Family claim helps delay Sylvester Manor preservation deal

With legislators from western Suffolk turning critical of the county’s open space preservation programs, the Town of Shelter Island and the county’s Division of Real Estate are anxious about two deals to buy the development rights to about 80 acres of Sylvester Manor.

The non-profit foundation that runs Sylvester Manor Educational Farm Inc. is also anxious because the $7.25 million to be raised by the sales is vital to the manor’s financial plan and future operations. The town is paying one-third of the price and the county will pay the balance.

The town and the county are now hoping to close on one of the deals this March and the other in August, Supervisor Jim Dougherty announced at a Town Board work session on Tuesday. Mr. Dougherty noted that an unusual title search extending back more than three centuries to the English Crown had taken longer than expected to complete. Also, family relatives in Pennsylvania, he said, are challenging Eben Ostby’s right to the property.

In response to a question, he said there was nothing for the town and county to do but wait for that conflict to be settled so the closings can proceed. Early in 2011, the town and county had expected to close on one deal before December 31 and the other early this year.

For further details, see the January 26, 2012 edition of the Reporter.