The Central Pine Barrens lies in Suffolk County, New York, which includes the entire eastern end of Long Island and had a population of 1,477,000 in 2019. The Pine Barrens is the largest single undeveloped area on Long Island and is home to pitch pine and pine-oak forests, coastal plain ponds, marshes, and streams which provide open space and various outdoor recreational opportunities. The area protects the largest concentration of endangered, threatened, and special concern plant and animal species in the State of New York, including dwarf pines. In addition, the Pine Barrens constitute the deep recharge area for one of the largest sources of groundwater in New York State, an aquifer that provides drinking water for 1.6 million people.

Originally 250,000 acres in size, the Pine Barrens has been reduced by development to a 102,500-acre area shared by the townships of Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton. The Town of Southampton has usedTDR since 1972 to achieve various goals in addition to implementation of the Central Pine Barrens plan including lowering or eliminating development in groundwater recharge zones, prime farmland, wetlands, areas designated for parks, greenbelts, and other public recreation, and areas in the Old Filed Map Overlay District. Riverhead also supplements the Central Pine Barrens with a separate farmland preservation TDR program. Since Southampton launched the first TDR program, six other towns in Suffolk County have also adopted TDR programs that are separate from the Central Pine Barrens program and three additional TDR program managed by Suffolk County itself.

In 1989, environmental groups sued these three towns and Suffolk County over the potential impact of over 200 proposed building projects on the Pine Barrens. In 1992, the New York State Court of Appeals decided that a protection plan was needed as argued by the environmental organizations. The New York State Legislature subsequently adopted the Long Island Pine Barrens Protection Act of 1993. To implement the act, New York formed the Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission with representatives from each of the three townships, Suffolk County and the State of New York. The Commission was charged with developing a plan for the protection of the Pine Barrens. The State legislation referred to transfer of development rights as an optional means of implementation, but it did not require that TDR be incorporated in the plan.

Originally 250,000 acres in size, the Pine Barrens has been reduced by development to a 102,500-acre area shared by the townships of Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton. The Town of Southampton has usedTDR since 1972 to achieve various goals in addition to implementation of the Central Pine Barrens plan including lowering or eliminating development in groundwater recharge zones, prime farmland, wetlands, areas designated for parks, greenbelts, and other public recreation, and areas in the Old Filed Map Overlay District. Riverhead also supplements the Central Pine Barrens with a separate farmland preservation TDR program. Since Southampton launched the first TDR program, six other towns in Suffolk County have also adopted TDR programs that are separate from the Central Pine Barrens program and three additional TDR program managed by Suffolk County itself.

In 1995, the Central Pine Barrens Comprehensive Land Use Plan was adopted by the three towns and Suffolk County. The plan designated a 52,500-acre Core Preservation Area and a 48,500-acre Compatible Growth Area. Only agriculture, recreation and other open space uses are suitable in the Core Area. New development is prohibited in the Core Area with some exceptions as discussed below. The plan allows acceptable forms of development in the Compatible Growth Area including development potential transferred from the Core. The Plan aims to preserve the remaining privately-owned vacant land using fee simple acquisitions and a transfer of development rights program called the Pine Barrens Credit Program.

In the Pine Barrens Credit Program, sending sites include land within the Core area. Here, onsite activities are limited to agriculture and recreational uses that do not degrade native ecosystems. Residential development is prohibited except for additions to existing homes and projects approved before June 1, 1993. In addition, property owners can apply to build on site using the extraordinary hardship provisions of the Pine Barrens Protection Act.

Although new development is mostly prohibited in the Core, in those parts of the Core that are already partially developed, one single family residence can be built on an existing lot at least ten acres in size and fronting on an existing street. This exception recognizes that a limited number of homes in the core area could deter illegal dumping and other activities detrimental to the environment. In addition to the stewardship function, this exception acknowledges that lots on existing streets may generally have greater value than lots without access. 

Rather than build on sending sites, the owners of Core Area land may sell their property to Suffolk County, the State of New York, and other public agencies if acquisition funding is available. These sending site properties can also be purchased by private sector developers who can use the associated transferable development rights. As a third alternative, sending site owners can preserve their land, retain title and sell the development rights, which this program refers to as Pine Barren Credits, or PBCs.

PBCs are allocated to sending sites by first deducting acreage already precluded from development by conservation easements and other deed restrictions. Then a yield factor is applied to the developable acreage based on the zoning district of the sending site in effect in June 1995. These factors result in the award of fewer PBCs to a site than the number of dwelling units allowed under the old zoning. For example, a sending site allowed four units per acre under the 1995 zoning code would be allocated 2.7 PBCs per acre. Likewise, a sending site allowed a density of one unit per acre in 1995 would be allocated 0.08 PBCs per acre. Finally, each existing dwelling unit on a sending site subtracts one PBC from its allocation. Although the allocation factors result in fewer credits than the theoretical number of dwelling units allowed under the old zoning, the density permitted under the old zoning would be economically difficult or impossible to actually achieve due to significant development restrictions, small lot sizes, site constraints and the high cost of providing roads and other public services. 

The names and addresses of buyers and sellers of PBCs are enrolled on the Pine Barrens Registry maintained by the Pine Barrens Clearinghouse. Sending site owners wishing to sell PBCs can choose to sell their PBCs using a real estate broker or by consulting the lists of potential buyers provided by the Clearinghouse. Alternatively, sending site owners may sell their PBCs directly to the Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse Board of Advisors establishes a purchase price for PBCs. The Clearinghouse was originally capitalized in 1995 with $5 million no-interest loan from the State Natural Resources Damages Account. By buying and selling PBCs over the next ten years, the Clearinghouse was able to pay back the $5 million and retain an additional $3.2 million to continue its operations. At the start of 2019, the Clearinghouse had approximately $2.5 million in available funds.

In addition to residential sending sites, the program allows non-residential sites to create and sell PBCs at the ratio of one PBC per preserved acre. These sending sites are only located within those portions of the towns of Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton designated as Core. PBCs can be used as a matter of right within those portions of these three towns designated as Compatible Growth Areas in the Pine Barrens Plan. PBCs can also be used in jurisdictions throughout Suffolk County by agreement of the jurisdictions involved as allowed by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services. 

To implement the Pine Barrens Plan, each of the three towns had to adopt receiving areas in the Compatible Development Area where developers could use PBCs as a matter of right without the need for special permits. The plan established a goal of creating receiving areas capable of accommodating 2.5 times the theoretical supply of PBCs in each town’s sending areas. 

Most transfers occur between sending and receiving sites within the same town in the three towns of Brookhaven, Riverhead and Southampton. However, from program inception to 2019, one out of every six redeemed credits crossed from a sending site in one town to a receiving site in another town. Furthermore, one out of every five credits crossed from a sending site in one of the three towns to a receiving site in another jurisdiction including the three towns with sending sites, (Brookhaven, Riverhead, Southampton), five other towns (Babylon, East Hampton, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown), and seven villages (South Country, Patchogue, East Hampton, Hauppauge, Quogue, Southampton, Westhampton Beach). Transfers from and to sites Brookhaven, Riverhead, and Southampton account for 80 percent of PBC activity as detailed below. 

Brookhaven

Section 85-725 of the Brookhaven Zoning Code designates sending areas as all parcels outside the Core and at least four acres in size within the A Residential 1 zoning district and at least eight acres in size within the A Residential 2 zoning district. Parcels are not eligible to receive PBCs if they are publicly owned, within a floodplain, near any body of water, or within a groundwater protection area or river corridor. Using a process called Residential Overlay District, the Planning Board can approve the use of PBCs to increase density from 0.8 to 1.2 units per acres and also make necessary adjustments of dimensional requirements. 

Using incentive zoning provisions (85-726), Brookhaven also allows developers to use PBCs for additional density/intensity within its multi-family, planned retirement community, nursing home, and assisted living districts, as well as seven business and two industrial zoning districts. The Planning Board, subject to Town Board limitations, may also require PBCs as part of a rezoning that results in additional density or intensity. Using an example of an upzoning for a residential subdivision, one PBC per unit is required for 20 percent of the bonus units resulting from an upzoning. In addition, many subdivision approvals here have required the retirement of PBCs in order to meet wastewater flow regulations (Suffolk County 2014).  

The Pine Barrens TDR program as well as most of the other TDR programs operating in Suffolk County use regulations and guidelines established by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services (DHS) to protect the aquifer that provides drinking water to much of Long Island. DHS essentially has a baseline density for development occurring on land served by onsite wastewater disposal. This is done to keep groundwater and drinking water within the required limits of 10mg per liter of nitrogen. However, DHS allows these baseline densities to be exceeded by TDR using various regulations as set forth in its Memorandum 27 (Suffolk County DHS 2014).

In Groundwater Management Zone (GMZ) III, baseline sanitary density can be doubled as a matter of right by transfers from sending areas in the Pine Barrens Core Area. If the sending and receiving parcels are in different towns, the approval of both towns is required. Without additional evaluation, DHS honors sending parcels in the Pine Barrens Core which have been issued a letter of interpretation or PBC certificate by the Pine Barrens Clearinghouse.  

The Suffolk County Code establishes that each credit is equal to 300 gallons of wastewater flow per day and provides the following conversion rates allowing receiving sites to use these credits for various uses and floor areas as follows.  

1 TDR =         300 gpd wastewater flow
                       1 detached single-family housing unit
                       2 attached units with a maximum 600 gross floor area (GFA) each
                       1.3 attached housing units up to 1,200 GFA each
                       3 Planned Retirement Community (PRC) units up to 600 GFA each 
                       2 Attached PRC units greater than 600 GFA each
                       10,000 Square Feet (SF) of dry retail space
                       7,500 SF of general industrial space
                       5,000 SF of non-medical office space
                       3,000 SF of medical office space
                       2,000 SF of wet (deli/takeout) space
                       10 seats of full-service restaurant (Suffolk County 2014). 

As of 2014, 467.06 PBCs had been created in Brookhaven and 252.95 had been redeemed, the highest number of any jurisdiction in the Central Pine Barrens Credit Program. As of 2018, the PBC Program had preserved 778.1 acres in Brookhaven, or over 38 percent of the 2002.82 total acreage permanently preserved (Central Pine Barrens Commission 2018). As of 2014, Brookhaven had also generated 46.5 credits in the Suffolk County Save Open Space Program and 268 credits in the Suffolk County ¼ percent New Drinking Water Protection Program (Suffolk County).   

Riverhead

PBCs from residential sending sites in Riverhead are used for non-residential receiving site projects to allow additional intensity as measured by average daily sewage flow rates for various land uses as described above. As of 2018, 172.39 PBCs had been generated and 128.29 redeemed, preserving 516 acres (Central Pine Barrens Commission 2018). Riverhead also operates a separate agricultural preservation TDR program that preserved 121 acres as of 2014. In addition, Riverhead had generated 92 credits in the Suffolk County ¼ percent New Drinking Water Protection Program as of 2014 (Suffolk County).  

Southampton

In one zoning category in the Town of Southampton, PBCs allow developers to increase density from one unit per five acres to one unit per acre. In another category, PBCs can increase density from a baseline of one unit per acre to one unit per half acre. Each bonus dwelling unit requires one PBC. Receiving site developers in Southampton can also use PBCs in a planned development process to boost density and intensity in tourism facilities, senior housing, medical centers and commercial uses.

As of 2018, Southampton had generated 298.42 PBCs and redeemed 138.65 PBCs, preserving 708.12 acres (Central Pine Barrens Commission 2018). Southampton also generated 424.76 credits under the town’s Community Preservation Fund TDR program and 3.99 credits under the Old Filed Map TDR Program. In addition, Southampton generated three credits under the Suffolk County Save Open Space Program and 31 credits under the Suffolk County ¼ percent New Drinking Water Protection Program as of 2014 (Suffolk County 2014).    

PBC Program Totals

As of January 1, 2020, the Pine Barrens TDR program had preserved 988 parcels totaling over 2,000 acres with private sales totaling $53.5 million in value. According to the 2018 Annual Report of the Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission, as of January 1, 2019, the program had issued 998.98 credits of which 579.11 had been redeemed and 419.87 outstanding. During 2018, the average per-credit sales price was $78,000 with the price ranging from $44,000 to $100,000 per credit. At that time the Clearinghouse owned 10.19 PBCs (Central Pine Barrens Commission 2018).  

References

Central Pine Barrens Commission. 2018. 2018 Report. Westhampton Beach, NY: Central Pine Barrens Commission. 

Suffolk County. 2014. Suffolk County Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Study. Hauppauge, New York: Suffolk County. 

Suffolk County DHS. 2014. Suffolk County Department of Health Services General Guidance Memorandum #27: Guidelines for Transfer of Development Rights and Pine Barrens Credits for Sanitary Density Credit. Hauppauge, New York: Suffolk County Department of Health Services.