In light of a billionaire clear-cutting inside a conservation easement in Amagansett in August, the president of the Peconic Land Trust is calling for better monitoring of protected lands.
The Peconic Land Trust has 22 easements in East Hampton Town, totaling 352 acres, and 58 easements in Southampton Town, covering 1,310 acres, according to John v.H. Halsey, who has led the Southampton-based nonprofit since its inception in 1983.
Mr. Halsey said in a recent interview that the trust monitors its easements with annual inspections, but there are other easements and preserved lands on the East End where violations may go overlooked.
Easements are restrictions on what an owner can do with land, and they remain with the land in perpetuity, no matter how many times ownership changes. Easements may prohibit clearing and development, and may restrict use to agricultural purposes, such as growing field crops or grazing horses. Other types of easements allow for the public to cross or use a portion of privately owned property.
Other land is protected when it is bought outright by a land trust or municipality. But as the years pass and new neighbors move in, awareness of what’s protected and what’s not may decline. Landowners may, knowingly or not, violate easements or encroach on protected land.
“When there is not regular monitoring, that opens the doors for those kinds of infractions,” Mr. Halsey said.
Since the inception of the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund in 1999, many parcels have been protected from residential or commercial development when CPF money has been used to purchase the land or used to purchase the development rights.
Mr. Halsey said that land is inspected and monitored, because the CPF had a budget for ongoing stewardship. But he warned that land protected before 1999 and land protected as an outcome of the subdivision process may not be watched as closely, as it is outside the CPF program’s purview.
In the case of the Amagansett easement, which is held by the Peconic Land Trust, investor and former Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner closed on the purchase of a property at 341 Town Lane on July 31 and, within days, workers cleared between 75 and 125 trees. According to the trust, the easement applies to 5.9 acres of land and prohibits the removal of trees unless they are damaged, decayed or diseased, or if an agricultural structure was being built — and only then after the trust’s review. Mr. Lerner’s attorneys insist the clearing was allowed under the easement.
Mr. Halsey said it is rare that the Peconic Land Trust’s easements are not honored. At 341 Town Lane, the trust has held the easement since 1995. Since the original owner donated the easement to the trust, a second owner purchased the property, and there was never an issue, he said.
But then Mr. Lerner bought the property — with no notification to the trust that it was changing hands, as is required — and almost immediately started clearing, Mr. Halsey said.
He said the trust became aware of the clearing because within 48 hours it heard from four or five different sources, including neighbors and hikers on a trust-owned trail.
“What we do with our easements, we let our neighbors know that we are holding and protecting this land, and if they see anything, please let us know,” Mr. Halsey said.
One case in recent memory that Mr. Halsey cited involved land that was part of an agricultural easement being treated as an extension of homeowners’ backyards.
A developer installed irrigation and planted a lawn on a 10.5-acre agricultural easement in Sagaponack that had been created during a subdivision for three buildable lots. The developer ultimately had to remove the irrigation and was prohibited from maintaining the land as manicured lawn.
