Hopping Farmland and Pike Farm Stand

The Hopping acquisition was nearly three years in the making, beginning with a community outreach campaign to “Save the Farm Stand” in the summers of 2007 and 2008. Over 3,000 East End residents and visitors signed a petition in support of the acquisition. In the fall of 2007, the Trust made an initial offer of $8.23 million to acquire the property, which the Hoppings accepted in the Spring of 2008. (The property was initially put on the market for more than $10 million.)

Over the next year, the Trust pursued a community fundraising campaign, while simultaneously negotiating with Suffolk County and the Town of Southampton to acquire the development rights on the property for about $6.5 million. In the fall of 2008 through most of 2009, the global recession had a profound effect on private fundraising, the availability of public funds, and land values. Faced with a new economic reality, the Trust and the Hopping family agreed to renegotiate and the price for the land was reduced to $6 million.

By the end of 2009, both the County and the Town agreed to purchase the development rights at a reduced price of $4.3 million under a 70/30 split (County/Town). With about $1 million of the $1.7 million balance necessary to close, the Trust made its first installment payment to the Hopping family in March 2010. Title was conveyed to the Trust at that time. The final installment payment, representing a balance of about $600,000, was to be made no later than March 15, 2011.

Late in 2010, the Trust prepaid the final installment by using funds from our Peter J. Sharp Fund for the Environment, a revolving fund program that provides the Trust with the resources necessary to acquire properties with the eventual plan of reselling to a conservation buyer. The final payment was made in December of 2010 and enabled the Trust to save $8,000 in interest payments and to fulfill our obligation to the Hopping family.

Unfortunately, the value of the protected land was still beyond the reach of the Pikes. Thanks to the funds raised from the community, the Trust was able to reduce the per acre value of the land to a price the Pikes could afford by further restricting the farmland.

These additional restrictions required that 60 percent of the farmland be used for food production with an affirmative farming covenant, a cap on appreciation, and resale to qualified farmers in the future.

In April 2011, the Peconic Land Trust announced the sale of 7.6 acres of farmland on Sagg Main Street in Sagaponack to Jim and Jennifer Pike.

The transfer of the property to the Pikes fulfilled the original intent of the acquisition – to identify new techniques that enable productive farmland to be affordable and accessible to farmers over time and to ensure the survival of a thriving agricultural operation in the midst of a village with some of the highest land values in the United States.

Hedges Farm House

In early 2010, the Trust was given a 1930 4-Square, Prairie-style farmhouse that was originally located on the Barsczeski farm on Hedges Lane and proposed to be demolished. The Village of Sagaponack, including its Architectural and Historic Review Board, supported the protection of this farmhouse originally built for Percy Hedges. It is a structure indicative of Sagaponack’s agricultural heritage and rural character.

The farmhouse was relocated to a 10-acre property on Hedges Lane (approximately 650 feet from its original location) owned by the South Fork Land Foundation, a supporting organization of the Peconic Land Trust. The Trust applied to the Village of Sagaponack for a subdivision that provided the house with a separate 1-acre lot. In 2011, the Trust sold the farm house on its own 1-acre lot, subject to a facade easement and other restrictions to ensure that its character is perpetually protected. The remaining 9 acres of farmland was then protected through a donation of a conservation easement.

The proceeds from the sale of the farmhouse were split between the Peconic Land Trust and the South Fork Land Foundation. Both organizations have used the proceeds from this sale for other conservation projects in the area. In the case of the Trust, the proceeds were used to repay the revolving fund used to complete the Hopping acquisition as well as for funding that will enable farmers to acquire protected farmland at affordable prices.