found to maintain or farm it. 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.
“It kind of just spurred community interest and it gave people the understanding that they could mobilize, not only bringing it to everyone’s attention, but by supporting it through volunteer and through financial support that conservation can happen at a grassroots level,” she said.
The property at 6480 Soundview Ave. in Southold, which is zoned R-80, is connected by vegetation to maritime freshwater interdunal swales and “possesses significant relatively natural habitat and freshwater wetlands values, and resides along a forest corridor connecting three county and/or town public waterfront natural parks,” according to the Town Board resolution.
Costs associated with the donation will be paid for using Land Preservation Department funding.