Sisters of St. Joseph

The 212-acre Brentwood campus of the Sisters of St. Joseph has become a beacon of hope and conservation in western Suffolk County. In 2015, the Sister reaffirmed their Land Ethic Statement, which is a guide for their future decision regarding the property based in their charism and awareness of the responsibility we all have for the health of the Earth and in particular for the Long Island Bioregion. That same year, the Sisters reached out to the Trust for our assistance to help them achieve their vision.

The campus is an amazing property with a variety of structures, uses, and opportunities. The focus is the motherhouse which houses a large number of the sisters, administrative offices, the Sacred Heart Chapel, a Muslim school, universal pre-kindergarten, BOCES, and educational programs for immigrant women. In addition, there is the Maria Regina Residence which is not limited to the sisters and is ranked the 13^th best assisted health care facility on Long Island.

In all, there were approximately 103 acres undeveloped, including fallow farmland and a healthy woodland and an expansive lawn. The Sisters had also established an Organic Garden on the land, to learn, and to teach the community how to grow crops organically.

Our first step was to work with the Sisters on the development of concept plans in balance with their Land Ethic Statement, based on an evaluation of the land, structures, uses, soils, zoning, access, and surrounding uses. The first step in our work with the Sisters was to develop a number of Concept Plans for the property. This Concept Plan was immediately instrumental in siting a solar array which now generates approximately 60% of the electricity for the Brentwood campus. It also sited expansion for their wastewater management system and identified areas for preservation.

The majority of the Brentwood campus consists of prime agricultural soils (HaA & RdA) and has a history of being a working farm. Approximately 50 years ago, the land fell fallow with the exception of a small portion the Sisters utilize for their Organic Garden. Through the concept planning, we identified with the Sisters approximately 27 acres for farmland preservation and made a recommendation to sell the development rights to Suffolk County under their Farmland Protection Program. The program, however, requires the land to be in agricultural production. In order to begin this process, Town approval was required under zoning.

Upon receipt of Town approval, the Trust then worked to secure organic farmers to return the land to agricultural production. In that first season, three farm operations leased leased the land: Thera Farms with Teddy Bokas, Joe Corbett and FREE (Family Residences & Essential Enterprises, Inc.).