Carmans River development moratorium extended

A 90-day moratorium on development in the Carmans River watershed has been extended until the end of the month as a study group charged with setting guidelines to protect the river wrestles with its final recommendations to Brookhaven Town officials.

Supervisor Mark Lesko extended the hold, which had been set to expire Thursday.

The town board will not give final approval to any of about 30 proposed development projects near the river until the group releases its plan, Lesko said.

Projects likely to be affected by the watershed management plan include a planned 1,300-unit affordable housing development in Yaphank backed by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.

Lesko said he expects the report in early February. A public hearing will be set at the next town board meeting on Feb. 15, and the recommendations could be voted into law as soon as March 8, he said.

Those guidelines may include a ban on new construction within 20 feet of the river or wetlands, as well as limits on density to one house per 5 acres on private lands closest to the Carmans. The group wants to expand the Core Area of the Pine Barrens, where constraints limit development, to include parts of the watershed that remain relatively open. Also likely: tighter limits on sewage and septic pollution from new developments.

"I think it was clear to everyone that it made no sense to rush," said group chair Lee Koppelman, director of Stony Brook University's Center for Regional Policy Studies. " . . . We're very close to it, but there are still questions that are unresolved."

Those questions sparked tart exchanges Wednesday at what was supposed to be the final meeting of the group, which includes planners, regulators, environmental advocates and builders. Flash points included where to draw the watershed's boundaries, and whether parcels where development is now proposed belong on a list of open-space acquisition targets.

The group also fielded criticism from farmers, residents, and civic and environmental advocates. Karen Blumer of the Open Space Preservation Trust said the plan needed to address contamination seeping through groundwater from the Brookhaven Town landfill.

Farmers worried that a provision relating to development rights could limit their ability to buy new farmland. "It's going to have a major impact . . . on people in the community," said Frank Beyrodt, president of the Long Island Farm Bureau.