The Farmingdale Community Land Trust, a nonprofit organization in the works, recently filed with the state to provide affordable housing to the Farmingdale School District and East Farmingdale residents.

The high cost of living on Long Island has made it difficult for older and younger residents to be able to live in this area. "Twenty percent of young people are leaving the island because they can't afford a place to live," said Charles Gosline, the leader of the study group Discover Farmingdale. This district population also consists of slightly older residents. Persons ages 65 and over were 15.4 percent of the Farmingdale District's population and 13.4 percent of the Nassau-Suffolk Primary Metropolitan Area, according to a grant submitted by the Alliance of Stronger Communities, a Farmingdale community group associated with Discover Farmingdale.

The FCLT has plans to create permanent affordable housing for younger and older residents, develop commercial businesses in the downtown district involving a Transit Oriented component and build a community center that will make Farmingdale an intergenerational community.

"The vision of the FCLT Steering Committee is to provide a forum for community stewardship through community-based planning concepts that lead to projects and/or services that help to improve the health and welfare of an intergenerational mix of residents in the greater Farmingdale community," said Gosline.

This organization has plans to turn a portion of the Liberty Site into several potential land trust developments. The Liberty Site is 38 acres, located near Allen Park where the town owns about 14 or more acres that will extend the park. In addition, the town approved 9 acres to build a Super Stop & Shop. "We hope that some portion can become land trust property," said Gosline.

The FCLT keeps housing affordable by the community owning the land and the buyer owning the house. This drives the total purchase cost significantly lower because the buyer only pays for the cost of the house and not the cost of the land. However, the buyer does have to pay a monthly ground lease fee and property tax.

This land trust also gives money back to the community by implementing a resale formula and holding the land as a community asset by only selling the house. There are four standard formulas that this organization will choose to use that will be based on appraised value, return of investment or improvements made to the house, mortgage and the percent change in the consumer price index (rate of inflation). This formula will limit the profit an owner receives upon resale of their house. "No private individual will walk away with the windfall. The windfall will stay in the community," said Paul A. D'Ascoli, Community Realty services director. The cost of the house will retain the same level of affordability and serve the residents with the same level of income with every resale.

"The community is getting wealthier, but for a good purpose," said D'Ascoli. "That purpose is to be able to continue to offer affordable housing for the next generation over and over again."