Town Board Delays Decision On Hampton Bays House Targeted By Nonprofit

Southampton Town officials are raising concerns over plans to transform the old caretaker’s house that sits just outside of Squiretown Park in Hampton Bays into the home base for a local nonprofit.

The Southampton Town Board recently put on hold a proposed stewardship agreement with the Ecological Culture Initiative, or ECI, a new nonprofit led by Marc Fasanella of Hampton Bays, that, if approved, would allow his organization to update one of the hamlet’s oldest homes and use it as its headquarters, although further details about the agreement were not immediately available. But at last week’s Southampton Town Board meeting, Councilman John Bouvier requested that the legislation be tabled, noting that several department heads have raised concerns over the future use of the house.

On Tuesday, Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman clarified Mr. Bouvier’s concern, stating that his counterpart on the board is worried that the plan now on the table would not return any money to the town’s affordable housing fund—even though ECI intends to finance all proposed renovations to the building.

The Red Creek Road house was originally purchased by the town, along with Squiretown Park formally known as Camp Tekakwitha, in 2007 for $16 million with the intention of using the home for affordable housing; that idea was never completed due to the extensive amount of renovations required to update the structure.

It came a little quickly," Mr. Bouvier said of the proposed stewardship agreement. "There were a lot of details that needed to be reviewed. I have no questions that ECI would be a good steward and a good partner. My questions are the original intent of the property."

Mr. Fasanella could not be immediately reached for comment this week.

Town Board members, meanwhile, are expected to revisit the stewardship agreement proposal at their meeting on Tuesday, May 23, starting at 6 p.m., at Southampton Town Hall.

In an earlier interview, Mr. Fasanella outlined his vision for the house, located at 62 Red Creek Road. He wants to transform the building into a field-based learning center for local, regional and international students so they can research ecological challenges threatening the world’s aquatic and terrestrial resources. Some of the “regenerative design” features proposed by the ECI for its future center would include a system for the collection of rainwater for reuse in the house, the installation of solar panels to power the building, and the establishment of a nearby “food forest”—a gardening technique that mimics a woodland ecosystem and features edible trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals.

If an agreement can be reached, the two-story house, which has sat vacant for years, would serve as both a home for the future facility caretaker and as a small classroom for students who will be studying the park’s ecosystem.

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