The developers backing a project that aims to renovate the dilapidated Canoe Place Inn and construct 40 townhouses to the eastern bank of the Shinnecock Canal have requested an adjournment of the public hearing on their maritime planned development district proposal, and will most likely secure it at tonight’s Southampton Town Board meeting.
While Gregg and Mitchell Rechler, the cousins behind the proposal, maintain the purpose of the adjournment is simply to process all the feedback they’ve received from the public in recent months—much of it opposing their project—some officials expect that this adjournment, if granted, will give way to an altered plan, one with fewer townhouses. The developers want to raze two restaurants to pave the way for their residential community and reopen the Canoe Place Inn as a catering facility.
“They have said that they’re looking at all of the suggestions that have been made ... and they’re taking them into consideration and they want to bring something back that people are happy with,” Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said Monday night following a debate hosted by the Hampton Bays Civic Association.
Ms. Throne-Holst also noted that this is the second time the town council has sent the Rechlers “back to the drawing board” with their redevelopment plans.
But an altered plan is not guaranteed, Jim Morgo, a consultant and spokesman for the Rechlers, said on Friday. Mr. Morgo said the Rechlers simply want to weigh the comments they’ve been provided and await further feedback from other entities, including the town planning department.
“We’re just putting it on hold,” Mr. Morgo said. “We’re still pursuing it, we still have the support of the community, we still think it’s critical to the revitalization of Hampton Bays.”
The Town Board meeting begins at 6 p.m. tonight at Town Hall in Southampton Village.
Kyle Campbell on Oct 22, 2013