New Voices, Applause for Hampton Bays Downtown Revitalization Concept at Express Sessions event

Ever since Alfred Caiola — a developer and longtime Hampton Bays resident — unveiled his ambitious vision for a revitalized downtown center in Hampton Bays, critics have voiced concern and downright opposition. Last Thursday, a new, supportive and enthusiastic voice came to the fore during an Express News Group Express Sessions event, tabbed “Change is Coming to Hampton Bays.”

Audience members gathered for a lunchtime panel discussion at Oakland’s Restaurant on April 28 applauded when Caiola had discussed his ideas, then asked, “Do you like what you see? Do you not like what you see? Can we get some support so we can make that effort?”

Cheers and a shout of “Yes! Yes! Yes!” prompted the developer, who’s purchased a dozen parcels on the north side of Montauk Highway, to respond, “You like what you see, we can pursue it.”

Said audience member John Leonard to more applause, “Notwithstanding a very, extremely vocal minority in our community, most people I talk to are enthusiastic about a plan for the revitalization of the Hampton Bays business district. I can honestly say that the Hampton Bays community is behind these efforts.”

Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Manhattan-based Caiola Real Estate Group, Caiola first revealed his wholesale revitalization plan during a Southampton Town Board work session in 2021. “Our vision is a very heartfelt vision,” he said last week. “It’s something I’m personally invested in, not just financially, but because I want this town to have a beautiful center.”

The concept involves creating a new Main Street perpendicular to the existing central street, Montauk Highway. The street would run to Good Ground Park, providing access to a property Caiola described as” a 36-acre hidden treasure few people even know exist.” When he heard the park was nearing completion, he said he and his team felt, “We knew it could be our diamond in the rough, the catalyst to help provide a special centerpiece in a pedestrian-friendly suburban downtown experience for Hampton Bays.”

Christine Taylor, president of the Hampton Bays Chamber of Commerce and a panelist at the event, agreed. The park, “has so much potential, we need to open it up so more people can use it and make it be what it was meant to be,” she said.

“We could create a new Main Street that leads directly to the park, both pedestrian and vehicle friendly, with stores one after the other, wide sidewalks and outside dining,” Caiola continued.

Shops could be built along the new Main Street, offering an ambiance of a walkable village with boutiques and sidewalk cafes, while providing some second story or third story space for apartments in buildings with varying rooflines. Head in parking and wide, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks complete the vision.

An access road to the west near Cemetery Road would lead to the park, meeting up with the roundabout at the park’s western border. The area where that access would be has been cleared, Caiola said. It was “infested with homeless,” and filled with garbage, some 40, 20-yard containers’ worth. The developer emphasized the entrance to the access road would be “right turn only,” to keep drivers from using it as a cut-through to avoid rush hour congestion. He also suggested the gate to the park at Squiretown Road could also be closed at rush hour.

A road along the park would accommodate more retail shops.

The developer envisions an interior area for residential uses. There would be a third road, running parallel to Montauk Highway, located between the park and the townhomes. It wouldn’t cut all the way through. Three or four buildings he described as “home-like” would house three or four town homes that could be rentals or for sale. Caiola said he always contemplated some affordable housing in the development, what percentage of the residential portion would be so dedicated has yet to be determined. They’d be affordable for local professionals.

Panelist Curtis Highsmith, executive director of the Southampton Town Housing Authority, noted that over the last two years, a third of home sales in the hamlet were brought in under affordable housing programs. “That says a lot for the opportunity here,” he said. “All change creates opportunity for improvement,” the housing advocate said.

Discussion of the Caiola plan dominated the event, which kicked off with Taylor articulating existing conditions in the hamlet’s business district. Businesses are struggling to get the traffic they need, she said. Councilman Rick Martel, a resident and business owner, reckoned he’s making less money now than he did in the 1980s.

“Change isn’t coming, change has been going on in Hampton Bays,” Martel said, listing an array of businesses, like the diner, that have been lost, as people choose to go elsewhere to shop. The hamlet has become a destination where people drive to just one store “and you’re done,” Martel said.

Providing historical context, Historical Society President Brenda Sinclair Berntson said transportation was a driving force behind the downtown’s development. The arrival of the railroad shifted the center west from Canoe Place along the Shinnecock Canal. Construction of the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway made it easier for people to travel to the East End and enjoy leisure activities like fishing.

But Berntson pointed out a difference as the discussion wore on. During settlement years, people built their businesses and homes near each other. Business properties were owner-occupied. More often now, tenants occupy shops along Montauk Highway. She questioned whether some landlords even know where Hampton Bays is, other than a place where rent checks come from. “I do believe that has hurt us,” she said

A revitalization effort that provides new rental opportunities could incentivize landlords to improve their buildings as a way to retain their tenants, Taylor opined. Additionally, she noted that many business owners have been “in limbo,” waiting for years to see what that revitalization effort might entail. If zoning is changed to allow expansion or wet uses like restaurants, people might be more willing to invest in improvements.

There was zoning that would have allowed for it — for a few months. Local resident Gayle Lombardi sued to overturn the Hampton Bays Downtown Overlay District, and the courts found in her favor, nullifying the code revisions.

Code changes like the overlay district would have to be enacted to allow for Caiola’s vision to come to fruition. Panelist and Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman reiterated an oft-voiced explanation: Current zoning would mean more of the same in the hamlet. It allows for box stores, with parking lots along the road. If the zoning isn’t changed, what would eventually be developed would not align with what the community wants, he posited. If the community supports Caiola’s vision, the Town Board can work on zoning that would allow that to happen, the supervisor said.

Asked how long it would take to create the new Main Street development, Caiola estimated three years.

“The sewer is the thing,” the developer emphasized. He initially proposed a treatment plant on property to the west of the park, near Good Ground Cemetery.

“No one likes the site,” Caiola said, debunking worry that it would be smelly and ugly. “In 2023, it can be done in a way that doesn’t create odor, can be screened with greenery, no one would even see the site.”

Schneiderman warned that the creation of a sewer district takes years and millions of dollars.

But Caiola said he could find a site among his parcels and create a sewage treatment plant for his own development, build it with enough capacity to handle stores along Montauk Highway, and sell the extra capacity to the town.

“I could do it. Create it, file it, get it done, and then they could buy that extra reserve capacity from us and it would happen quicker,” he said to another round of applause from the audience. The developer noted the downtown district generates over 50,000 gallons of wastewater per day.

“That’s the size of a giant full-sized swimming pool. Every day, toilet water in the ground,” he said, adding, “It’s disgusting.”

The town, meanwhile, is analyzing a half-dozen different sites that could accommodate a town run treatment plant, the supervisor informed.

The lawsuit that nullified the overlay district “didn’t mean stop everything,” Geraldine Spinella, president of the Hampton Bays Civic Association, asserted. People were happy to see plans like Caiola’s and then “nothing happened.”

“Twenty years of discussion resulted in nothing,” Spinella said.

“We keep recreating the wheel,” Berntson said.

While attendees appeared predominantly supportive at the event, familiar voices dominated the microphone when it was brought to the audience for comments and questions.

Hamlet resident Ray D’Angelo argued with Caiola, suggesting he wants to “alienate” the park by putting a road through it. It’s an access to the park, the developer clarified, describing Good Ground Park as a “closed, lonely, sleepy place.”

“I go there all the time,” D’Angelo interrupted.

He charged Schneiderman with being a “shill” for business, while the development should benefit all the hamlet’s resident, and derided the Express Sessions as “very undemocratic. “ It should have been held at the high school so more people could attend. He was advised the event was a private one hosted by The Express News Group, and assured any development would be the subject of town-hosted public hearings.

The community member, a fixture at most Town Board meetings, refused to relinquish the microphone until it was turned off.

Lombardi, who launched the suit that nullified the overlay district, identified herself as “the Queen of Obstruction,” a term she said Caiola used to describe her on social media. Leveling criticism at town officials, she emphasized the overlay district was struck down because the judge found officials had failed to follow previously adopted plans and segmented the review, failing to adequately conduct an environmental review. For over 10 years, town officials have done planning and development review “on a soundbyte basis,” she said.

Hamlet resident Marion Boden said that while she supports affordable housing, the problem is density. If the housing could be built without increasing the hamlet’s density, she’d be in favor of it. Better still, housing efforts should be focused east of the Shinnecock Canal, where it’s most lacking.

Elizabeth Hook directed her question to Schneiderman. If he said he wants to honor community sentiment, why hasn’t he honored the over 2,000-signature petition asking officials to make the former Bel-Aire Cove Property a park?

“I would have signed it myself,” Schneiderman said. According to the lawmaker, the petition asked if people want a park or “high density development” when high density development is not what was planned.

Schneiderman opined community consensus and support for initiatives, “depends on the room you’re in.”

His question, “How many people in this room think that what Mr Caiola’s laid out would be a good thing for Hampton Bays?” triggered raucous applause. The next query, “How many think it would be a bad ?” was met with just isolated clapping.

“It’s hard to say who’s the voice for Hampton Bays” Schneiderman observed. “It’s hard to figure out what the pulse is in Hampton Bays. There’s lots of voices.”

A sold out effort,the event was attended by a different group of people then have been seen speaking to the revitalization idea, giving rise to an observation by Express News Group Executive Editor Joseph P. Shaw: “There is no one voice in Hampton Bays.”