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Legislation Expected to Pass Next Week Would Nearly Complete 400-Acre Tract Targeted by Levy for Preservation in 2004

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy announced today the acquisition of more than 160 acres of property in central Brookhaven’s Overton Preserve – a 400-acre swath of open space first targeted to open space preservation by Levy in 2004.

“The Overton Preserve represents a significant investment by Suffolk County and its taxpayers to protect our groundwater,” said Levy. “Through county efforts, and in some acquisitions partnering with the Town of Brookhaven, we have nearly completed the preservation of 400 acres in this woodland which sits over the Central Suffolk Special Groundwater Protection Area.”

Two resolutions, authorizing the purchase of 162 acres for $14.5 million and a second to authorize $432,000 for 3.75 acres, were passed Tuesday evening by the Suffolk County Legislature.

The two properties lie within the moraine area near the county’s groundwater divide, an important deep aquifer recharge area. They feature pitch pine-oak heath woodlands, freshwater wetland ponds and grasslands, which serve as breeding sites for many wetland and woodland species.

Since Levy’s inauguration in 2004, when he revitalized a nearly dormant and scandal-ridden open space program, Suffolk has preserved well over 5,500 acres – which is six and one-half times the size of New York’s Central Park – including 65 farms. The program continues to aggressively pursue the purchase of environmentally significant parcels and farmlands.

Upon taking office in 2004, Levy implemented a number of measures to revitalize and reinvigorate the county’s open space and water protection programs, including use of a Master List of properties to speed up the planning and appraisal processes and to take the politics out of land acquisition; streamlining the contract process; increasing the number of attorneys in the Division of Real Estate for closings; implementing a $75 million Save Open Spaces (SOS) Bond Act; and expanding the number of acquisitions done with other municipalities, environmental agencies or private land trusts.

Levy also advocated for extending the dedicated ¼-cent sales tax for open space into 2030, approved by voters in 2007.

In 2006, Levy created a $50 million Environmental Legacy Fund in the county’s capital budget, which is earmarked for acquisitions in which other municipalities or private interests apply matching funds. The Legacy Fund was recognized in 2008 by the National Association of Counties and the National Land Trust with a County Leadership in Conservation Award, and Levy recently received a Leadership Award from the Long Island Farm Bureau.

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