Brookhaven buys land to help Carmans River

Brookhaven Town has acquired a 30-acre parcel in Yaphank that town officials say is critical to its efforts to protect the Carmans River.

The land, at the corner of River Road and Moriches-Middle Island Road, cost the town $4.15 million, a town spokesman said. It is situated between Southaven County Park and a 23-acre piece of town-owned open space.

The town recently acquired the property from the Lake Grove School, a private school in Lake Grove, town officials said. The land is about 1,650 feet from the Carmans River and, had it not been preserved, could have been developed for light industrial use, officials said.

The acquisition is part of an ongoing effort to protect the Carmans. Local officials are shepherding a watershed protection plan crafted to steer development away from the environmentally sensitive river.

A group of local officials, including Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko and State Sen. Kenneth P. LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), have announced that they will hold a news conference about the acquisition at the site at 10 a.m. Friday.