Newsday.com - Study: Diverted funds may hurt Fire Island seashore

BY BILL BLEYER

April 9, 2008

Two small parcels within Fire Island National Seashore are among more than 4 million acres of private land inside America's national parks in danger of being developed because federal funds earmarked for acquisition are routinely diverted, according to a new report.

Two willing sellers of parcels located on primary, or closest to the water, oceanfront dune properties at Davis Park and Water Island have sought Brookhaven Town approval to build "in light of the park service's lack of purchasing ability," says the study by the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit advocacy group. It adds that the Brookhaven Board of Zoning Appeals' December approval of a variance for a single-family home construction "sets a dangerous precedent" because of the potential coastline damage.

The report notes the 2009 federal budget requests $985,000 to purchase the lots, totaling almost an acre, and cover administrative costs of transferring 63 other parcels, of about 10 acres total, owned by Suffolk County to the seashore.

The seashore has sought the money for more than two years. But Alexander Brash, the association's Northeast regional director, said "the odds of them getting the money are close to zero in the next five to 10 years at the current rate" of federal funding.

The National Park Service has identified 1.8 million acres inside park boundaries nationwide for acquisition as parkland at a $1.9 billion cost. But the agency has asked Congress for only $100 million in 2009. The advocacy group's report says the White House and Congress have failed to provide adequate funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund established by Congress in 1964. The fund receives $900 million a year, mostly from revenue generated by oil and gas leases on federal land, and between 1965 and 2006, roughly $29 billion was collected. But only $14.3 billion was allocated for park and recreational use.

"Unused money is regularly diverted ... to support other federal programs," the report says.

Interior Department spokesman Chris Paolino said, "We remain committed to working on this issue."

Diane Abell, NPS, a seashore planner, said it is trying to acquire a Davis Park parcel owned by David Sloane and another in Water Island owned by Terrence Cullen. Both offered to sell to the park service before applying to Brookhaven. The park service opposed both applications and they were initially denied, she said, but Sloane requested a new hearing and received a variance.

"They would be building seaward of anything in the surrounding area," Abell said. "It would interfere with any dune-building."

Sloane said he is negotiating with a nonprofit land trust to sell the land for ultimate transfer to the seashore.

Brash said the county's 63 parcels were acquired when owners failed to pay taxes. The transfer costs to the seashore would be $7,000 to $10,000 per lot, Abell said.

Losing the lots?

David Sloane and Terrence Cullen, who both own land on Fire Island, offered to sell parcels to the Fire Island National Seashore. But the National Park Service, which operates the seashore, doesn't have the money to buy the land. So now, both could be developed.