Riverhead's new law to tap land preservation funds for water projects raises concerns

New legislation allowing a portion of Riverhead's Community Preservation funds to be used for water main extension projects has raised alarm among preservation purists.

Town officials want to tap the fund to pay for engineering costs to extend public water lines for residents whose private drinking wells are polluted. But preservation and farming advocates fear spending the fund for those uses will dampen efforts to preserve land and stave off development.

The town board approved the expanded use for the fund in a 5-0 vote Oct. 16. 

Long Island Farm Bureau executive director Rob Carpenter at an Oct. 1 hearing said while improving drinking water is commendable, expanding allowable uses for the fund is an “eroding of the original intent” of the program.

The five East End towns each generate revenue for their Community Preservation funds through a 2% tax on most real estate transactions in order to preserve farmland and open space. Voters in 2016 extended the tax until 2050 and approved a measure allowing towns to use up to 20% of annual revenue for water quality improvements.

Riverhead is planning to extend public water in areas where private wells have shown contamination of PFAS, a group of “forever chemicals,” 1,4-dioxane, a synthetic solvent, and Freon, according to water district superintendent Frank Mancini.

A 2019 report by the Long Island Commission for Aquifer Protection estimated there are 198 private wells in Riverhead.  

The projects include a $1.7 million extension on Forge Road, $6.9 million to bring water to 28 homes near River Road and $7.4 million to extend water to 45 homes in Calverton near Twomey Avenue. Work is already underway in Manorville to connect 64 homes to the public water system.  

Even though the town has about $9.4 million in state and federal grants for the projects, Mancini said engineering costs, which can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, are typically not reimbursable. 

“I understand the [agriculture] community’s position that it’s death by a thousand cuts," Mancini said. "Once you start something like this, is all that money you’re relying on to preserve farmland going to be used for something else?”

Riverhead has a fund balance of $18.7 million, according to town officials. 

But Mancini and other town officials said the code limits how the fund can be accessed.

Eligible projects must be at least 50% grant funded and may not exceed fund revenue after bond and reserve payments are made.

Riverhead uses a large portion of its CPF revenue to repay $78 million in debt. In the first years of the program, the town borrowed against future fund revenue to acquire 2,000 acres of farmland before the 2008 real estate crash put Riverhead in a precarious position with more debt than revenue, Newsday previously reported.

The town has $17.1 million in remaining debt with final payments expected in 2030, according to town financial administrator Jeanette DiPaola.

State rules say no more than 20% of the fund can be spent on water quality annually, which totals $3.7 million for 2023, DiPaola said.

After 2023 debt payments, Riverhead has just shy of that — $3.6 million — available to spend, she said.

Richard Wines, a Jamesport historian and member of the town’s farmland preservation committee, is concerned that depleting the fund leaves little left over for preservation.

“It could, in fact, use up most or all of the available revenue that’s left over,” Wines said in an interview.

Both Wines and Carpenter said CPF funds need to be available to continue preserving land and also jump-start the town’s bank of development rights, which allows developers to trade land preservation for development incentives in commercial areas.

“The only way we can fund the bank is if there’s [CPF revenue] coming in,” Wines said.

While Southampton, East Hampton and Shelter Island already use CPF money for water quality projects such as treating stormwater and upgrading septic systems, Riverhead and Southold have not yet sought those uses.

Since 1999, the fund has generated $2.2 billion across the five towns, according to Assemb. Fred Thiele Jr. (D-Sag Harbor), who authored the legislation.

Mancini said the Forge Road project is a top priority since it’s fully grant funded except for $193,000 in engineering.

It would bring clean water to neighborhoods near the Peconic River, including two mobile home parks.

Mancini said they aren’t looking to cash out “millions” from the CPF.

“We’re just addressing the last few areas that don’t have water main,” he said. “For a relatively small amount of money, we're protecting hundreds of people.”

Brian Stark, who owns a community of 45 mobile homes on Forge Road, said the homes are served by a communal private well system where PFAS have been detected in the past. The system undergoes routine testing and treatment, Stark said, adding the town project is "money well spent."

"It gives the residents a peace of mind," he said.