SMPIL Consulting’s Core Mission is to champion native habitat restoration. How do we rebuild a shoreline, or convert a sump into a bird sanctuary, or bring wildlife to a sterile suburban yard? In the past year, we have been engaged in 50+ projects on Long Island, working with homeowners, local businesses and municipalities, and with local environmental groups.
What has been most encouraging, though, is the degree to which our call to Go Native is being answered by real estate developers. Terwilliger and Bartone is one such client. As Cornerstone Properties, they had proposed a 50 unit apartment complex on The Patchogue River on a former brownfield. The project has gone through a couple of iterations. With each, the proposed complex became more and more coupled with the local natural environment. What was a lifeless, invasive ridden, flooded shorefront lot is to be designed to fit the local ecology.
This commitment to the environment is both groundbreaking and a sign of things to come. We had previously posted on their declared commitment here: Long Island-Based Developer Commits to Native Plantings. Addressing the environmental potentials of a lot at the very beginning of a project, building habitat while building homes, could well become the rule. If tenants begin to expect it, the developers will oblige, and increasingly they are.
Jacqueline Sweet posted on the project for The Patch:
Developer: Cornerstone Patchogue Plan Environmentally Progressive
Terwilliger and Bartone, a major LI developer, has made the commitment to Go Native for all its projects now. For Long Island to have a sustainable future, we must build intentionally, embracing nature instead of bulldozing it aside. We live here to a large degree because of the natural beauty of Long Island. We need to champion it, and return it wherever possible.
We can all lead here, in our own yards.