Supporters Of The Hills Turn Out In Force At Southampton Town Board Meeting Tuesday

Supporters of a proposed resort targeting nearly 600 acres in East Quogue came out in force on Tuesday night at a Southampton Town Board meeting.

Roughly 120 people showed up in support of the project, dubbed The Hills at Southampton, that is being pitched by Arizona’s Discovery Land Company. Attendees of the board meeting—held at the town’s senior center in Hampton Bays—were organized by Jessica Insalaco of East Quogue, an employee of Discovery Land who does public relations work for the firm.

“It just feels like it’s coming to the next stage of the process,” she said as to why she organized the pro-Hills demonstration.

Although many turned out for the meeting, wearing purple “Hills Yes!” stickers on their clothes, only a handful spoke during a public comment portion.

East Quogue resident Nate Burns, who has a 4-year-old son, Simon, and a 2-year-old daughter, Molly, with another baby due in October spoke in favor of the project, noting that he supported the plan for a proposed 117 residential units and an 18-hole private golf course centered on roughly 168 acres in East Quogue because of the community benefits that would be offered.

“I like how The Hills is thinking of the kids and the schools,” Mr. Burns said. “How they’re going to contribute so much to the schools.”

The community benefits being offered include improvements to the hamlet’s Main Street and the upgrading of residential septic systems in the immediate area. Those benefits, which also include improvements to the elementary school, are mandated as part of the now-banned PDD application process; the Discovery Land application has been allowed to proceed because it predated the move to eliminate PDDs altogether.

Discovery Land officials have estimated that their development, if approved, would generate nearly $5.7 million in annual tax revenue for the East Quogue School District without adding any children to the single-school district, since residency would be seasonal.

Among the crowd of Hills supporters at the board meeting, one East Quogue resident who does not support the development, Kevin McCrary, attended the event, unaware that The Hills supporters would also be there. He argued that large developments often ignore natural vegetation clearing restrictions, and are slapped with minor fines that are ignored.

“The town should look seriously on how to control these developments … not to exceed the laws on the books because it's being blatantly violated now,” he said. “Figure it out. Protect the environment. People have to live here for a few more millennium.”

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman has stated that he is reserving his opinion of the application until Dr. Chris Gobler, a professor at Stony Brook Southampton and one of the East End’s most respected marine scientists, offers his analysis of the developer’s final environmental impact statement, or FEIS. The document was submitted earlier this summer, and Dr. Gobler, who lives in East Quogue, is expected to offer his opinion of the updated document soon.