New legislation allowing a portion of Riverhead’s community preservation funds to be used for water main expansion projects has alarmed preservation purists.

City officials want to tap that fund to finance the engineering costs needed to extend public water lines for residents whose private wells are polluted. But preservation and agricultural advocates worry that spending the fund on those uses could hamper efforts to preserve land and prevent development.

The City Council approved the expanded use of the fund in a 5-0 vote Oct. 16.

Long Island Farm Bureau Executive Director Rob Carpenter, at an Oct. 1 hearing, said that while improving drinking water is laudable, expanding the uses allowed for the fund constitutes an “erosion of the initial intention” of the program.

The five East End cities each generate revenue for their community preservation funds through a 2 percent tax on most real estate transactions to preserve farmland and open space. In 2016, voters extended the tax through 2050 and approved a measure allowing cities to use up to 20 percent of their annual revenue for water quality improvements.

Riverhead plans to expand public water to areas where private wells have shown contamination with PFAS, a group of “forever chemicals,” 1,4-dioxane, a synthetic solvent, and Freon, according to the Water District Superintendent Frank Mancini.

A 2019 report According to the Long Island Aquifer Protection Commission, there are 198 private wells in Riverhead and 45,000 nationwide.

The projects include a $1.7 million expansion on Forge Road, $6.9 million to bring water to 28 homes near River Road and $7.4 million to extend water to 45 homes in Calverton near Twomey Avenue. The work is already in progress in Manorville to connect 64 homes to drinking water.

Even though the city has about $9.4 million in state and federal grants for the projects, Mancini said engineering costs, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, are generally not reimbursable.

“I understand the position of the (farming) community that it’s death by a thousand cuts. Once you start something like this, is all that money you’re relying on to preserve farmland going to be used for something else? » said Mancini.

Riverhead has a fund balance of $18.7 million, according to city officials.

But Mancini and other city officials said the code limits access to the fund.

Eligible projects must be at least 50% grant funded and cannot exceed the fund’s revenue after bond and reserve payments are made.

Riverhead uses much of its CPF revenue to pay down $78 million in debt. In the early years of the program, the city borrowed against future revenue from the fund to acquire 2,000 acres of farmland before the 2008 housing crash put Riverhead in a precarious position with more debt than revenue, Newsday previously reported.

The city has a remaining debt of $17.1 million and final payments are expected in 2030, according to city financial administrator Jeanette DiPaola.

State rules say no more than 20% of the fund can be spent on water quality each year, totaling $3.7 million for 2023, DiPaola said.

After the debt is paid off in 2023, Riverhead has a little less than that amount — $3.6 million — to spend, she said.

Richard Wines, Jamesport historian and member of the city’s Farmland Preservation Committee, worries that the depletion of the fund will leave little left for preservation.

“It could actually use up most or all of the available revenue that’s left,” Wines said in an interview.

Wines and Carpenter said CPF funds must be available to continue land preservation and also revive the city’s development rights bank, which allows developers to trade land preservation for development incentives in areas commercial areas.

“The only way we can fund the bank is by receiving revenue from the CPF,” Wines said.

While Southampton, East Hampton and Shelter Island already use CPF money for water quality projects such as stormwater treatment and septic system improvements, Riverhead and Southold have not yet pursued these uses.

Since 1999, the fund has generated $2.2 billion in the five cities, according to the Assembly. Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor), the bill’s author.

Mancini said the Forge Road project is a top priority since it is entirely funded by grants, except for $193,000 in engineering.

It would bring clean water to neighborhoods near the Peconic River, including two mobile home parks.

Mancini said they were not looking to take “millions” out of the CPF.

“We’re just taking care of the last few areas that don’t have a water main,” he said. “For a relatively small amount of money, we protect hundreds of people.”