Environmentalists Urge Southold Town To Save Plum Island From Development

Advocates with an eye toward preserving Plum island from development spoke out at a public hearing on proposed new zoning in Southold Town Tuesday night.

The new zoning, which would include a conservation and a research district,  would prevent a private owner from developing projects ranging from homes to a casino on the site.

The Southold Town board discussed the new zoning at Tuesday's town board work session.

Save the Sound, the Group for the East End, the North Fork Environmental Council, The Nature Conservancy Long Island Chapter, Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society and The Sierra Club, Long Island Group released a statement after speaking at Southold’s public hearing on the zoning and districting of Plum Island:

“Plum Island is one of the last great coastal places of our region, replete with miles of beaches, hundreds of acres of open space, endangered animal species and rare plant life,” said Leah Schmalz, director of legislative and legal affairs for Save the Sound. “While our federal government sits poised to sell off this treasure to the highest bidder, the Town of Southold is leading the way to safeguard it. By providing substantial conservation and research zones, Southold is moving forward to ensure that the ecology and economy on Plum Island is protected for future generations.” 

Added Bob DeLuca, president of the Group for the East End: “While protecting the site's research infrastructure, the proposed zoning for Plum Island represents the single most significant step toward assured preservation that has ever been taken. We applaud the town's foresight at a time when the island could be lost to a private developer." 

Plum Island, said Bill Toedter, president of the North Fork Environmental Council, "has been an integral part of not only the North Fork's history but of our country, as well. The steps the Town of Southold are taking now, and the work being done by elected officials -- like U.S. Congressman Bishop among others -- and environmental organizations are all designed to ensure Plum Island fulfills its important, irreplaceable role in our future.By protecting a research/commercial use in the lab's current footprint and by preserving the vast majority of the island as a wildlife sanctuary of some type, we all benefit from the special resources of this island for generations to come."

Randy Parsons, conservation finance and policy advisor for the Nature Conservancy Long Island Chapter, said Southold Town is leading the way to protect Plum Island, "a national treasure. We fully support their proposal to use their zoning powers to protect 80 percent of the island in a conservation district, while maintaining the Plum Island laboratory in a research zone on the remaining 20 percent." 

Plum Island, an 843-acre island in New York waters ten miles off Connecticut’s shore, has been a federal research facility for years and, due to the limited human presence, has remained a sanctuary for wildlife, environmentalist said.

To protect Plum Island from falling into a developer's hands, should it be sold by the federal government, the new zoning calls for a conservation district, comprising 80 percent of the island, and a research district, for the other 20 percent.

The creation of the districts would limit what Plum Island can and cannot be used for and therefore prevent inappropriate development that could damage wildlife habitat and water quality. The proposal lists acceptable uses of the island that include a nature preserve, public park for passive recreation, educational or research facility, and museums.