ABSTRACT
The people of Suffolk County saw the development sprawling out of nearby New York City in the early 1960s and realized that their countryside would soon be unrecognizable unless they took action. The county's planning department responded in 1964 by preparing Planning for Open Space in Suffolk County, the first of many plans that have guided Suffolk County's highly successful preservation efforts. In 1974, Suffolk County began implementing those plans by creating the first farmland preservation program in the United States using purchase of development rights (PDR). In a PDR program, private property owners continue to own their land subject to an easement that allows acceptable activities, such as farming, but prohibits some or all future nonagricultural development. The Central Pine Barrens Plan prohibits development in a 55,000-acre core preservation area, limits development in a 47,500-acre buffer zone, and calls for land preservation through tax-funded acquisition.
