Residents Pack Town Hall to Express Concerns Over Environmental Impacts of East Marion Oki-Do Plan

NORTH FORK, NY - Residents concerned about the environmental impacts of a proposed East Marion project that includes plans for a motel, restaurant and gift shop, turned out at Southold Town Hall Wednesday night to make their voices heard.

The Southold Town Board of Trustees held a public hearing on a request by David Kennedy of VHB Engineering, Surveying and Landscape Architecture PC on behalf of Oki-Do Ltd. for a wetlands permit and coastal erosion permit for the restoration of the property's shoreline through replacement of 1,323 linear feet of "existing, largely non-functioning bulkheading," as well as installation of a 505 linear foot rock revetment along Gardiners Bay, and dredging the channel. In addition, the request cals for replacing the "existing dilapidated 8 x 70 linear foot dock located within the boat basin with a 5' x 30' ramp leading to an 8' x 60' floating dock in a new location and re-vegetating with Spartina alterniflora. The property is located at 2835 Shipyard Lane in East Marion.

The plans for the "holistic health center" on the 18.7 parcel located in the MII zone would require a special exception permit from the zoning board of appeals, a site plan, still pending, before the Southold planning board, and wetland and coastal erosion permits from Southold Town.

The proposed development includes a transient hotel with 114 units, a main spa building, and a 185 seat restaurant, as well as a manager's residence, maintenance and utility building, sanitary waste treatment facility and Japanese garden with three gazebos and manmade water features.

Board of Trustees President John Bredemeyer began by saying that the discussion would focus solely on the marine aspects of the project; the board felt the project is a segmentation under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act.

In addition, he said, the trustees had found certain "deficiencies" and had concerns dealing with marine-related construction and coastal erosion. To that end, the board would not be able to act Wednesday night, he said; the item was tabled a future public hearing will be scheduled.

Trustee concerns, he said, include where the 4,000 cubic yards of dredge material that will be stored in an open containment site; Bredemeyer said the sand and gravel should stay in the public domain and in front of structures that may get approval. Other concerns centered on proposed shortening of the groin on both sides of the basin entrance, something that might cause coastal erosion concerns; other concerns centered on potential use of treated sheathing on the bulkhead and inside the basin. The trustees suggested plans include non-toxic solutions such as fiberglass, vinyl or tropical hardwood.

Attorney Pat Moore, representing the applicant, said the main reason for the project is to protect the property from storms; that's the reason the project was not considered segmentation, she said. Preservation and restoration of the parcel was the prime reason for the plans, she added.

If dock replacement was an issue for the trustees, Moore said the plans did not have to include a floating dock, something that was not a priority, she said.

Moore said the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had found that dredging would allow flushing of the basin and wetlands restoration. She added that 10 years ago, the DEC was adverse to bulkheads and only approved revetment plans but now, because of storms and rising sea levels, the DEC is "more amenable to protections that a bulkhead provides."

Residents stood up to voice their fears over the project. Howard Weisler, president of the Cleaves Point Village Condominium Association, and representing 62 homeowners to the west of the property, said residents were concerned about environmental issues, including revetment, rock removal, bulkhead replacement, dredging, and treated lumber on the bulkhead. Another issue, he said, was potential flooding on Shipyard Lane, as well as safety concerns over lack of fencing on the parcel, something that's been a source of contention for years.

In addition, Weisler said, "A project of this magnitude requires heavy duty machinery," including cranes. Shipyard Lane, he said, is a small hamlet road, "not constructed for this kind of abuse" and not meant for such intense use.

Mark Solomon, past president of the Cleaves Point Village Condominium Association, said residents are "extremely concerned because in the past, the DEC "did admit that there is contaminated soil" on the parcel.

If the work proposed involves more than five of the 18 acres, or more than 30 percent of the parcel, "How do they know what soil is contaminated, and what are they going to do if they put good soil on top of contaminated soil? This is a major issue."

Solomon also said when the new boat basin is open for use, concerns centered on a deteriorated property where blowing material coming off the building is a a danger to visitors. "I believe this is an accident waiting to happen," he said.

East Marion resident Linda Goldsmith said when she came before the town board 10 years ago to ask about the town potentially purchasing the waterfront parcel, Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said it "was not the purchase price that was prohibitive, it was the cost of the environmental cleanup."

Attorney David Dubin of Twomey Latham, and representing the homeowners said a site plan application had been before the planning board but the applicant had been asked to return with revisions ad instead, came to the town trustees. In July 2006, the planning board said the proposal was a Type 1 acton and declared lead agency, as well as the need for a draft environmental impact study.

In 2008, the applicant, he said, filed a DEIS and the planning board requested revisions to the site plan; nothing happened for five years, he said. In 2013, a letter was sent from the planning board to the applicant's attorney asking for an updated site plan application and stating that the applications would run concurrently to "avoid segmentation of the SEQRA process," he said.

The crowd applauded.

In June, 2015, Dubin added, the planning board said because the applicant had failed to address concerns and since nine years had elapsed since a revised site plan was last requested, the applicant was directed to begin SEQRA anew; instead, the applicant, he said, went to the United States Army Corp of Engineers and trustees with a "broken down application, broken down into small points, because then the next step is to go to the planning board and say, 'We have a trustees permit, not it's time to move. It's a textbook case of improper segmentation."

Also, Dubin questioned the applicant's assertion that the project was to preserve the parcel, which is in a deteriorated state. "Where have they been for the last 16 years? What do a new floating dock and large scale dredging have to do with preserving the property?"

Neighbor Brian Wills said he has concerns regarding pollution and runoff; about the fact that the project is new construction, not a rehabilitation, and that the plan calls for dredging a new channel; and finally, he is concerned about cutoff of public access.

John Kent, who lives on Shipyard Lane, said he and others are "worried about what we don't know," including environmental impacts of dredging. "We don't know what is in the bottom of the former boat basin." He presented the board with a list of signatures on a petition.

Anne Murray, vice president of the East Marion Community Association, said her civic group has a long history with the project and thanked the board for tabling the application. "If there was ever a property that needs to be environmentally reviewd, it's this one," she said.

Cynthia Goldsmith Agosta of Shipyard Lane said without the bulkhead, the beach has come back, a resource for residents.

Benja Schwartz of Cutchogue also raised concerns about the density proposed for the parcel and said it could set a precedent for the North Fork.

The matter was tabled and a future hearing will be scheduled.