Public Set to Be Heard on 'The Hills' Project in East Quogue

EAST QUOGUE, NY — Environmentalists, elected officials and residents will come together Monday to let their voices be heard on a controversial project proposed for East Quogue that some say could have significant impacts on the community and East End environment.

A Southampton Town public hearing will be held Monday at 6 p.m. at East Quogue Elementary School, located at 6 Central Avenue in East Quogue.

In recent months, environmentalists, including Alec Baldwin, have rallied to "Kill the Hills," and tried to put the brakes on the proposed development of an 18-hole, private golf course with 118 residences and a 155,760 square foot clubhouse/catering facility on a 594-acres site in the Pine Barrens of Southampton.

The Southampton Town board, according to a resolution, received a revised draft environmental impact statement in April, associated with the applicant's formal request for a change of zone from CR200 to mixed use planned development district.

The applicant seeks to change four separate land holdings totaling 591 acres located in East Quogue.

The Hills property, the resolution states, consists of 340.91 acres south of and 86.92 acres north of Sunrise Highway, for a total of 427.83 acres; with contiguous property to the west known as the Kracke property, 61.26 acres, and the noncontiguous Parlato property to the east, 101.91 acres, for a total of 591 acres.

The proposal calls for the development of a 168.10 acre property with 118 residential units, an 18-hole golf course and associated club house, a pond/pond house, and maintenance area, all to be accessed by new roads and driveways.

In July, Southampton Town even offered to preserve "The Hills" parcel in East Quogue; that plan was not embraced.

For years, the community has stood divided on the project, which aims to bring an 18-hole golf course and 118 luxury homes to an expanse of vacant acreage on Spinney Road off Lewis Road. Those in support say it will be a boon to the economy, while other argue the project is detrimental to the environment.

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.

The offer was made through use of Community Preservation Fund revenue, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said. If accepted, the purchase would have been the largest single land acquisition in the history of the CPF program, the supervisor added.

The proposed golf course development has met both opposition and support and is currently under environmental review.

For years, civic groups and residents have spoken out on both sides of the issue.

Schneiderman said he has has been working to preserve the large block of woodland property for more than a decade, both as a Suffolk County Legislator and at town level.

Back in 2011, then-County Legislator Schneiderman sponsored a resolution to acquire the property in joint ownership with the Town of Southampton.

Efforts screeched 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.

The golf course development was proposed through a Planned Development District, or PDD, which requires four votes for approval; the prospects for approval of the PDD "are, at best, uncertain," he said.

Meanwhile, the “as of right” development could allow up to 118 homes, excluding the golf course.

The town voted to pass a moratorium in May on reviewing new PDD applications.

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 is presently achievable under conventional land use and zoning regulations.

Although “The Hills” pre-dates the PDD moratorium, fierce controversy over the development played a role in the town’s decision to enact the moratorium on new proposals, Schneiderman said.

For years, civic and environmental groups have called for the preservation of “The Hills” including the Group for the East End and the Pine Barrens Society.

This week, Bob DeLuca, president and CEO of the Group for the East End, wrote a letter to Robert Amato, president of the Shinnecock Shores Association, raising his concerns about the project. Those include a conflict with present zoning, a conflict with established PDD requirements, a conflict with state, county and local policy, as well as with the Central Pine Barrens Management Plan.

DeLuca said the Group for the East End cannot support the PDD "due to its inconsistency" with decades of work to preserve the East End's drinking water, surface water and groundwater.

“Although some members of the community are supportive of the golf course development,” Southampton Town Councilman John Bouvier said that he believes, “the best ‘course’ for the property is preservation.”

At July's rally, Baldwin questioned the "so-called community benefits" of a private golf course.

Many, including he, have opposed the project due to its potential negative impacts on the environment, he said.

Shinnecock Bay, Baldwin said, is already seeing the impacts of environmental degradation, including brown tides and harmful algal blooms due to nitrogen overloading and said fertilizer and pesticides would further threaten the fragile ecosystem.

DeLuca said that as of right zoning changed in the 70s when environmental impacts of projects became a priority.

A call for comment to Discovery Land Corporation was not immediately returned.

Caption: Alec Baldwin at a July rally to "Kill the Hills." Photo by Lisa Finn.