Suffolk County Waterfront Committee Recommends Preservation Site Near LI Maritime Museum

The Suffolk County Working Waterfront Committee convened its inaugural meeting Tuesday in West Sayville and voted to recommend a property near the Long Island Maritime Museum for a permanent conservation easement, marking the first concrete action under a landmark preservation law the county approved just seven months ago.

The committee was established by Introductory Resolution 1520, backed by $9.5 million in capital funding in the county's 2026-2028 plan, to oversee conservation easements ensuring that properties historically used for marine purposes remain dedicated to industries such as fishing, aquaculture, boat building, and marine repair. Tuesday's meeting was its first, and the West Sayville recommendation was its first official act.

The significance of the location is hard to overstate. The Long Island Maritime Museum, which has anchored the West Sayville waterfront since its founding in 1966, sits on 14 acres with nine historic buildings, and the surrounding shoreline has long sustained commercial fishing, recreational boating, and public water access for south shore residents. A neighboring working waterfront parcel facing development pressure is precisely what the law was designed to shield.

Suffolk County's 2,949 marine-related businesses employ 38,419 people, representing 6.1% of the county's economy across 2,400 acres of commercial waterfront property. Commercial fishing, aquaculture, and maritime industries have faced mounting pressure in recent years to sell their properties for alternative development, threatening the availability of working waterfront properties that serve as docks, piers, packhouses, and support facilities.

The county's Planning Department will rank properties, and the Working Waterfront Committee will receive and review applications from property owners before making recommendations to the County Legislature, much in the same way as the farmland committee does. The conservation easement, once granted, runs in perpetuity and will "run with the land" — meaning the property may be sold, but the easement must remain in place.

Tuesday's recommendation now advances to the full County Legislature for a vote. Residents who want to weigh in on preserving the West Sayville site can contact their county legislator before that vote is scheduled. The Suffolk County Legislature holds regular committee meetings, and public comment opportunities arise there as well as through direct contact with legislative offices in Riverhead.

The capital funding allocated for the program includes $2.5 million in 2026, with a total commitment of $9.5 million between 2026 and 2028. If the Legislature approves the West Sayville easement, the county will pay the property owner a negotiated price for the development rights, leaving ownership in private hands but permanently barring non-marine redevelopment.

If the property is not preserved, the risk is straightforward: a buyer willing to pay market rate for waterfront land in a tight Long Island real estate market could convert it to residential or commercial use, eliminating boat launches, dock access, or the working infrastructure that fishing and boating operations on the Great South Bay depend on. The new law allows Suffolk County to purchase development rights from commercial waterfront property owners, ensuring those parcels remain dedicated to maritime uses in perpetuity. Without it, that protection disappears.

The committee's choice to hold its first meeting in West Sayville, steps from one of Long Island's oldest maritime institutions, was a signal of where the preservation fight is already happening on the south shore.