Sports East Fitness Developer Resubmits Application to Planning Board, Awaits Zoning Board Interpretation

SOUTHOLD, NY — A crowd turned out Thursday for a Southold zoning board of appeals hearing that could decide the fate of the Sports East Fitness plan in Mattituck.

The ZBA met to discuss two requests from the planning board for an interpretation of whether the proposed uses applied for on the site plan for Sports East, proposing to construct an "annual membership club," meet the definition of a "membership club" as defined by town code, with uses permitted by special exception in a residential district.

Plans for the indoor-outdoor private sport facility, pitched by partners in the project Paul Pawlowski, Joe Slovak, and Steve Marsh include indoor tennis, an indoor swimming pool, multi-sports fields, pickle ball courts, a gym, rock wall, yoga, batting cages, a locker room and an organic juice bar.

The proposed location for Sports East is 9300 Route 25 in Mattituck.

ZBA Chair Leslie Weisman began by saying that the meeting Thursday was not meant to grant the special exception, and no decisions would be made.

Weisman began by describing plans for Sports East, including outdoor soccer and tennis, 240 parking spaces, indoor soccer fields, tennis courts, a batting cage, a swimming pool, locker rooms and showers, volleyball, a rock climbing wall, yoga spaces, a kitchen and 32-seat cafeteria for members, a pro shop for members, three offices, and a space for before and afterschool care for children of members.

Pawlowski stood at the podium to clarify a point, stating that the facility is a single, not two-story, 140,000 square foot building on a parcel zoned R-80.

Attorney Charles Cuddy, representing Pawlowski, said the initial notice of disapproval from the building department did not ask for an interpretation; the only request on the table was for a special exception, he said.

"What they are saying is, 'Let's have a do-over,'" Cuddy said.

He added that with part of the facility indoors and part outside, there is no other spot in town where the business could possibly be located.

The two other fitness clubs in town are located in hamlet business and residential office, he said. "No one is too sure where" businesses of this type should be, Cuddy said, adding that the proposed site is the "right location."

He added that Suffolk County has weighed in and agreed that the site is appropriate.

Joseph Pfaff, general manager of Laurel Links, said his club has received a special exception, even with indoor uses, "fine dining," locker rooms and a shop, and added that he supported Pawlowski's plan, and that he believed the two businesses would complement one another.

Realtor Fred Markham of Daniel Gale Sotheby's in Cutchogue said there were no other parcels for sale that would be suitable for the facility.

Pawlowski told the ZBA that his plan was meant "not for a few, but for all."

He said when he met with the planning board and had just a sketch plan, had he gotten the red light at that time, he would only have spent a few thousand dollars. At that point, if told that the plan "was not going to fly," he would have accepted that decision and moved on to something else. But he said he did have a "big problem" with the questioning of use.

Instead, he said, he was told the use was allowable but the planning board took lead agency in the environmental review.

"What we are proposing can only be done with a special exception; it can only be done with R-80 zoning, no other parcel is large enough," Pawlowski said. He added that he'd reached out to the property owner of the former Capital One building across the streeet, but it was a "no go."

Pawlowski also reminded that the Suffolk County Planning Commission had "unanimously" accepted the plan and said this proposal would have very little impact on traffic, with a traffic study updated in August.

His plans were resubmitted to the planning board this week after being withdrawn in July, Pawlowski said; the project, he said, was privately funded.

Weisman reminded that what was before the board Thursday was only whether or not what Pawlowski had proposed met the definition by special exception as set out in town code.

A code definition

The definition states that the club has as its "principal purpose," members that engage in outdoor sports such as golf and tennis, Weisman said.

"Our job today is very narrow, to decide if it is legally permissible, or if it is not, by special exception," she said. "That is the essence of what we are looking for today."

"We are, 100 percent, applying for that exact statement that you have just read," Pawlowski said. "Without it, this does not happen."

Neighbors stood up for and against the project. Denise Geis said she believes the scope of the project should be indoor only; she voice concern for the "day care" component of the plan, adding such facilities need special licensing and trained staff.

She also said she was fearful of an empty building at the entrance to town, should the project shut down.

Cuddy said the project was a "hybrid", combining indoor and outdoor use.

Pawlowski asked Weisman if the zoning board found it "surprising that the question was raised this late in the game."

Weisman said at any time, any town agency has the right to come before the ZBA to interpret code.

"This is a very large project and his has large impacts in the community. It's not surprising at all that it takes a while to figure it out," she said.

Resident Anne Murray said if the definition reads that the primary purpose of the facility is to be outdoor sports, the project, as a hybrid, "doesn't really fit within the code you are seeking to interpret. I would argue that it would not be permitted."

Her voice shaking, parent MaryGrace Steinfeld said she couldn't help but be "emotional," and implored the board to see how important the project was to the children of the community. "Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater," she said. If the project is dismissed, she said she didn't believe the town would ever get a shot at such a facility again.

Others said the site was not the right place for the size of the building and Pawlowski should consider other locations.

Weisman more than once told the speakers that despite their impassioned testimony on both sides of the issue, the single reason the meeting was held was to decide whether the site, as per the application, met the definition in town code to garner the special exception.

"We cannot rewrite the code," she said.

Slovak said if he had spoken out of turn for discussing the idea of children of members coming in before and after school for homework help, he'd only "spoken from the heart, that this would be good for the community."

Kids, another woman said, "need a place to go. If this opportunity passes, there won't be that opportunity again."

Arnold Blair, who worked to help create the proposal for a YMCA in Riverhead, said the project failed due to political will. "I hope this doesn't become a political football," he said.

"This zoning board does not ask what your party is, or anything else personal. We do our best to ethically examine the facts. This is a democratic process, not a political process," Weisman said.

"A special exemption is needed for this to happen, or it will never happen in our lifetime," Pawlowski said.

The meeting was adjourned to a special meeting on October 20 at 6 p.m., with written comment accepted until then.

Parents rally for Sports East

Meanwhile, some parents believe a controversial proposal for the Sports East Fitness facility in Mattituck is a dream that should be realized.

Although developer Paul Pawlowski withdrew his application before the Southold Town planning board in July, one Southold mom launched a petition online reenlty to keep the project afloat.

"We Want Sports East," has a Care2 petitions page, and has so far garnered 639 signatures with a goal of 1,000.

"Sports East will be a fun place for the whole family to enjoy and exercise while being together. It can also be used to hopefully keep kids off drugs and out of gangs if they have something fun and positive to do," the page reads.

The petition was kicked off by Southold resident Jennifer Moore Giovanniello-Becker. "I started it when I saw a friend share a post about asking people to go to the town meeting next week to show support" for the plan, she said.

"Then, another one of my friends commented with an idea that parents that can't make the meeting should write letters of support, so I thought the quickest and easiest thing to do would be to start an online petition so that all those in favor of could sign it."

She added that she is "in total favor" of the project "and was disappointed" when she heard it was not going to happen.

According to Slovak, the ZBA hearing was "crucial." Slovak wrote on his Facebook page that the hearing was "likely to determine the future of Sports East. . . We know we have tremendous community support for this project and we certainly know the need for Sports East. This is about expressing to the ZBA, the voice of the community."

Plan withdrawn

In July, after a heated planning board work session, developer Pawlowski was told that the planning board was considering a positive declaration for the state environmental quality review act determination, meaning that they would be asking for a draft environmental review.

Planner Mark Terry said the recommendation would be for the draft environmental review, based on a number of "large or moderate significant environmental impacts" including 13 potential impacts on transportation, concerns with groundwater and surface water quality, impacts on energy, noise impacts, potential moderate impacts on plants and wildlife due to the size of the proposed structure, impacts on aesthetics, and consistency with community character.

Cuddy took issue with the idea of a draft environmental impact statement, staying that Peconic Landing was allowed to move forward with no environmental impact statement; he also mentioned another project in Cutchogue and said that project was a Type 2 determination.

"To find that this has an impact is remarkable to me," Cuddy said. "I find it difficult to believe that except for traffic, which a study says has no impact, it's hard to believe you could find any impact." The parcel has no wetlands, no farm, no hazardous material, Cuddy said. He added that the proposal took a 20 acre lot and saved 15 acres of it. All around the parcel, he said, are business-zoned parcels. "It's amazing to me that you could find a need for an environmental impact statement that's going to save 15 of 20 acres. I can't believe the board would do that."

He added, "This doesn't make any sense to me. This is pretext, and a delay, to keep them from going forward."
He added that the decision would prevent the project from moving forward with the zoning board of appeals.

"That's upsetting."

Planning Board Chair Donald Wilcenski said the board was just doing its due diligence and said he did not believe it was a delay; he said there were concerns about the traffic study, such as the timing of the study and a building across the road not taken into consideration. He said the board agreed to go through the SEQRA process because "you felt we were holding you up." But the board had questions that needed to be answered, he said.

Pawlowski, visibly upset, his voice shaking, said the board has had one question since March, which was immediately addressed.

"I haven't heard one word since then about the traffic study," he said, adding that he and his fellow applicants had mitigated every possible concern "to the letter, better than any other project. To have this happen four months later is outright disgusting. I could not be more upset. This is not normal. To have told us this, this late in the game, $103,000 later, is not normal."

Pawlowski said discussions with planning department staff were leaning toward a negative declaration. "How did that change?" A positive declaration, he said, would mean more than $100,000 and another year or two of time.

"I'm withdrawing the application," he said, standing up abruptly and leaving the room, followed by Cuddy.
"The applicant formally has withdrawn his application," Cuddy said, during the planning board meeting a few minutes later.

Town Attorney Bill Duffy said he did not consider what happened at work session to be a formal withdrawal. However, since Cuddy formally withdrew the application, the board did not act or vote on the SEQRA determination.

The Suffolk County Planning Commission gave the project a 10-0 vote of approval, Pawlowski told Patch.

But then, he received a copy of a memo from Wilcenski to Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Leslie Weisman, dated May 31.

The memo stated that the planning board had been reviewing the site plan hearing. After a public hearing, the memo said "concerns about whether the use, as proposed, is permitted as a special exception on this parcel. The board would like to avoid having the applicant invest any more funds into this application until that question is answered definitively by the Zoning Board of Appeals."

Concerns raised, the memo said, include questions raised by the public "about whether the use, as described by the applicant, is truly a membership club."

Several people, the memo said, questioned "how such an apparently intense commercial use could be allowed in a residential zone, and if the intent of the annual membership club was to allow something like the project being proposed."

Residents also questioned "finer points" of the proposal, the memo said, including whether daycare or childcare was allowed, and whether soccer teams that weren't members would be allowed to play on the fields.

The memo went on to say that the planning board was concerned about "tournaments or special events" that could bring in an influx of people that were non-members or spectators, making the facility public and not an annual membership club, which is eligible under town code for a special exception.

Another question involved if a person paid for less than a year, would it be an annual membership club.

The question of whether the proposed project met the definition of an annual membership club was sent to the ZBA for interpretation, stalling the plan from moving forward.

Public support for the plan
Members of the community showed tremendous support at a ZBA hearing in February. In May, the public came outto speak passionately on both sides of the proposal for the Sports East Fitness Club on Main Road in Mattituck.

A standing room only crowd packed Southold Town Hall for the public hearing on the sports facility.

The meeting was the second in a week on the topic; earlier, partners in the project Pawlowski and Slovak, along with Suffolk County Legislator Al Kruspski, and Bob DeLuca, president of the Group for the East End, were guests at a forum organized by the Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association and held at the Mattituck American Legion.

The plan was Pawlowski’s third for the site, located on Route 25 across from the old Capital One building: 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 21 acres, and a gazebo.

Pawlowski withdrew that application in September, 2015 after residents turned out to voice fierce opposition to the zone change, citing concerns over traffic, density and quality of life. He has said that the current plan is his last and he would "not doing anything else" on the parcel should the plan not get approved.

Wilcenski said in May the application was also before the ZBA and they were waiting on the planning board's state environmental quality review act, or SEQRA, determination.

While some have voiced opposition to the plan, parents have pleaded for the facility, stating that sports and physical activity are way to keep kids engaged, away from drugs and active in healthy activities.