The Queensification of Brookhaven is under way. Literally hundreds of projects are in the pipeline ­-- so many that they are destined to overwhelm our country look and feel and our overall quality of life. Only sound planning and citizen vigilance can save us from this onslaught.For a different take on this same topic read Gail Lynch-Bailey's guest column.The vanguard of this assault arrived at Brookhaven Town Hall on Aug. 17 in the form of high-density development targeted for Middle Island. There's the 135-unit “Sandy Hills” project, with more than 13,000 square feet of commercial development and dozens of other facilities on a parcel of Pine Barrens land that, until recently, was zoned for just 34 homes.The Breslin/Artist Lake project constitutes a “Development of Regional Significance” under the law. It includes two huge anchor stores totaling 314,330 square feet, seven smaller stores totaling 65,081 square feet and 2,021 parking spaces. Does this sound like a “hamlet” project to you? It's also located in the Pine Barrens and in a state-designated Special Groundwater Protection Area. In fact, there are scores of projects on the drawing boards, including the former “Willy World” site at William Floyd Parkway and the L.I.E. and the massive LevyTown projects in Yaphank. No matter where you live in SunLand, the magnitude of the development proposed for this area will have a direct impact on you and your family. And it's not good.Mega-development, including density way above what developers are entitled to by law, threatens drinking water quality, air quality and the scenic vistas we sometimes take for granted. There's traffic congestion, stormwater run-off and ugly sprawl. Then there's the matter of taxes. The cost of new government services associated with residential development exceeds the taxes collected. Who is left to pay the difference? We all are. Why does open space preservation help control taxes? Because deer don't go to school.Scores of people turned out at the Town Board meeting, buying the false claims of the development-at-any-cost crowd. They want to combat “blight.” Of course, yesterday's “much needed” development is today's blight. People who supported Kmart and Kogel's and the gas station at Middle Country and Rocky Point roads never imagined their fate. Some speakers at the meeting talked about the need for jobs as though building on an island was somehow sustainable. An economy based on consuming the limited land that is left is doomed. A few talked about the need for affordable housing, apparently not realizing that the glut of houses on the market today is making all of our homes affordable!Most of us came here for the rural ambience of this area. We wanted to escape from the traffic, taxes and turmoil �" the visual clutter. That's why more than 80 percent of Brookhaven residents support saving our natural world. Our beaches and bays. Our wetlands and woodlands. The Pine Barrens. The Carmans River.Many of us at the Town Board meeting were there to criticize Supervisor Mark Lesko's administration for supporting more mega-development at the expense of the Carmans River, which runs from Middle Island to the Great South Bay. Mr. Lesko has called preserving the river his “top environmental priority.” I'd hate to see his lowest. He has limited stakeholder participation in the preservation process, ignored expert recommendations and refused a moratorium on development in the Carmans River watershed until the preservation plan is put in place.Mr. Lesko called some of the most respected environmental and civic leaders in Brookhaven and across the island “delusional.” He said he had no development plan. Alas, if you don't plan for preservation, what you end up with is development. You can't build first and find out later whether the river can survive. You plan first, then build only where and as much as the environment can stand. Government didn't do that for the Forge River and now it's virtually dead.So here's our suggestion. We're in a recession, caused by the banks and the real estate industry. Banks aren't lending much for development anyway. Isn't this the perfect time to do the planning necessary to preserve the Carmans River and Brookhaven's quality-of-life and to control taxes, instead of processing development after development at our environmental and economic peril? Think about it.

Mr. Amper is the executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, Riverhead-based nonprofit environmental group.