PDD Extension Requested For Affordable Housing Project In Tuckahoe

The developers of an already-approved 28-unit affordable housing apartment complex in Tuckahoe have asked Southampton Town to extend the approval of a planned development district—at the same time the town is seeking to eliminate PDDs altogether.

The 2.6-acre Tuckahoe project, dubbed Sandy Hollow, was approved three years ago, yet construction still has not begun. According to Southampton Housing Authority Executive Director Curtis Highsmith, work was postponed while the developer waited to secure $30 million in tax credits that relied on the town’s approval of another affordable housing complex in Speonk.

The Tuckahoe project was also held up by litigation in State Supreme Court after five homeowners living near the Sandy Hollow property filed a lawsuit arguing that the town’s approval of the project violated the State Environmental Quality Review Act by not looking closely enough at how the project would affect traffic, groundwater and wildlife. That lawsuit was dismissed in 2016.

Because of this, explained Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, Planning Board approval was delayed and the developers, Georgica Green Ventures in partnership with the Southampton Town Housing Authority, were unable to obtain a building permit and start construction within the required three-year window allowed under their PDD approved by the Town Board in 2014. The PDD is a special form of zoning that allows intense development in exchange for community benefits.

Now the future of the housing project, which was previously slated to be built beginning this summer, is on the line. The Town Board has set a public hearing for June 13 at 1 p.m., at Southampton Town Hall to discuss whether the project’s PDD should be extended by one year.

At the same time, the Town Board has proposed to eliminate PDDs from the town code, considering only applications that were received before June 6, 2016—applications that are also exempted from a one-year moratorium on PDDs currently in place. A public hearing on the proposed removal of PDDs from the Southampton Town Code is scheduled for June 27 at 6 p.m. at the Flanders Community Center.

Both Mr. Schneiderman and Southampton Town Attorney James Burke said at a May 23 Town Board meeting that the request for a Sandy Hollow extension is merely an amendment to an otherwise previously approved PDD, meaning that it would not count as a new PDD.

But Councilwoman Christine Scalera said this week that she found the timing of the request troubling. It was submitted at the same time as the board’s efforts to get rid of PDDs entirely, as well as the board’s push to extend a moratorium on any PDD applications until the full ban is in effect—a public hearing on extending the moratorium is scheduled for the same date as the Sandy Hollow hearing.

“When you look at this, it looks like they’re talking out of every side of their mouth,” she said. “The messages that are being sent by the administration of what’s going on here are mixed at best, and [it] does not make anyone look particularly good.”

Mr. Schneiderman argued that there were a number of PDDs approved by prior town boards, and noted that he felt he needed to honor their decision and not take away past approvals.

“I don’t think this is inconsistent,” he said of the application to extend the PDD for Sandy Hollow. “It’s an earlier approval—one that Christine was a part of—and I am not going to second-guess that board. It would be really disingenuous to block this project for a minor technicality.”

Sandy Hollow calls for 28 studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, intended for middle-income tenants. The tax credits obtained from the state largely will be used to fund construction of the apartment complex, which will require that most be offered at varying fractions of market value, based on the income levels of potential tenants. Rent is to start at about $950 per month.

David Gallo, president of Georgica Green, did not respond to a request for comment.