Town Proposes Building Moratorium For Main Road In Mattituck

SOUTHOLD, NY — The Southold Town board proposed a moratorium Tuesday that would temporarily halt development on Main Rd. in Mattituck while an expanded corridor study, weighing traffic impacts and other concerns, is underway.

At Tuesday's town board work session, after a brief executive session, Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said there has a "significant amount" of concern raised regarding traffic, especially east-west traffic, and its impact and encumbrances upon businesses to the east of town.

A corridor study, he said, is currently underway extending from New Suffolk Rd. to Wickham Ave. in Mattituck, regarding options to control traffic. "The town believes that study might be too narrow in scope," Russell said. "If you look at that area, after Sigsbee Rd., eight roads intersect with Rt. 25 along that corridor which have no traffic control device such as a light — and the study underway only includes three, New Suffolk Rd., Love Lane and Wickham Ave.," he said.

A previous study by the New York State Department of Transportation at the intersection of Sigsbee Rd. and Marlene Ln. resulted in a traffic light and pedestrian crossing, Russell said.

The town's comprehensive plan, Russell added, put a quite a lot of focus on land use; issues are also highlighted including shortages of public parking.

Excluding the additional roads that extend to Pike St. means that larger concerns, including a focus on land use and traffic impacts, are not going to be addressed, Russell said, adding that pedestrian friendly areas are a goal.

To that end, Russell said the town board is looking to enact a temporary moratorium on the "issuance of any permits from Bay Ave. all the way through to Pike St." on Main Road and to include the expanded scope in the corridor study, "to look at existing traffic patterns and land use in connection with the comprehensive plan."

The moratorium, Russell said, would stop the review of all pending applications including building permits, ZBA review and site plans.

"If construction is underway, the moratorium will not stop that, since the presumption is that all necessary applications have already been approved," Russell added, in an interview after the meeting.

The moratorium "freezes" any pending applications that haven't received approval and halts the review any of the pending applications that have not received site plan approval, the supervisor said.

The moratorium, he said, would exempt municipal corporations or entities such as the fire department, schools, libraries, and park districts; any application from those types of organizations would proceed as normal.

"This gives us time to evaluate land use components and downtown needs while the study is still underway" and would make the scope of the study "a little more encompassing," Russell said.

Councilwoman Jill Doherty said she agreed, and said with the consideration of a traffic circle at Love Lane one option considered by the NYSDOT, she was concerned about impacts to other businesses and that entire stretch of the corridor.

Russell said no options could be weighed "properly without taking a step back and putting a freeze on land use to evaluate. As part of that study, it's already been identified that traffic is a big problem for existing businesses. Let's be more thorough. We want to look at everything, in its entirety."

There will be provisions in the moratorium, the supervisor added, that would allow permits already in the pike to move forward, particularly if that are consistent with existing uses.

Southold Town Attorney Bill Duffy agreed that applicants could potentially have variances based on hardship depending on the progression of their site plans.

"It all has to be re-evaluated," Russell said.

Councilman Jim Dinizio said whatever the state decides to move forward with on Love Lane will affect all outlying areas.

"It will have a ripple effect," Russell said.

The board made no mention of any specific plans, applications, or businesses and did not discuss a plan for a hardware store on Main Rd. and New Suffolk Ave. that has sparked opposition from the community — but the parcel where the project would be sited falls within the boundaries of the proposed moratorium.

The Brinkmann family, who have pitched the hardware store plan, did not immediately return a request for comment to Patch after the town board work session.

Duffy said the Brinkmann family has submitted an application. "This would freeze that application," he said.

Charles Gueli, president of the Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association, discussed the idea of a moratorium with Patch: "It's understandable, given that they still don’t know what the DOT is going to allow to happen regarding the traffic and how to mitigate it," he said. "And we, as a community, are not in favor of large retail development on Main Rd., so we would applaud the moratorium."

After the meeting, Russell said in an email: "The moratorium is to review that corridor beyond the scope of the current study. There are eight roads along that area which feed traffic onto the Main Road that don't have traffic control devices. That's a substantial amount of traffic. There have been studies over the years and the comp plan is still not complete so, it's a good time to look at traffic impacts of zoning, etc. along that area," he said.

"Any improvements that are ultimately implemented at the Love Lane intersection will have impacts beyond that intersection. We want to understand what they may be. We also want to look at the impacts of land use and potential uses and factor those in the study. It will also put an emphasis on creating a walkable downtown. The board feels that the time is right now prior to the completion and adoption of the comp plan," Russell said.

A resolution was slated to be put on the town board agenda for Tuesday night's meeting scheduling a public hearing and outlying the scope of the moratorium.

Duffy said he recommended a six-month moratorium to start; the moratorium, which is a local law, could be extended.

The moratorium would give the board time to address the corridor in the context of larger issues and land use, including the need for municipal parking and green space, Russell said.

The town previously imposed a 30-month long moratorium on subdivisions in 2002 under former Town Supervisor Josh Horton to curb development the board feared would forever alter the rural character of Southold.

Duffy confirmed that the moratorium is the first in town since a moratorium on big box stores in town about a decade ago.

Patch photos by Lisa Finn.