DAN'S PAPERS, October 12, 2007 Page 37 www.danshamptons.com
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idential neighborhoods. This issue, if not the most important, is the most frequent complaint received in my office and code enforcement. The Town is in the process of rewriting our housing codes which will give code enforcement the tools needed to address this problem more efficiently. The code changes will be mostly directed at landlords who have little regard for the people of the neighborhood or the health and wellbeing of the occupants of these residences. Coupled with this, we well continue to aggressively pursue new and creative ways of housing our young families, seniors and working poor. Candidates Running for Southold Town Board Dan Ross, Bill Edwards William Ruland, Vincent Orlando The Question: 1) What more do you think the Town of Southold can do to preserve its scenic vistas and open land? Daniel Ross — Democratic Party Candidate 1) Southold Town can preserve more open space and farmland by continuing and expanding the methods presently in use. The methods include the purchase of open space and Development Rights, using 2% preservation funds and state and federal funds; the creation of legislative tools that aid preservation; the strengthening of the agricultural sector of our local economy: and, the completion of a transfer of development rights
Daniel Ross
program that will shift the cost of preservation to developers who seek higher density in appropriate areas. 1,023 acres have been preserved in the four years that I have been a member of the town board. We need to continue our aggressive pursuit of state, county and federal preservation funds, and continue the intelligent use of the 2% land preservation fund. Second, we need to continue developing legislative tools that will aid preservation, such as the Conservation Subdivision Law that we adopted. A conservation subdivision results in a 60% reduction of the number of permitted residential units and requires the preservation of 80% of the land. The town board also recently adopted AgPDD legislation which provides for the incremental sale of development rights. This is for the working farmer who does not want to sell all the development rights at once. Both the Conservation Subdivision Law and the AgPDD legislation were designed to encourage the continued agricultural use of the land
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Bill Edwards
which is a third key to preservation, i.e., to keep the land in agriculture. Bill Edwards — Democratic Party Candidate Southold’s critical challenge remains the development threat which could wipe out our agricultural industry, raise our taxes, and destroy the quality of life which brought or keeps most of us living here. In the 3?_ years since I joined the board we have preserved forever 1023 acres, including 823 acres of farmland. We have preserved 13 acres for every new building lot created. We must maintain this progress for the 6,000 acres still at risk. If farming ceases to be profitable, farmers will have no choice but to sell their land to developers. We must work with the agricultural community to eliminate unnecessary governmental burdens on farming and adopt a simplified Agricultural Site Plan for farm retail operations. Moreover, we must resolve the conflicts between town code and the state Ag & Markets law. I spearheaded the new Ag PDD program, which allows farmers to sell their development rights one at a time in exchange fora contract to preserve their farmland in perpetuity. I will work on the Board to use this new program to benefit both landowners and the Town. I will continue to push for state and federal grants to assist us in the preservation challenge that remains before us. Vincent Orlando — Republican Party Candidate Was not received before press time. William Ruland — Republican Party Candidate Was not received before press time.