Letters

In a document titled “Application for Major Subdivision Approval,” submitted to Southampton’s Planning Board, Discovery Land of Arizona identified its proposed golf course resort in East Quogue as the “Lewis Road PRD.”

Here’s how Discovery Land described the project: “Cluster subdivision with 118 lots/units with customary recreational accessory use, including 18-hole golf course, and 12 workforce housing units.”

That description is not a PRD (planned residential development). It’s an as-of-right subdivision with an accessory golf course. I believe the golf course was determined to be a variance that required approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals. But that’s it.

Any open space on a PRD (outside the cluster subdivision) is unbundled from the subdivision and may be sold separately. For example, the open space on a PRD located on Lewis Road, opposite Discovery Land’s golf course resort, has been sold five times to five different owners.

So if Discovery Land’s application were a PRD, the golf course could not be accessory. Because a PRD allows open space to be sold, Discovery Land should have been required to explain why they submitted an application for a PRD; i.e, what they planned to do with the open space.

This application is a perfect example of why Southampton Town’s zoning code is a confusing mix of overlapping ordinances. Regardless, I believe the application should have been rejected, because the project as described is not a PRD.

Susan Cerwinski

East Quogue