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The owners of 15 acres in Speonk are again advancing their plans to build an 11-lot industrial park on the site and are now completing an environmental review of the land.
The owners of the property, Polsinelli Management Corp., which has offices in Atlantic Beach in Nassau County, said they have been waiting more than seven years to develop the land and have laid out about $150,000 to pay for various studies, fees, and other costs in order to advance their application before the Southampton Town Planning Board. Once the industrial park is complete, John Polsinelli, the owner of the company, said he intends to lease the lots to a variety of contractors, such as plumbers and carpenters.
Mr. Polsinelli said his company has just begun working on an environmental impact study that was required by the town, in accordance with New York State’s Environmental Quality Review Act.
The land in question is located just north of Peconic Auto Wreckers, a junkyard on Jagger Path in Speonk, and south of Old Country Road and west of the Hickory Bend subdivision. Windemere at Speonk, another industrial complex, borders the land to the west.
The residents of the Hickory Bend subdivision have voiced their opposition to the industrial park in the past and have again asked Southampton Town to purchase the land using Community Preservation Fund money.
“We would like the town to put the offer back on the table,” said Diane Renna, a resident of the Hickory Bend subdivision.
Mary Wilson, the administrator of Southampton Town’s CPF, said there are limited funds available for purchasing new land and the town is not strongly considering acquiring Mr. Polsinelli’s property. She added that the town looked into possibly buying the land a few years ago, going so far as securing appraisals, though it never made an official offer.
“We have looked at it in the past, but it’s not on the high priority list for when the fund replenishes,” Ms. Wilson said.
Revenue for the CPF is generated through a 2-percent mortgage transfer tax and, in the face of the slumping real estate market, the amount of available funding has plummeted. The town collected $4.93 million during the first four months of 2009, a fraction of the $20 million the fund raised during the same time last year.
The Schoppman Pumpkin farm, which is located to the north of Mr. Polsinelli’s property, remains high on the town’s purchase list, Ms. Wilson said. She said the town is investigating possibly buying the development rights to the 24-acre farm, which would forever preserve that land as a farm and also allow the Schoppman family to continue growing pumpkins.
The application for the industrial park would allow for a 4-acre conservation buffer between the complex and nearby homes, according to the resolution adopted by the Town Board in May that required the environmental impact study.
Polsinelli Management Corp. first presented its plans for a single family-home subdivision to the Planning Board in 2002, but were instead urged to develop the property for commercial uses, according to Mr. Polsinelli. The area was zoned for residential use when the company first presented its plans to the town, he said.
But the town wanted Mr. Polsinelli to apply for a zone change that would alter the land from residential to light industrial. Mr. Polsinelli said he thinks the town wanted his property to be rezoned because it borders a junkyard.
“So we started down the road to light industrial and, seven years later, here we are,” Mr. Polsinelli said, noting that his company has owned the Speonk property for more than 50 years.
When Mr. Polsinelli purchased the land, there were only two small homes on it. Those homes are still there.
In January 2008, Polsinelli Management Corp applied to the Town Board for a commercial-industrial planned development district, more commonly known as a PDD. Mr. Polsinelli explained that a PDD gives the town more control over what can be constructed on the property, namely how the final product will look.
As part of its application, the company is seeking permission to extend the road leading to Windemere Court and the industrial complex, so it would align with the junkyard.
Town planner David Wilcox and planner Janice Scherer both declined to comment on Mr. Polsinelli’s application.
Mr. Polsinelli said his management corporation is familiar with operating light industrial complexes, even though there are not too many of them in Southampton Town.
“There’s not too much light industrial property east of the Shinnecock Canal, so people end up going west,” Mr. Polsinelli said. “And even in western Southampton, there’s not a lot of light industrial available.”
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