On the Waterfront

Visionary and groundbreaking legislation designed to protect commercial enterprises operating along the waterfront was signed into law, with deserved pomp and circumstance, by Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine earlier this week along the commercial docks in Greenport.

The legislation sets aside an initial $9.5 million to purchase conservation easements on so-called “working waterfront” businesses, including commercial fisheries and marinas, protecting them form encroaching residential development. The easements would give the current business owners some breathing room in the face of eager developers who would turn the properties into sprawling waterfront McMansions.

In an era of political divisiveness, it was refreshing to see the bipartisan legislation, crafted by two East End lawmakers, Democratic Legislator Ann Welker and Republican Legislator Catherine Stark, approved unanimously by the 18-member County Legislature and heralded by Romaine, a Republican.

“We need working waterfronts to encourage those in the oyster business, to encourage those growing kelp, to encourage those who are fishing — all those who earn their living by the sea,” Romaine told a crowd of officials and business owners gathered at a bill signing ceremony at the Greenport railroad dock on Monday. “If we do not have a working waterfront, if all that land is purchased and used for other things, we’re going to miss out on one of the heritage industries of this county.”

The premise of the program is simple, and similar to farmland and open space protections that have been in place throughout the county and particularly on the East End for several years now. Lawmakers would provide funds, through the purchase of easements, to commercial waterfront property owners, guaranteeing that the property would continue to be used as working waterfront in perpetuity.

Part of the charm of the East End, what has accounted for both a thriving year-round and seasonal community, is its maritime heritage, a community built around the importance of the county from both the land and the water. This program, as it grows in time, will help protect that heritage.

The pressure for those business owners to cash in is a real one. In a survey by lawmakers of commercial fishermen, baymen and aquaculturists leading up to the passage of the bill, a majority reported having been approached by developers interested in buying them out. Many properties have already been sold to developers. Hopefully, there is time to save what’s left.