Community Turns Out in Force to Support Private Fitness Facility on Main Road in Mattituck

NORTH FORK, NY- The public came out in overwhelming support Thursday for a proposed new sports facility on Main Road in Mattituck.

The Southold Town zoning board of appeals held a public hearing Thursday morning at Town Hall on a request by Sports East LLC for a special exception, to construct an annual membership club on a parcel located at 9300 Main Road, across from the old Capital One building.

Plans for the indoor-outdoor private sport facility include four indoor tennis courts, pickleball, an indoor swimming pool, a synthetic multi-sports field, a basketball court, a gym, rock wall, yoga, two batting cages, a locker room and an organic juice bar.

“What we want to stress to the community is that this is something our community needs, it will touch all demographics, it will improve the quality of health as it is the very essence of a healthy lifestyle,” Pawlowski said. “We are talking about sports and physical fitness and if approved, we can enjoy this not only in the summers but also in the winter.”

Pawlowski began by describing his dedication to the project, which he’s embarking upon with partners Steve Marsh and Joe Slovak, all locals who want to provide a facility for the community for generations to come.

Of the parcel’s 21 acres, Pawlowski said the plan is to use no more than six to seven, or roughly 33 percent of the property.

The sight of a sports field to those driving by would be pleasing, he said. “We’re a very sports-oriented town,” he said. But for the most part, the facility will be private and hidden, with trees and setbacks.

There will be two main entrances, with one exit only to the east, Pawlowski said, adding that he plans to work with the New York State Department of Transportation to come up with a turning lane to improve the traffic situation.

The parcel allows for ample parking, approximately 224 spaces, he said, adding that he will work with the planning board on safety issues such as sidewalks and lighting. There won’t be a need for much irrigation or fertilizer, Pawlowski said. Mature trees will be kept tight to the building and synthetic field; the aim is to make the project maintenance free.

The plan will benefit the health of the community, Pawlowski said, He added that impacts were much less than if he had pitched the subdivision allowable on the site by right.

“We wouldn’t be proposing this if we didn’t think there was a serious need for it,” Pawlowski said.

Southold Town Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Leslie Weisman asked about a kitchen upstairs in the renderings. Pawlowski said food service for members only would be provided, including water, Gatorade, and packaged protein bars.

Hours of operation would be roughly 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 or 10 p.m., Pawlowski said, with no night or early morning games outside and no night lighting except for the parking lot. Approximately 50 to 150 members could visit the facility each day, he said. Only members would be able to access the pool, fields or other amenities onsite, he said.

In addition, Pawlowski said he and his partners were willing to put in a ”newer style septic system”, located near the northeast corner of the building.

“We need an indoor sports facility and that’s what our goal is,” he said.

The planning board has been designated lead agency in the coming environmental review, Weisman said.

Residents streamed to the podiums in large support of the plan.

A few had questions and concerns, including Denise Geis, who lives on Sigsbee Road in Mattituck. Geis said she was fearful the facility would mean even more traffic in an already congested area; she was also concerned that those leaving SportsEast would only be making right turns, bringing additional traffic woes.

She also had concerns about noise, how the pool would be drained for maintenance, and also, if fees were too high and not affordable, what would happen if the facility were not able to support itself and would close, leaving another empty building similar to Capital One.

She said she’s also like to see a covenant stating that no additional buildings could be erected onsite in the future, with no additional parking, to protect the wooded areas.

Pawlowski spoke to Geis’ concerns, explaining that the traffic issues would be addressed by the DOT.

As for the pool, he said, “You can’t just stick a hose out the door.” Today, proper leaching fields would be installed. In addition, the aim is to install a saltwater pool, he said.

No lights will be on at night except for in the parking lot, and non-disturbance buffers are planned.

Addressing pricing, he said, “This will be affordable.” Tiered fees will be set up, with members able to choose from packages such as pool or tennis only, and an anonymous scholarship program created for kids in need.

Pawlowski said his two previous proposals for the parcel, including a workforce housing plan and the last idea, for affordable housing and stores on Main Road with 17 acres preserved, as well as the current pitch, are not “the best” financial scenarios for him. Instead, he said he’d like to do something to benefit the community where his own family and children live, rather than create a subdivision that might mean a bigger financial boon.

Along with a golf club he owns, Pawlowski said the goal is to keep the sports facility vibrant, with no fears of a shuttered building.

Others filed up to laud the plan. Skip Gehring of New Suffolk said he built a similar facility in Nassau County and said the benefits to area kids would be significant, offering them something to do at night during the cold winter months.

He also spoke to how such a sport club could mean “growing a community.”

The facility would be a place where young people from different towns could meet. At his own sports center, kids became accomplished enough to travel to Austria and play basketball. The new sports facility would save parents the long drives each weekends they currently endure to afford their kids athletic opportunities.

Southold’s Susan Toman, executive director of The Guidance Center, said she agreed the facility would improve the quality of the community’s health and lifestyle and give kids a chance to become involved in the community, keeping them away from at-risk behaviors.

Toman, who runs a free summer camp each summer with a town youth bureau grant and volunteers, said it’s important to provide a way for kids of lesser means to avail themselves of the sports facility. If not all are included, there is a risk of “neighborhood detachment. That’s a real, measured risk,” she said.

Toman commended Pawlowski on the plan. “This is something our community definitely needs.”

Weisman asked the audience, if they could be sure the private club would be available to kids and those of lesser income, whether or not they would support the plan.

The “vast majority” raised their hands in support, she said. “It’s safe to say the use itself is something the community believes is important,” Weisman said, adding that the concern centered on whether it would be accessible to all.

Mattituck’s Doris McGreevy asked how many fields would be outside; Pawlowski said only one synthetic field is planned for outside, suitable for a range of sports.

Some asked about leagues; Pawlowski said the leagues would be members only.

Lisa Fox, president of the Cutchogue East PTA, said she drives her own kids to Selden and Bellport for sports activities. “To have something right here in the town we live in would be amazing,” she said.

She added that the need exists to provide outlets for kids and combat escalating heroin and other drug and alcohol use.

Fox about schools being able to use the club; Pawlowski said he believed, due to zoning, that would be possible through membership.

Other residents said no matter what project evolved on the site, issues such as traffic would arise. But, they said, offering a healthy place for exercise and community was a welcome option.

Slovak, a teacher and coach, aid he and his wife are fully committed to the plan. “We’re all in,” he said.

Describing his students, he said one boy, Diego, “doesn’t speak English. He’s a wonderful boy, but he doesn’t smile. When he walks into the guy, his eyes light up and his smile goes from ear to ear. That’s the transformative nature of recreation.”

Even eating pizza in Southold, Slovak said he talks to kids who have seen their grades improve after joining the baseball team.

”Those things inspire me, and that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing,” he said, adding that he, too, has driven miles to bring his kids to sporting events.

Slovak said he’d also like to offer before and after-school care, a mentoring and homework program, and inclusive leagues for the developmentally disabled, as well as leagues for those over 40 and over 50.

Discussing how his daughter bonded with her grandpa on a ski trip, Slovak said he’d also like to focus on the intergenerational possibilities.

Adrienne Weber, who recently returned to the North Fork, spoke glowingly of the YMCAs she’d attended in other states, participating in water aerobics. “There is a need here for the seniors,” she said. “I’m jumping out of my seat here, there’s such a need for this here in this area. I just hope and pray it happens soon.”

Another hearing will be held down the line, Weisman said.

The plan is Pawlowski’s third for the site: First, he pitched a plan for workforce housing on the land. Last year, he proposed a second concept, which would have included stores and affordable apartments on the section of the parcel fronting Main Road, with a goal of preserving 17 of the 20 acres, and a gazebo. Pawlowski withdrew that application in September after residents turned out to voice fierce opposition to the zone change, citing concerns over traffic, density and quality of life.