Brookhaven Community Preservation Fund

Vote YES in Brookhaven on Proposal 3

This Election Day, November 6th, voters in Brookhaven will be asked to approve Proposal 3 creating a Community Preservation Fund (CPF). Passage of this initiative is key to the future of Brookhaven's communities and your quality of life.

The adoption of the Brookhaven CPF is vital because open space in Brookhaven is being lost to development at an alarming rate. If this pace continues Brookhaven will lose its remaining farms, fields, and forests to development in the next five to seven years. The development of these natural lands will result in further congestion in the town, strain school capacity, increase traffic and garbage, diminish water quality, elevate property taxes, and diminish Brookhaven residents quality-of-life.

CPFs in East End towns have generated more than $450 million and preserved more than 6,000 acres since they were approved by voters in 1999.

That's why a broad coalition of civic and environmental leaders have joined together to pass Prop 3. It is also why the Neighborhood Network is urging its members and supporters who live in Brookhaven to vote yes on this important referendum. The challenge is to counter the uncontrolled development of the area by protecting our open space. Passage of Prop 1 is the Town's best chance to preserve our environment and our quality of life.

Open Space and the Economy

Preserving open space makes strong economic sense. Many studies have documented that residential development drives property taxes upward because the taxes paid by these properties is less than cost of services, (i.e. school, fire, water, police protection) to those residences. This property tax shortfall is passed on to the rest of the community, whose taxes rise to make up the difference.

Also, preserved open space supports the value of homes and real estate values. People want to live in communities filled with parks and preserves. And as evidenced by real estate ads which tout the proximity of a residence to a park, people are willing to pay to live next to or near a park or preserve.

Passage of Town dedicated funding allows the Town to leverage matching dollars from federal, state and county sources. This solution stretches Town dollars.

Preserving Our Quality of Life

Open space preservation protects not only natural habitats but human habitats. Increasing traffic, sprawling malls, acres of parking lots, and miles of roads are rapidly replacing our open spaces and eroding our quality of life.

At current building rates, all 20,000 acres of vacant land in Brookhaven will be developed in about 8 years. The Community Preservation Fund would be an important tool to preserve the Town's character and quality of life, before it is forever lost.

The CPF will allow the preservation of between 5,000 and 10,000 acres of open space, help prevent overdevelopment and sprawl, and help keep property taxes down by slowing the expanding need for government services that over-development brings.

How the Community Preservation Fund Works

The fund would be paid for with a real estate transfer tax. Buyers would pay a 2% tax on the cost of houses and other buildings in excess of $250,000 and of unimproved land over $150,000. Qualified first-time home buyers are exempt from the transfer tax, so it does not present a barrier to home ownership in the town.

All money collected by this tax would go into a protected fund, which could be used only to protect environmentally sensitive land, historic properties, farmland and parks. A citizens advisory committee will oversee the the use of the fund.