An assessment of alternatives for Plum Island prepared by the Department of Homeland Security lays to rest any notion that the agency might retain the site for its own use. It has “no viable mission need for the property,” according to the report, dated June 27.
The agency evaluated alternatives under federal law that allows property to be transferred to other federal agencies, other government entities and nonprofit organizations and compared those to the alternative of a competitive public sale to the highest bidder, which was mandated by a 2008 act of Congress.
A competitive public sale to the highest bidder, as mandated by a 2008 federal law, would likely generate the most revenue, the report says. The law sought to recoup through sale, some of the $1.15 billion cost of the new National Bio-Agro Defense Facility under construction in Manhattan, Kansas. The new facility is scheduled to be completed and commissioned by 2022 and DHS use of the Plum Island facilities will be phased out by Aug. 2023, according to the report.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) said today the report underscores the need for the Senate to pass a bill he introduced which would have halted the federal government’s efforts to market the island while the DHS study just released was completed and then assessed by the U.S. comptroller. The comptroller would be required to fully assess the current study’s methodologies and findings and to provide a report of that assessment within six months of its completion. The bill passed in the House but has not been taken up by the Senate.
“The DHS report that was just released lists some potential alternatives for the island, but reinforces the need for the Senate to act now to pass my bill to stop the sale of Plum Island,” Zeldin said in a statement this afternoon.
The report outlines the federal government’s efforts, through its General Services Administration to market the property, including contracting, in November 2015, with a national real estate consulting firm to conduct “targeted focus group sessions to seek input from the marketplace of potential future owners to assist in the development of a sound marketing and sale strategy.”
The report also describes the natural habitat and species of flora and fauna on the undeveloped portion of the 840-acre island, including species classified by the federal government as endangered and threatened and those that are regionally rare. Wildlife conservation, along with parks and recreation and historic monument are listed among the “highest and best uses” of federal properties transferred to other public or nonprofit entities — along with homeless assistance, education, health, emergency management, law enforcement and correctional facilities.
The Town of Southold adopted zoning in 2013 restricting the development potential of the island, limiting allowed uses and requiring very large lot, low density development, the report notes.
“The restricted number of uses allowed at present and the very large minimum lot sizes (175 acres in the Plum Island Research district and 600 acres in the Plum Island Conservation district) established by the Plum Island zoning create a scenario that mimics the existing land uses and dramatically limits reuse opportunities,” the report states.
The federal government had estimated it would receive $32.85 million from the sale of Plum Island. Interested developers once included Donald Trump, who in 2013 expressed interest in purchasing the island to build “a world-class golf course” there.
Sen. Chuck Schumer said earlier this year the amount any sale might fetch “pales in comparison to the overall cost of the state-of-the-art Kansas facility” and the environmental value of Plum Island, which the senator called “priceless.” He and Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand both say they oppose a sale to the highest bidder as required by current law.
A coalition of environmental and civic organizations have been advocating preservation of the island ever since the federal government, which initially considered building the new agro- and bio-defense facility on the island, decided instead to sell it. It is a goal embraced by the two New York senators.
“We should change current law and prevent Plum Island from being sold to a private developer. It would be a mistake and lost opportunity to rip apart this unique 840-acre environmental setting and destroy the habitat of the endangered species that live there.”
Local officials have said they’d like to see the developed lab facilities continued to be used for their current purposes by the federal government to preserve local jobs.
