Southampton Town Board Offers to Preserve 'The Hills' in East Quogue: Schneiderman

SOUTHAMPTON, NY - After years of heated debate, Southampton Town has extended an offer to preserve "The Hills" parcel in East Quogue.

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.

Now, the Southampton Town Board has extended an offer to purchase 592 acres in East Quogue owned by Arizona based-Discovery Land Corporation.

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

Although Schneiderman did not initially release the price offered, he said it was "significantly higher" than the price paid by Discovery Land for the property.

In addition, he said the town had authorized two appraisals to determine the fair market value for the land.

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.

“I cannot proceed in good conscience with the review process without making a good faith effort to preserve the property,” Schneiderman said this week.

According to Schneiderman, the property owner consented to have the property appraised for the purpose of entertaining an offer for preservation.

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.

“We are hopeful Discovery Land will accept this significant offer," Schneiderman said.

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

Requests for comment from Discovery Land were not immediately returned.