Long Island/In the Region - The Uncertain Fate of Farmland - NYTimes.com FUTURE RENTALS At the Knoll Farm equestrian school, a developer envisions 240 affordable units. IN the perhaps not-so-distant future, historic dairy and horse farms on the north and south shores of western Suffolk County may be just a memory. The Engel Burman Group, the Garden City developer known for its upscale Bristal assisted-living homes, the oceanfront Aqua on the Ocean condominiums in Long Beach and the age-restricted Seasons at East Meadow community, is negotiating to buy Oak Tree Farm Dairy in Elwood and Knoll Farm, an equestrian haven, in Brentwood. Provided that Engel Burman is granted the zoning changes it would need, both farms would be replaced with multifamily housing. Jan Burman, the president of Engel Burman, said the dairy had been "planning to close if they can get the right number for it." Charlene Cosman, the chief financial officer of the privately owned dairy, declined to comment. On its Web site, oaktreedairy.com, the farm is described as "the Island's only farm dairy." Though the cows that provide milk for Oak Tree's operations have long been grazing upstate, for decades homeowners and passers-by have enjoyed views of the open land on the 36.87-acre farm. Farther down the road, the dairy's three-story office building, a processing plant, and a parking lot for trucks have been a source of complaints about odors and traffic, Mr. Burman said. The age-restricted development proposed for the dairy site would be a larger, plusher version of the developer's 404-unit East Meadows community, which opened in 2008 and is within 20 units of being fully sold. At Elwood, which has twice the amount of land, the plan calls for 482 condominium apartments; a 25,000-square-foot clubhouse with a movie theater; a card room; a ballroom; a fitness center; indoor and outdoor pools; tennis courts; walking trails; a dedicated sewage treatment plant; a dog run; and a separate car-washing area. The buildings would be set back, with "very big buffers around the property so no one will see it from the road," Mr. Burman said. Two-bedroom first-floor units would have 1,400 square feet and full basements. Upstairs units with lofts, reached via private elevators, would have 1,800 to 1,900 square feet. Prices would range from $450,000 to $500,000. The dairy currently pays $176,000 in taxes, while the condominiums would generate close to $3 million, Mr. Burman said. This would add $2 million a year to the Elwood Union Free School District's coffers. Dan Ciccone, a Board of Education trustee, said the potential revenue could lower the tax burden by almost 4 percent and "certainly is intriguing to us." Conversely, however, an age-restricted community would be "filled with a population with a propensity to vote "no" on a school budget," he added. But he also said a development for families with school-age children "would be out of the question." Loretta Hamann, the vice president of the Elwood Taxpayers Association, said the 125 residents who attended a meeting on the proposal had concerns about traffic and density and were dismayed that the units would not have private garages, which could create difficulties for snow removal. "At the end of the day it's major change," said Ms. Hamann, who has lived across from the farm for 40 years. Those acres will be turned into a dense housing development. No matter how beautiful they are, it will change the vision of Elwood. Robert Eschbacher, a traffic consultant and an Elwood resident, said a senior community would not increase traffic at peak times. But to ease concerns, the developer plans to invest about $1 million in improvements like turning lanes and traffic signals. The farm dairy was established in 1930 as a sideline operation to a cattle business, said Robert Hughes, the Huntington town historian. By the time 1941, it was delivering more than 4,500 quarts of milk a day, wholesale. By the 1950s, the then state-of-the-art operation had several retail routes and a fleet of 21 trucks covering a territory that extended "from Great Neck to Rocky Point and from Amityville to East Islip," Mr. Hughes said. In 1961, the dairy started a chain of barn-shaped drive-through stores known as Dairy Barn. Nineteen Dairy Barn locations remain on the Island.