The Southampton Town Planning Board has set a date for a public hearing on the proposed 17,000-square-foot expansion to the T.J. Maxx building at the Bridgehampton Commons.
The board discussed the site plan for the expansion, set to be turned into a Marshalls department store, at its regular meeting on Thursday, October 11. With the hearing set for November 8, the public will have a chance to voice their concerns with the expanded location.
One of those members of the public is Pamela Harwood, chair of the Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee.
“Bridgehampton residents are seeing their small, once-rural hamlet becoming a hub of oversized commercial and residential development,” Ms. Harwood said in an email on Monday. “The Southampton Town Planning Board has, in the last few years, seemed to favor wealthy business interests by approving a wave of town code variances, despite community resistance, all given to allow ever larger structures and usage. The result is seen in the clogging of our main thoroughfare, Montauk Highway, as well as increased use of our country back roads as high-speed bypasses going through residential communities.”
Ms. Harwood suggested that the building’s owners, Kimco Realty, would be better off using vacant for-rent sections of the shopping center instead of expanding the already existing building.
“If there is a need for more retail space, why are two storefronts empty and for rent directly left of T.J. Maxx in the Commons?” Ms. Harwood asked. “Why are the stores in Water Mill Plaza continually vacant? What about online shopping competition?”
The Southampton Town Planning Board will hold its public hearing on the expansion on at 6 p.m. on November 8 at Town Hall.