Bel-Aire Site Transferred to CPF, Moving Closer to Demolition

Residents of Hampton Bays commended the Southampton Town Board at its meeting on Tuesday, May 14, for holding a public hearing to consider the donation and transfer of the property housing the former Bel-Aire Cove Motel to the Community Preservation Fund and, later, voting to execute the donation and transfer.

The resolution designates the donation and transfer for open space and refers to the property, at 20 Shinnecock Road in Hampton Bays, as “an appropriate site for park, recreation, open space and conservation purposes,” as opposed to a plan under a prior board to sell the parcel to a developer, with a boutique hotel or senior condominium development envisioned for the site. That plan was abandoned last year in the face of intense push-back from the community.

The town bought the 1.47-acre property fronting Penny Pond Creek, a tidal creek of Shinnecock Bay, in 2019 via a $1.2 million loan from its general fund.

“This property has a lot of history,” Kelly Doyle, an assistant town attorney, told the board. “There are existing buildings on the site and accessory structures. Those have fallen into disrepair. The purpose of the donation and transfer to CPF would be to keep this as a park.”

Demolition of the buildings on the site would be a first step, following asbestos removal, and the bulkhead could be repaired, Doyle said. “And then the property could be preserved for future open space and park uses.”

“I’m also happy to be in communication with the Hampton Bays Civic Association,” said Jacqueline Fenlon, the town’s CPF manager, “so we can take into consideration what the community would like to see here,” which she acknowledged would most likely be a park “that will complement the Trustee property right next door.”

Once the donation to the CPF is complete, “then we can move with the plan to remove the existing motel that is in disrepair, formerly known as Bel-Aire Cove,” she said, “and then we can start another stewardship project which would require a capital project for this.”

Supervisor Maria Moore said that a company has already completed an analysis of and plan for asbestos removal. Tom Houghton, the town engineer, and Nicholas Jimenez, the town’s capital projects manager, have assembled a plan and are working with an environmental company for the asbestos removal, Fenlon said.

“Thank you so much for moving forward on this. It’s been a long six years,” said Gayle Lombardi of Hampton Bays. “From my perspective, for six years, the concerns have always been the safety and well-being of the community.”

“I’m glad to see it seems like it will be short-term that we will see the building down,” said Daria Roulett, who organized a protest and petition drive last year when the prior board was considering development of the site. “That’s really what everyone needs to see, is that building come down, because it’s been long in coming. That it’s going to be preserved is a wonderful thing.”

Ray D’Angelo, president of the Hampton Bays Civic Association, read a letter from the group in which it stated that it “overwhelmingly supports this site to be converted to a passive park.”

“In addition, the Hampton Bays Civic Association members have repeatedly voiced their concern regarding the hazardous conditions at the site,” he added. “This action brings the process one step closer to remediating these conditions.”

He added, however, that “this represents the failure of government.” He had written to former Supervisor Jay Schneiderman in 2017 “about the terrible conditions at the motel,” he said, and “nothing was ever done about this.” Seven years later, “it really represents the indifference and arrogance of the prior administration. And I hope this administration does not follow in the same footsteps, which only got worse when the board … did what they wanted and disregarded anything that the community wanted to do.”

But officials and residents alike were most interested in a timeline for demolition. Bids are due by June 20, Fenlon said. “Then we can award the contract in July, and then after that it’s really just scheduling and making sure that we have appropriate crews. The first step would be the asbestos abatement.”

Demolition could take one or two weeks, she said, but “that’s all contingent on who we award it to, the contracts being done, as well as their own schedule. Hopefully, by the end of the summer, but this is definitely something that we can see done by the end of the year.”