VI. Other Issues

Brookhaven/South Haven Hamlets Study

1. Preserve the Stream corridor in the northern [headwaters] portion of the study area through exchange of ownership (i.e., private to public) or transfer of development rights (TDR). This will require cooperation and agreements for replatting old filed subdivisions and the exchange of parcels owned by Suffolk County, the Town of Brookhaven,… and private parties…

2. North of Montauk Highway, the headwaters of Beaverdam Creek flow through a vacant, privately owned 9.5 acre parcel. This land should be preserved through TDR, or through acquisition if necessary, to protect freshwater wetlands and stream water quality.

We think the LWRP should endorse these recommendations by way of including the upper creek and headwaters within the LID II boundary. We suggest the following (see map, next page): Beaver Dam Road to Fire Place Neck Road, running north continuing along South Country Road to Old Town Road to Sunrise, then west to Carnegie (paper street), south along Carnegie across Montauk Highway following southerly route along west boundary of Bellport High School to Beaver Dam Road, then east to South Country Road and continuing along original LWRP boundary.

Update Status of Parcels Recommended for Acquisition

It seems that the LWRP used former County Executive Michael LoGrande’s 1986 Report to the Suffolk County Legislature: Proposed Acquisition of Lands for the New York State Environmental Quality Bond Act to define the areas within LID II. The LWRP needs to be updated on this subject to reflect the fact that 3-1/2 of the five listed “important areas for acquisition” are no longer applicable and that the current number-one priority on Long Island, according to the Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society and the civics preparing this report, is the above-mentioned Southaven Properties. The report should be corrected as follows:

1. On page II-52, the parcel that both the LWRP and the State call the Beaver Dam Creek Wetlands (~50-acres) is locally known as the Lohmann Farm. Both the Peconic Land Trust and the BVA have met with Mr. Lohmann, and he is not interested in selling to a government agency at this time. However, it should be noted that, thanks to the efforts of County Legislator Herb Davis and the Post Morrow Foundation, the 50 acres of wetland and creek frontage to the west of the Lohmann Farm is now preserved.

2. Southaven Properties (see page 17 of this report). This parcel is situated at the headwaters of Yaphank Creek, a major tributary of the Carmans River which supports a viable population of brook trout. The eastern mud turtle, designated as “threatened” in New York State, is also found here and it is an historic nesting site for the threatened osprey. The entire site is designated “scenic” under the New York State Wild, Scenic and Recreational Rivers Act. Acquisition would complete the northern boundary of the Wertheim Wildlife Refuge.

3. There is also a 15-acre parcel, adjoining the Lohmann Farm on the east, which has creek frontage and is owned by the Ljungquist family of Brookhaven Hamlet. Both the Lohmann Farm and the Ljungquist parcels are included in the recommendations, Chapter IV, page 12, to change their classification from RES1 to OSR. The combination of existing preserved land with the Lohmann Farm and Ljungquist parcel would total 108 acres of preserved, undeveloped land on the west side of the lower Beaver Dam Creek. With the Post Morrow Foundation controlling the majority of land on the east side of the river, the lower 1.1 miles of the Beaver Dam Creek would be protected in perpetuity.

Also, in reference to policy #26, please make a correction in chapter III, page 76, which states: “… there are no agricultural lands within the coastal regions of the Town…” Henry Lohmann’s is an active farm.

Delete Suggestion of Recreational Area at the End of Bay Road

One of the proposals for acquisition in draft LWRP was the “Bay Road wetlands.” This parcel was acquired by the Town in 1989 and, in a February 1995 Town Board Resolution, was added to the Town’s Nature Preserve program as the Fire Place Nature Preserve. We hope this negates the draft LWRP’s recommendation in Chapter III, page 60: “This land is suitable for public access to bay waters and to the sandy beach front for passive recreational purposes, and could provide access to the conservation area.” (Note: The report is in conflict with itself by having suggested, in Chapter II, page 53, acquisition of this parcel because of its wetlands value. This wetland forest, where the depth to groundwater is between zero and two feet throughout, is surrounded by 169 acres of NYS wetlands on the east, Bellport Bay on the south, and the Beaver Dam Creek wetlands on the west.)

It is important to point out that there is no place to park unless wetlands are destroyed to provide for parking. This is not like Mirimar Park or Shirley Beach where the sandy beach extends inland for hundreds of feet and continually slopes upward away from the beach. The “sandy beach” the draft LWRP describes is more of a narrow sand bar with wetlands immediately behind it. The bay is shallow for hundreds of feet from the shore and is not suitable for swimming, fishing or boating. This is an environmentally fragile area without a possible location on site to build a parking lot or restroom facilities (i.e., there are no sewer systems in the Hamlet, and it would be impossible to have a septic system in a area where the average depth to groundwater is about one foot). We are also disturbed by the statement “. .. provide access to the conservation area.’ Is the LWRP advocating people trampling over the wetlands by foot or with recreational vehicles?

We would also like to also point out that the end of Bay Road is now easily accessible to the public, and it is rare to see it used as a beach.