North Haven Park Plans To Be Vetted By Southampton Councilman, CPF Officials

Southampton Town will hold a pair of informal public hearings over the next two weeks on the development plans for the new park North Haven Village has proposed for the Lovelady Powell property at 19 Sunset Beach Road, which the town purchased in 2022 with funds from the Community Preservation Fund, and the adjoining parcel at 257 Ferry Road, which includes the manmade Cilli Pond, and which was acquired earlier by the town.

The hearings will be held on Wednesday, August 16, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall in Southampton, and on Thursday, August 24, at 6 p.m., at North Haven Village Hall.

Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni, a North Haven resident, will preside over both sessions.

“The Town of Southampton looks forward to the development of a beautiful passive park, connecting existing green space in the Village of North Haven,” he said in a release.

Schiavoni will be joined by Jaqueline Fenlon, the director of the town’s Community Preservation office, and Daniel McCormick, a town attorney. Schiavoni said the village would also be represented if it wanted, but Mayor Chris Fiore said he would likely remain in the audience, saying “I have input that I think is valuable on the other side of the table.”

Schiavoni said that the town has wanted to weigh in on plans being devised by the village because the town has paid for both properties.

The announcement of the hearings comes even as the village’s parks advisory committee and the not-for-profit committee the village has created to make money for the endeavor were preparing to unveil their draft master plan at the August Village Board meeting, which has now been posted until August 23. The Village Board had also planned to air the recently completed master plan to the public when it meets on September 27, but it remains to be seen if that will be the case.

“That plan has been overridden by the desire of the town to hold its own meeting on August 16,” said Fiore. “Councilman Schiavoni wanted to move the schedule up as soon as possible so the village could present its plan to him and the CPF” representatives.

Fiore said he hoped the town-sponsored hearings would have the same result as he hoped for from the earlier scheduled village hearings. “Let’s hear from the people,” he said. “We want to please the majority of the people.”

Ever since the Powell property was acquired last year, a group of vocal residents have opposed Fiore’s handling of the planning process, with complaints that he was moving too fast and ignoring environmental safeguards. Fiore has responded that the plans thus far have only included two trails, a foot bridge and a pollinator garden and had yet to be formally presented to the public.

The August 16 meeting at Town Hall will be in-person and via zoom, while the North Haven meeting will be in-person only. Call the Southampton Town Council office at 631-287-5745 for information.