Piece of Island preserved at Sylvester Manor

Gardiners Creek got a little help this week in keeping its shoreline largely undeveloped. Sylvester Manor land on the east (left) side of the creek, 22 acres of it, has been preserved “for perpetuity,” Town Supervisor Jim Dougherty announced at Tuesday’s Town Board work session.

A piece of Sylvester Manor, Shelter Island’s original colonialhomestead, will never be developed.

Town Supervisor Jim Dougherty delivered the good news Tuesday atTown Hall that 22 acres of Sylvester land, including 1,800 feet ofGardiners Creek shoreline, is going into a conservation easementfacilitated by the Peconic Land Trust (PLT).

He also announced that cooperative efforts to make an offer ondevelopment rights attached to some of the Manor’s 80-plus acres ofagricultural land are progressing, with Suffolk County committingto pay 70 percent of the rights purchased and the Town of ShelterIsland footing 30 percent of the costs.

The supervisor credited property owner Eben Ostby and SuffolkCounty for working to preserve the homestead.

“One constant in life is change, Mr. Dougherty said. Althoughthe Island lost Andrew and Alice Fiske, the late lord and lady ofthe Manor, their heir, Mr. Ostby, is also “fully committed toSylvester Manor and Shelter Island while living happily in SanFrancisco, he added.

The supervisor saluted Mr. Ostby for his commitment to ShelterIsland, as seen in efforts to revive sustainable farming andprotect one of the Island’s most pristine creeks.

The PLT conservation easement, an outright gift from Mr. Ostby,extends along the east side of the creek from Second Bridge onWinthrop Road to the Manor’s water gate structure and inlandseveral hundred feet, “much of it very buildable waterfront, Mr.Dougherty said. The PLT will be responsible for stewardship andmaintenance of the property, according to project manager SaraGordon.

The farm land that may be preserved through the purchase ofdevelopment rights is adjacent to Manwaring Road. The town’scontribution to such a purchase would come from CommunityPreservation Funds (real estate transfer revenues) and “not out oftaxpayers pockets, the supervisor emphasized.

Deposits to that fund had all but disappeared in late 2008 andearly 2009, but Mr. Dougherty reported that the town received acheck for $153,300 in transfer taxes collected by the county forthe month of December. “Maybe things are turning around, hesaid.

He again lauded Mr. Ostby’s “example of enlightened conservationat a time when the town is hearing “the steady drumbeat of ownersdeveloping every buildable inch of their properties. “It’s nice tosee the other side of the coin, he concluded.