South Country Community Land Trust

Neighbors keeping neighborhoods neighborly!

The South Country CLT is unique in its comprehensive approach to land use throughout the South Country School District.

The South Country CLT permanently owns the land so that it will always benefit the community. Buildings on CLT land serve different needs. The CLT may rent to qualifying persons and when possible the CLT helps people to own their home on this land.

The South Country CLT is primarily concerned with the need for affordable housing including both rental and ownership. Furthermore, the land trust concept is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of land uses including both business and commercial development.

The South Country CLT is limited geographically to the South Country School District and is administered by a board that will include leaseholders, community residents, and members of the public. The CLT is organized as a not-for-profit membership corporation, with a board of directors elected by the members. The organization is balanced to protect both the residents and the community as a whole.

South Country Community Land Trust 2004 Founding Committee
Warren Beaven, Lynn Brown, Terri Hall, Carolyn Holtz, Nancy Marr, Helen Martin, Joan McGay, Sibyl Mizzi, Bob Mulvey, Lee Snead, Fran Suk, Herman Washington, Tom Williams, Karen Zahradka

South Country Community Land Trust 2009 Board of Directors
Public Representatives: Michelle DiBennedetto-Long Island Housing Partnership; James Britz-Long Island Housing Partnership; Dr. Sibyl Mizzi-New Directions; James Jankowski-South Country Central School District
Lessee Representatives: Debbie Ann Chang-Long Island Progressive Coalition; Eileen Anderson-Community Development Corp of LI; Helen Martin-Bellport Hagerman East Patchogue Alliance; Joan McGay-Saint Joseph the Worker Parish Outreach
District Residents: Lynn Brown; Mary Durham; Carolyn Holtz, Karen Zahradka

The South Country Community Land Trust is a member of the Community Land Trust Network, which promotes and advocates for the community land trust model of developing and preserving affordable housing.

Helen Martin - President	Helen Martin moved to Bellport in 1961, and in 1975 became the Director of the Bellport Senior Nutrition Program, providing lunch, recreation, and referrals for services for seniors. In 1983 she left to become the first Executive Director of the Bellport, Hagerman, East Patchogue Alliance. Under her leadership, the Alliance became a Housing Counseling Agency, rehabilitated over sixty homes in the community, and for ten years ran Keys for the Homeless, an annual conference with speakers about affordable housing and housing services. The Alliance, a Weed and Seed site from 1997 to 2007, is now a Graduate Weed and Seed, and issues FEMA vouchers for rent, food through the FAN program, and funds for oil and electricity through Project Warmth. Its newest programs are Bellport Second Chance for ex-offenders and a pre-apprenticeship training given by the Nassau-Suffolk Building Trades Council. Helen Martin retired from the Alliance in 2009.
Nancy Marr – Past President	Nancy Marr has been a resident of the South Country School District since 1962. She was a founding member of the Bellport Area Community Action Program, now known as the Boys & Girls Club of the Bellport Area, and was its director from 1978 to 1999. She was a member of the Housing Committee of the South Country School District Hamlet Study in 2004, has served on the board of the Bellport, Hagerman, East Patchogue Alliance, Inc., Intergenerational Strategies, Inc., the South Brookhaven Health Council, and Brookhaven NAACP. She is currently President of the League of Women Voters of Brookhaven.
Lynn Brown - Vice President	Lynn Brown is a long time South Country School District resident. She is a founding member of the South Country Community Land Trust and served on the Housing Committee of the Brookhaven Town 2004 South Country School District Hamlet Study. Lynn has served the community in other capacities, including the South Country School District Budget Advisory Committee in 2001 and 2002, the Brookhaven Village Association as a board member from 1999 to 2005, and is the BVA Tree Planting Chairperson and a member of the BVA Quality of Life Committee. Lynn has a BS from Randolph-Macon College in biology and has a strong interest in the environment and the community.
Carolyn Holtz – Secretary	Carolyn Holtz is a life-long resident, graduating from BHS in 1970. She was a member of the S.C.C.L.T. Founders Committee and is the current chairperson for Outreach. She believes that everyone who wants a home should have the opportunity to own one, and that the perpetual affordability of housing within the land trust framework enables this goal. She is Chairperson of Outreach for the Bellport United Methodist Church and serves on other committees. She is the current President of the Steering Committee of the local soup kitchen, I.N.N. Friendship.
Karen Zahradka - Treasurer	Karen Zahradka is a lifelong resident of Long Island’s south shore. And has resided in the South Country School District since 1980. She is a founding member of the South Country Community Land Trust. Karen served on the South Country School District’s Budget Advisory Committee for 2000 – 2005, and has served on the District’s Shared Decision Making Steering Committee since 2002. Karen has a BBA in Accounting from Siena College, and is a CPA. Her 3 children all graduated from Bellport High School and her continued interest in the school community keeps her involved in organizations that serve the students and families of the South Country School District.