The Town of Southold has completed its largest land preservation project. Now, 126 acres of land at the Island’s End Golf Club in Greenport will be protected from development.
Island’s East End Golf Club opened its doors as a public golf course back in 1961. The town bought the development rights for the property through its Community Preservation Fund for about $5 million, ending four years of negotiations.
Holly Sanford, project manager at the Peconic Land Trust, which helped broker the deal between the property owners and the town, says that as many as 54 residential lots could have been developed there.
“The conservation of this land was not only for the preservation of a recreational use by the public. It was also protection of water, waterfront, and actually there’s a little bit of wildlife habitat in the center, so there were a number of different things that really beckoned for this to be preserved.”
The golf course will remain open to the public.
Any future land use will be restricted to recreational use, open space or agriculture.
