Letters

I was surprised that the lawsuit brought by environmentalists against the golf course resort in East Quogue (known as the Lewis Road Planned Residential Development) was dismissed for lack of standing, allegedly because homeowners located near the petitioners didn’t join the suit [“Lewis Road Project Suit Dismissed; Opponents Launch Immediate Appeal,” 27east.com, February 24]. Yet a Hampton Bays homeowner single-handedly brought a successful lawsuit against a proposed development in the Hampton Bays downtown business district.

Here’s my interpretation: For over a decade, a golf course has been proposed in East Quogue, each time squelched by opponents citing pollution. So, once again, the argument against the Lewis Road PRD cited pollution. As a result, the judge who dismissed the Lewis Road lawsuit appears to have “heard” only an emphasis on pollution and may have decided that it was too general.

Therefore, in my opinion, as the golf course application progressed over time, the emphasis on the pollution argument should have taken a back seat to matters involving the legal process.

For example, anyone in a community may argue that it’s illegal to file an application with a land use board that contains false information.

To that end, I’d like to call attention to a recent article in which it was reported that Town Board member Cyndi McNamara alleged at a town work session that a Southampton planner reached out to her expressing concern that the Town Board doesn’t support the land use boards [“Southampton Town Board Sets Aside Nearly $400,000 for Legal Bills, Retains Six Firms To Offer Special Counsel,” 27east.com, February 21].

The article accurately pointed out that Ms. McNamara supported the golf course resort at public hearings. But Ms. McNamara also prolifically supported the golf course resort on the old Southampton Press blog site, disapproving bloggers who posted anonymously.

For the record, I never once posted on The Press website. So I believe I’m entitled to ask the name of the Southampton planner who spoke to Ms. McNamara and to ask that planner to publicly define the meaning of a PRD.

My understanding of a PRD is that it consists of two components: cluster housing and open space that may be used for a business. The Lewis Road PRD consists of four components: cluster housing, a golf course, open space dedicated to the town, and about 200 acres of open space that remains usable as a business but that has not been defined.

So I would like to know how each of these four components conforms to the definition of a PRD.

Susan Cerwinski

East Quogue