Community Corner

County Approves Sand Piper Farm Agriculture Designation

Asharoken Mayor withdraws opposition as residents express support for continued farm operations.

The Suffolk County Legislature approved a resolution to add Sand Piper Farm to the agricultural district on Tuesday evening, which will allow the farm to resume its operations as a horse farm and training facility.

Located on 440 acres of the old Morgan Estate in Eaton's Neck, within the Village of Asharoken, Sand Piper Farm began operations in 1980 as a horse training and boarding facility. The farm operated under the "educational" loop hole in village code, but training operations ceased in 2006 when the village passed an ordinance that closed the loop hole and banned all agricultural usage.

The decision now stands before the New York State Commissioner of Agriculture. If approved, Sand Piper Farm will be able to resume and increase training and boarding activities and also be allowed to grow crops relevant to a horse farm, such as hay.

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An agricultural designation may factor into a separate property reassessment for Sand Piper Farm, which would lower the amount of taxes paid to Asharoken Village, consequently increasing taxes paid per household. Mayor Greg Letica and members of the village board initially saw this as a point of concern along with zoning issues, and posted a message urging residents to fight the decision on the village website last week.

At the Village Board of Trustees meeting on Monday, Letica presented his case and said he was taken off guard by the vocal and seemingly unanimous response from residents in favor of the designation. At the meeting, several residents said they were willing to shoulder the tax increase should the property be reassessed and that Sand Piper Farm Owner Laurie Landeau deserved to continue as a trusted shepherd of the property.

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Letica attended and spoke at the Legislature hearing on Tuesday afternoon, along with a number of residents in favor of the designation. Though initially opposed to the project, he withdrew the village's opposition and agreed to meet with Sand Piper Farm to reach a "reasonable farm operation use and consistent with Village’s concerns for neighboring properties and the public health, safety and Welfare," and to discuss "appropriate payments to the village in lieu of taxes once the pending applications with the town are concluded," as per a letter drafted by Attorney Jon Santemma, representing Sand Piper Farm. The agreement sits before new Asharoken Village Attorney Bruce Migatz.

Representatives for both the village and Sand Piper Farm agreed that the agricultural designation is a positive step toward preservation of open space and environmental stewardship.


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