Plans to turn once-polluted Bianchi-Weiss farm in East Patchogue into a nature preserve

Susan Shiebler remembers going with her childhood friends to the orchid farm in their East Patchogue neighborhood and finding a little bit of paradise.

They could run around the parking lot, soak in the fragrant air and buy sodas from the Coke machine for 10 cents a bottle, she said.

"It was the '60s and the '70s and we were allowed to ride our bicycles here," Shiebler, who still lives in the hamlet, told Newsday during a visit to the property last week. "It was a haven for me."

Known as the Bianchi-Weiss farm, the Orchard Road site will become a place of respite and renewal, officials said, after Brookhaven nonprofit Post-Morrow Foundation last month completed its purchase of the 14-acre site.

Post-Morrow vice president Tom Williams said the group plans to turn the farm into a nature preserve and create public hiking trails. The land is covered with nonnative plants such as mugwort, but also native bluestem and switchgrass, he said.

"We've found some native grasses here, so we want to encourage them to grow," Williams said.

Post-Morrow purchased the land for $10,000 on Feb. 17 from the nonprofit Suffolk County Landbank. The county had seized the property from its previous owner, Henron Development Corp. of Ronkonkoma, for failure to pay $473,089 in back taxes and fines since 2016, County Legis. Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue) told Newsday.

Selling the property relieves the county of having to reimburse school districts, towns and other jurisdictions for lost tax revenue, Thorne said.

"Not only is this going to be a beautiful property, but it's going to save the taxpayers $22,000 a year in taxes, he said.

Taxes weren't the property's only problem. It turns out the farm was not as idyllic as Shiebler and her young friends had thought.

The farm's various prior owners left the land polluted by pesticides such as chlordane, a potentially lethal toxin that can cause liver and kidney damage, state officials have said. The pollution left a 460-foot-wide plume of contaminated groundwater stretching about 2,900 feet under neighboring properties, officials said previously.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation in 2019 completed a $7 million cleanup that included removing thousands of pounds of contaminated soil from the site. The DEC installed a sump pump filtration system on a nearby property, and the farm no longer poses a threat, a spokesman said.

State officials are seeking to recoup $7 million from previous owners to pay for the cleanup.

Shiebler said she became involved when community residents took part in discussions about the farm's potential future uses. Initially skeptical, she said she feared the land would be sold to developers.

"You get a little jaded these days with government," she said.

The farm, which once had 300,000 square feet of coal-heated greenhouses, was known for pioneering a type of cymbidium orchid that grows well indoors.

She said she is relieved that Post-Morrow bought the property and plans to protect it so local residents can unplug and reconnect with the great outdoors, as she did as a child.   

"We need that more than ever," Shiebler said. "Get away from social media and the stress." 

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.