Fate Of "The Hills" Project Hangs In Balance, Board Votes Tuesday

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — After years of public testimony and input, the Southampton Town board will hold a special meeting Tuesday to decide the fate of the application for "The Hills at Southampton" project.

The meeting will be held at 1 p.m. in the auditorium at Southampton Town Hall, as a large crowd is expected, according to Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman.

For years, the public has been sharply divided on the project, which involves the proposed development of an 18-hole, private golf course with 118 luxury residences and a 155,760 square foot clubhouse/catering facility on a 594-acres site in the Pine Barrens of Southampton, on an expanse of vacant acreage on Spinney Road off Lewis Road.

Environmentalists including Alec Baldwin have rallied to "Kill the Hills", stating they believe the environmental impacts will be dire.

Those in support of the plan, however, say it will bolster the East End economy.

On Tuesday, the town board will vote on two resolutions. The first is to accept the findings statement in connection with the zone change application for "The Hills at Southampton mixed use planned development district."

The second resolution involves the adoption of a local law to change the zoning district of certain parcels from from CR200, which allows single-family homes on 200,000 square feet of land, to "The Hills at Southampton" mixed use planned development district, or HSMUPDD, which would allow for a residential golf course development in East Quogue.

Planned development districts are created in municipalities with the goal of facilitating increased flexibility to achieve more desirable development through use of creative and imaginative design of residential, mixed use, commercial, and industrial areas than what's presently achievable under conventional land use and zoning regulations, proponents of the law say; PDD zoning provides the ability to modify uses and densities normally allowed by underlying zoning with a public benefit component, they have noted.

In July, the town board voted to repeal the town's controversial PDD legislation.

But Schneiderman reminded that, at the time, the board voted not to "accept any new applications, but to process those already coming down the pike. It wouldn't be fair to terminate applications that were mid stream," he said.

The passing of that repeal prevented any new PDD applications but would allow for "The Hills" application to move forward, the supervisor said.

Schneiderman said the findings statement is the end of the New York State environmental quality review, or SEQRA, process; it will take 3 positive votes to pass the findings statement.

For the actual vote on the proposed PDD legislation, to create the zoning alternative needed for "The Hills," four positive votes, or a super majority, are necessary for the measure to pass, Schneiderman said.

"Although that will be the end of the town board's review I do not anticipate it being the end of the saga," Schneiderman said.

The property is located within a groundwater recharge area and has been the focus of development plans for many years.

The parcel is owned by Arizona based-Discovery Land Corporation.

Efforts to preserve the parcel came to a halt in May, 2013 when a past property owner was unwilling to accept the offer, which was below the price they had paid to acquire the land.