Revamped Supermarket Development Proposed For Tuckahoe

Revised plans for a King Kullen supermarket development in Tuckahoe have been presented to town officials by the owners of a several parcels of land on County Road 39, west of Southampton Village.

The new project, now called the Tuckahoe Center, calls for a 40,000-square-foot King Kullen, 15,000 square feet of retail storefronts, and a bank branch building, all on slightly more than 7 acres of land on the south side of County Road 39, just east of Magee Street. The project would require a change of zone, which must be approved by the Town Board.

The developer, Robert Morrow, and his partners, Lance Nil and Lyle Pike, have not filed a formal application with the town yet, but the plans will be reviewed—and open for public comment—at a Southampton Town Board work session on March 16 as part of the town’s pre-application process.

The proposal is a shadow of the nearly 120,000-square-foot development Mr. Morrow and his partners had proposed two years ago, which included more than 70,000 square feet of retail stores, restaurants and residential apartments, in addition to the supermarket. That project, dubbed Tuckahoe Main Street, died before the Town Board last year after staunch opposition from some Tuckahoe residents, as well as Southampton Village officials and business owners.

The revamped proposal still does not conform to the area’s highway business zoning, so the developers will need the Town Board to grant a change of zone, to a shopping center district, as well as a special exception permit from the Town Planning Board in order to proceed with their plans—both of which present significant regulatory and legal hurdles.

A shopping center district requires at least 5 acres of property and restricts development coverage to 20 percent of the property. It also requires 100-foot setbacks from the roadway, double what the property’s current zoning requires.

In an interview this week, Mr. Morrow said his project would meet the tougher setbacks and development restrictions, a fact he touted as a benefit, since it is less impactful than what would be allowed under current zoning. He also suggested that the highway business designation along the bulk of County Road 39 is outdated and detrimental to the aesthetic and economic characteristics of the region. The proposal, he said, could set the stage for a reconsideration of property development along the busy highway.

“This [project] should be the impetus for change along all of County Road 39,” Mr. Morrow said of the Tuckahoe Center proposal. “Somebody has to change it. Some of those buildings are vacant because of the economy, but most are vacant because they’re un-rentable. They’re a mess, and it’s getting worse. This is one of the most beautiful areas in the country, and to have this as your gateway is deplorable.”

According to the plans submitted to the town, a 100-foot-wide vegetated buffer would be largely recessed in a swale to capture rainwater runoff from the property and allow it to soak back into the ground. The project design sketches are available on the Southampton Town website. He also pledged to use solar panels on all buildings and light fixtures.

The highway business zone, of which much of the County Road 39 corridor was designated on the first zoning maps in 1976, allows for low-traffic businesses like car dealerships, appliance and furniture stores, and service supply businesses. The shopping center district is the only zoning designation that allows for supermarkets, with a maximum size of 40,000 square feet. Mr. Morrow acknowledged that the shopping center district designation has been applied only once before in the eastern portion of Southampton Town, to parts of the Bridgehampton Commons.

Mr. Morrow, Mr. Pike and Mr. Nil already own approximately 13 acres on four parcels north of the highway, about 8 acres of which is zoned only for residential development. The residential portion of the land is not part of the new proposal—portions of it had been used in the Tuckahoe Main Street plans—but the new proposal does include 1.7 acres that now houses a small motel and restaurant that the developers are in contract to buy if they are given the go-ahead for their plans.

Mr. Morrow said he has received favorable feedback from town officials and some residents since first introducing downsized plans in late 2010. But members of the Tuckahoe Citizens Advisory Committee panned the proposal, saying that the developers’ property was a poor site for a supermarket because it would add to already congested traffic along that stretch of highway.

Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley, who had been a vocal opponent of the Tuckahoe Main Street proposal because of the feared impact on village retail businesses, said the new version does lessen some of the concerns that he and other village officials had, and could serve to relieve some of the traffic issues in the village by providing another supermarket option for residents beyond the single Waldbaum’s in the heart of the village.

But Mr. Epley said he is still worried that the project could put more traffic onto village back roads that link Hill Street to County Road 39. The village is currently considering legislation that would encourage the development of a grocery store somewhere within its boundaries and plans for a high-end food market near the intersection of County Road 39, Montauk Highway and Flying Point Road.

“The village is trying to address the need for another grocery store that keeps coming up over and over again,” Mr. Epley said. “I don’t know if we’re going to support this plan or not. I haven’t seen exact size of the project yet, but it might not get such strident opposition as last time.”