This 15.6-acre property in Eastham was purchased and protected earlier this year using Cape Cod’s land bank funds.

More than 1,300 acres of land have been protected on Cape Cod since a property tax increase in that region was passed three years ago.

But environmentalists say the land bank referendum passed in 1998 – which added a 3 percent surcharge to Cape Cod property owners’ tax bills and brings in matching state funds for the purchase and preservation of land – may not be enough to purchase thousands of remaining undeveloped acres in the future.

What’s more, a recent study suggests there are very few large tracts of undeveloped land still available. Those are some of the issues that will be discussed at the Cape Cod Land Bank Day, which will take place Friday at the West Barnstable Community Building in Barnstable. The conference comes a week after Boston voters rejected a ballot question to adopt the Community Preservation Act and a 2 percent surcharge on property taxes, part of which would have been earmarked for open space preservation.

The conference, organized by the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod, the Cape Cod Commission, the Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts, the Woods Hole Research Center and the region’s state representatives, will highlight the accomplishments since the passage of the land bank bill and discuss what other steps must be taken to manage growth and protect the region’s water supply and natural resources.

The impetus behind the conference came after an analysis of land use was conducted this summer in five Cape Cod communities – Falmouth, Mashpee, Bourne, Sandwich and Barnstable – according to Maggie Geist, executive director of the APCC, the group which did the study.

For the last few years, environmental groups have been saying that a little less than a third of Cape land was undeveloped. But the APCC analysis found that most of that undeveloped land consists of single lots in existing residential subdivisions. Another study done by the Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts in the four towns surrounding Pleasant Bay – Harwich, Orleans, Brewster and Chatham – yielded similar results.

What we discovered was that there is much less open space than we thought, said Geist. There are very few large tracts that are available that can be purchased to protect the water supply, natural resources and wild habitats, she said.

We want this [conference] to be a showcase of the beautiful properties that we’ve already saved and sound the alarm that time is short to find the necessary money to buy the remaining open space, she said.

‘Powerful Tool’
In the first 18 months after the tax increase was approved, 1,365 acres were purchased with $31.6 million generated from the land bank bill and $2.9 million from state grants and private fund-raising, according to information compiled by the Cape Cod Commission. That means Cape Cod communities spent on average about $23,000 for each acre they purchased.

Each of the 15 Cape Cod communities purchased at least one parcel since the bill’s passage. In some cases, purchases were made to protect the public drinking-water supply. In other cases, property was bought to manage growth and keep developers from building subdivisions. In still other cases, communities bought land to keep ponds and streams from being polluted.

In Barnstable, for example, residents voted in 1999 to buy 25 acres along Santuit River for $970,000. In Brewster, voters chose to spend $600,000 to preserve 33 acres near Sheep Pond, and the community is considering purchasing land adjacent to that parcel. And in Wellfleet, residents approved spending $650,000 for 9.2 acres of marsh-front property.

Still, there is other land that may be lost if Cape Cod leaders don’t act soon. Geist said there is about 270 acres on the upper Cape that abut Santuit Pond in the towns of Mashpee and Barnstable. A developer wants the land to build a golf course. There is also land that is near the Mashpee wildlife refuge.

The land bank bill has been a powerful negotiating tool and has offered a steady revenue stream to purchase property, said Mark Robinson, executive director of the Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts.

Communities have also done a good job of identifying critical parcels to protect, said Robinson. In many cases, there has been overwhelming or even unanimous support within towns to purchase particular parcels.

The good news is that buying open space to protect resources and manage growth has become conventional wisdom, said Robinson. The bad news is that our most recent estimates are that the land bank revenues will probably allow us to purchase only 10 percent of the priority parcels that should be purchased.

Leaders must find other ways to save precious land, including doing more private fund-raising and encouraging property owners to donate land for tax breaks, he said. Another challenge is that abutting parcels of land on the Cape may have multiple owners, and communities may have a tougher time negotiating with several property owners.

Most of all, environmentalists hope that state leaders recognize that every dollar spent to protect Cape Cod land is an investment that can be enjoyed by thousands of people who flock to the region’s beaches each summer. The state approved $15 million in matching funds with the passage of the land bank legislation.

The state government, in particular, cannot feel that they’ve done their duty by passing this bill and letting us tax ourselves, said Robinson. Cape Cod is a statewide resource enjoyed by people throughout Massachusetts, so it’s important that state leaders remember this.