To Buy Farmland On Time

The Southampton Town Board, after receiving an updated inventory of the farmland in town, took three steps on Friday to highlight the farmland preservation strategy it unveiled in 1996.

First, the board passed a resolution allowing it to use the installment purchase method to buy the development rights to 52 acres of land in Water Mill owned and farmed by the Zaluski family. The parcel is on the west side of Deerfield Road just north of Head of Pond Road.

The deal, which was agreed to last summer, is the first time the financing technique has been used in New York State.

"An Act Of Love"

"This is an act of love, for your family and for the town," said Supervisor Vincent Cannuscio to Joan Zaluski, whose husband, William, is a retired farmer. She was accompanied by her four sons, Stephen, John, Marc, and William Jr., who now farms the land.

"In order for my son to continue to farm the land, we had to say no to developers who wanted to buy it," said Mrs. Zaluski. "We had a feeling we were contributing to the preservation of the land."

The town will pay the Zaluskis up to $990,000 or $18,000 per acre for the development rights to their property.

An installment purchase is similar to a municipal bond, with the landowner generally receiving tax-free interest payments during the life of the agreement and the principal at maturity.

West Of Canal

The method, approved by the state in 1996, allows the town to negotiate a lower purchase price while providing a guaranteed income stream and lower capital gains tax for the seller.

The Town Board also took steps to acquire three other farm parcels, including a 35-acre parcel owned by the estate of Helen G. Wright on the Montauk Highway and West Side Avenue in East Quogue. The town will hold a public hearing on that purchase on March 24.

It marks the first time the town has agreed to buy agricultural development rights west of the Shinnecock Canal, said Councilman Patrick (Skip) Heaney.

Seek County Help

The board also passed resolutions asking the Suffolk County Legislature to share half the costs of making two other purchases in Water Mill, a 35-acre parcel across Deerfield Road from the Zaluski farm owned by Loretta Gaston, Irene Sikorski, and Diane Pillsworth, and a 17-acre parcel north of the Montauk Highway owned by Joshua's Place, a spiritual center.

Both sales were also announced last summer.

The board's actions came after it accepted a report compiled by the Peconic Land Trust and the Town Department of Land Management, showing 8,345 acres of farmland remaining in the town. That is 272 acres less than the 8,617-acre figure cited in 1996, said Robert Duffy, the town's director of land management.

Remaining Farmland

"We literally went out to every parcel the town thought was farmland and compiled a list," said John Halsey of the Land Trust. In the past, the town had relied on "an imperfect inventory" that counted some woodlands, parks, and subdivided lots as agricultural land, he said.

The Town Board asked for the inventory in 1996 when it imposed a townwide tax to raise millions for farmland preservation over the next 20 years and agreed to hold a referendum on a $5 million open-space bond.

At the time, the board stressed that blocks of farmland needed to be preserved, to protect both the agricultural and resort economies.

Unprotected Acreage

The report also showed that about half the remaining land, or 4,225 acres, is devoted to traditional field crops, like corn or potatoes. Horse farms occupy 839 acres, and nurseries cover 773 acres, according to the report.

Over 5,200 acres of farmland remain unprotected by development rights transfers or other measures, Mr. Duffy said. An additional 614 acres, while still being farmed, have already been subdivided.

The town has purchased development rights to 757 acres, while the county has preserved 730 acres. An additional 145 acres have been preserved privately, and 893 acres have been set aside in subdivision reserved areas.

Database

Mr. Duffy said the information had been entered in the town's computerized geographic-information system, which will allow the town to choose where it wants to target future preservation efforts.

"For the first time, we've been able to say we have roughly 8,300 acres remaining," said Mr. Heaney. "And what was most significant to me was how many acres there are throughout town where the owners have not taken advantage of tax programs. These are the people we have to target."

Over 2,700 acres, distributed over 337 parcels, are not included in any of the property tax abatement programs offered by the town, county, or state, Mr. Heaney said.

Land Trust Consultant

To help in the effort to preserve farmland, the board also voted to renew its contract with the Land Trust. It will pay the organization $32,000 over the next year to serve as the town's preservation consultant.

The trust's duties will include preparing a booklet listing the financial, tax, and estate-planning options available to farmers, serving as an adviser to the town's farmland and agricultural committees, helping the town identify parcels worthy of consideration for purchase, and assisting the town in obtaining financing, appraising, and negotiating future purchases.