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A private meeting that had been scheduled for Friday to discuss plans for a portion of Tuckahoe Road that runs through the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club has been canceled, with at least one potential participant labeling it “premature.”
Those invited to attend the private meeting with Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman at Town Hall were Shinnecock Hills Golf Club President Brett Pickett; former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is a high-profile member of the club; and members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, Tuckahoe School Board, Southampton Hospital and other town officials. Mr. Schneiderman said Town Highway Superintendent Alex Gregor, who would be a key decision-maker on any road change approval, was invited to attend but did not respond to that request.
Shinnecock Hills officials, led by Mr. Pickett and Mr. Bloomberg, have pitched a plan to the town: The club would fund an estimated $5 million rerouting of Tuckahoe Road, which bisects the historic golf course. That section of road would be abandoned, and Tuckahoe Road would be rerouted alongside the golf course instead of through it. The new road then would be donated to the town road system, and the abandoned stretch of road would either be closed to traffic during the summer or removed entirely. The club added other financial incentives to the town as part of the offer.
According to Mr. Schneiderman, the meeting was set up in September as a follow-up to a previous meeting held between Mr. Schneiderman, Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Pickett, in order to listen to other “stakeholders” in the proposed reroute of the road.
The meeting, scheduled for Friday, was canceled after concerns were raised by Southampton Hospital officials that it was too soon to discuss the road’s future. The hospital is seen as a key player, since a planned relocation to the nearby Stony Brook Southampton campus will make traffic patterns a topic of discussion, with ambulance access to the campus being key.
According to Mr. Pickett, he was invited to the meeting by the town as an interested party, not as a petitioner for that proposal. “We’re, of course, interested in hearing what the hospital’s interests are and how that might relate to a community solution for Tuckahoe Road,” he said.
According to Southampton Hospital Director of Marketing and Public Affairs Marsha Kenny, hospital officials felt it was premature for them to get involved in Tuckahoe Road reroute discussions until a partnership agreement with Stony Brook University Hospital is finalized early next year. As part of the collaboration, Stony Brook could allow Southampton to build a new hospital on the Southampton campus, which would replace the current facility in Southampton Village, whose oldest section was built in 1930.
“We just have a lot going on right now—the focus is on the Stony Brook merger,” Ms. Kenny said. “ I think the hospital will look forward to having a discussion about this in the future. Our involvement in discussions at this point in time is premature.”
Mr. Schneiderman made the decision to cancel the meeting on Tuesday, after hospital officials advised the town that they would not be attending. He noted that the meeting was set up several months ago, before a decision to halt proposed reroute discussions was made. “I’m not sure what the point of the meeting would be,” the supervisor said. “I really think that everything is on hold until we know what the hospital is doing. Also, if the highway superintendent isn’t going to entertain any rerouting, that’s the end of the story as far as I’m concerned. He hadn’t confirmed that he would attend.”
Mr. Schneiderman said that due to community opposition to the golf club’s original plan and the uncertainty of the hospital’s needs, he decided there was not anything to discuss.
“There is some indication that planning that hospital, in building it, there may have to be some changes to that intersection,” he said, referring to where Tuckahoe Road meets County Road 39. “[The hospital] has already raised the concerns about the ambulances and railroad tracks. Until we have a clearer sense, which may not be for quite some time, or a clearly revised proposal from the club, I don’t know what we’d be meeting about.”
Tuckahoe Road will be closed for a portion of June 2018 for the U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills.
on Nov 30, 2016