Chapter V: Land Use Issues
1. Lohmann Farm
Recently, Mr. Henry Lohmann, whose family has
owned and operated the 48-acre farm between the Beaver Dam Creek and
South Country Road since 1952, was awarded the Long Island Farm
Bureaus Amherst Davis Memorial Farmer Citizen of the Year Award.
Unfortunately for our community, Mr. Lohmann, the last active
vegetable truck farmer in the Hamlet, is retiring and has submitted
a proposal for a 16-lot subdivision called Sea Breeze Farms.
It has always been the hope of environmentalists,
civics and planners, that this land, because of its proximity to the
Beaver Dam Creek and because it is contiguous to both the PMF and
the Dennis Puleston Nature Preserves, would be preserved through
government acquisition.
The Lohmann Farm was proposed for acquisition in
the 1986 NYS Environmental Quality Bond Act, along with the Bay Road
Wetlands, which was purchased in 1989 and is now the Fire Place
Nature Preserve, and the Robinson Duck Farm, purchased in 1991 (all
within this hamlet study area).
2. Headwaters of Beaver Dam Creek
a
. Fire Department property
Ever since the Long Island Regional Planning Board
(LIRPB) released its study of the Beaver Dam Creek in January of
1991, titled Evaluation of Land Use Impacts on Environmental
Quality in Urban and Semi-Ruml Streams Tributary to Great South Bay,
the Brookhaven Village Association has been encouraging the Town,
County and State to act on the reports recommendations. We note
particularly Chapter 6, "Recommended Actions on page 4:
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, the Brookhaven
Fire District and private parties...
We agree with this recommendation, as we will
reiterate in the recommendations of this study. The Fire Department
is currently completing an Environmental Impact Statement for its
proposal to build a ballpark and recreation area on the 13 acres it
owns in the headwaters section of the Beaver Dam Creek.