Suffolk County lawmakers are urging the passage of state legislation that would permit development for agricultural uses on protected farmland.
Tag: Richard Amper
More than a dozen farmers, most from the East End, spoke at a Tuesday public hearing in Hauppauge in support of a proposed Suffolk County law that would sidestep a New York State Supreme Court ruling that deems development on protected farmland illegal.
A feud between Suffolk County officials and a local environmentalist over farmland development rights is reaching a fever pitch. Essentially at stake is whether farmers have the right to build on properties where development rights have been sold.
Jeff Rottkamp, owner of Fox Hollow Farm in Baiting Hollow, had been preparing to join Suffolk County’s farmland preservation program. But those plans changed in September, when a New York State Supreme Court judge deemed development on protected farmland illegal.
Christmas came early for Suffolk County voters in the form of a New York State Supreme Court decision on preserving farmland. READ
Suffolk County lawmakers and farmers are supporting the county’s decision to appeal a recent New York State Supreme Court ruling that deems development on preserved farmland illegal.
Local environmentalists are thanking voters for their overwhelming approval of the Community Preservation Fund, a proposition that was approved Tuesday by wide margins in each of the five East End towns.
Special permits and so-called hardship exceptions, which allowed farmers to develop preserved farmland, have been deemed illegal, according to a New York State Supreme Court ruling. READ