A smart way to save open space

Is there any better time to buy land and preserve it than when both prices and interest rates are low? That's the serious question in Southampton. The answer is no. So the time is now.

This town with international stature has long been under strong development pressure. But too much development could spoil the very character that defines its reputation. That's where land preservation comes in.

The town's residents spoke clearly in establishing, then extending until 2030, a community preservation fund. It's based on a 2 percent real-estate transfer tax, exempting the first $250,000 of the purchase price. It has saved about 3,000 acres.

In 2007, the year before the crash, the tax brought the town about $53 million to invest in land preservation. That number is down the last couple of years, but so is the price of land -- and of money.

So Southampton Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst is doing the right thing by asking a group of savvy advisers to project how much the fund will bring in from now to its expiration in 2030, how much the town can borrow against that revenue now, before prices rise, and what land should get top priority.

The town shouldn't overburden itself with debt. Nor should it let this opportunity pass. The voters have made clear that they approve of borrowing against the fund. The revenue will be there until 2030, but the land could go under the bulldozer long before that. So Southampton should study, borrow, buy and preserve now.