Ponds At Southampton Village Expected To Receive Variances In January

A proposed condominium complex straddling the Southampton Village line is expected to receive a go-ahead from the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals next month, further clearing the way for a development that has met unusually little resistance from neighbors.

The zoning board is considering granting variances to allow the construction of 78 multi-family residential condos in a single-family residential district. The requested variances call for allowing a 40-foot front-yard setback on Bishops Lane and Magee Street, instead of the required 80 feet, and for lot coverage to measure 63,972 square feet instead of 36,000 square feet. Twenty-six houses could be built on the property based on existing half-acre zoning.

Developer George Benedict’s proposed project, dubbed “The Ponds at Southampton Village,” has garnered plenty of public support, in large part because it would replace the Rambo sandpit, concrete manufacturing and composting facility long reviled by neighbors. The current excavation and composting operations take place as a preexisting use.

Mr. Benedict, the developer behind the nearby St. Andrew’s development in Shinnecock Hills and father-in-law to Village Mayor Mark Epley, presented his plans to the zoning board last Thursday, December 16, along with attorney David J. Gilmartin Jr. of Gilmartin & Bregman in Southampton Village.

They acknowledged to the board that there is a minute amount of chemical residue on the site, but said it was “not enough to fill a child’s beach bucket,” and could potentially be buried.

The only member of the community to speak at the public hearing last week was neighbor Frances Genovese, who spoke in favor of the plan.

Mr. Benedict and Mr. Gilmartin are expected to go before the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals in January, when a public hearing will be held for applications for a zoning change of use, and changes to lot coverage and a rear-yard setback on Bishops Lane.

The plan calls for the construction of a pond, swimming pool, clubhouse, tennis court, walking path and enclosed sewage treatment plant on 13 acres.

Although the site is in the Tuckahoe School District, Mr. Gilmartin said the development is expected to cater primarily to second-home owners and empty-nesters, adding to the school tax base, while having “zero” impact on school enrollment. Mr. Benedict said he expects development to take about two and a half years from start to finish to complete.

The Village Zoning Board is scheduled to meet next on January 27. Once zoning approval is granted, a site plan would be prepared.