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Rendering of original Tuckahoe Center proposal
A new proposal has emerged for the Tuckahoe Center project.
The proposal—a 52,000-square-foot building complex with a supermarket and retail center along County Road 39 at Magee Street in Tuckahoe—has been a subject of heated debate for years. On Tuesday, August 9, the Southampton Town Board referred a revised version of the plan to the Suffolk County Planning Commission for an opinion.
The proposal seeks to rezone three adjoining properties along the southeastern side of County Road 39 from highway business to shopping center business zoning. Additionally, it asks for a change of zone for a fourth parcel, which adjoins the northeastern side of Magee Street, from residential to shopping center business zoning.
A previous plan failed to win the support of the Planning Commission last December. As a result, the change of zone would have required the approval of a supermajority of the five-member Town Board, rather than a simple three-member majority.
A revised plan from the developer behind the proposal, Bob Morrow, was submitted to the town earlier this summer. It includes a 10-percent reduction of building area compared to the last proposal, reducing it to 52,500 square feet. This would result in a 38,000-square-foot grocery store and an additional 14,500 square feet of other commercial space in three separate buildings, all on 7.26 acres.
The revision also eliminates a proposed drive-through lane associated with one of the smaller commercial buildings, increases the landscaped area by 13,000 square feet, and increases the number of parking spots from 249 to 257.
At Tuesday’s Town Board meeting, the board voted to refer the amended plan, and a corresponding letter on traffic, to the Suffolk County Planning Commission and the town’s traffic consultant to determine if the revisions addressed their concerns related to traffic impact.
The letter to the town, dated July 22, indicates that developers believe that removing the drive-through window and other reductions made in the revised plan “are significant in terms of traffic mitigation.”
At the recent Town Board meeting, Southampton Citizens Advisory Committee member Evelyn Boxer said she believed the revisions submitted are not enough to address the concerns about traffic that residents have. “It just seems ridiculous for this to be considered again,” she said. “Please don’t be fooled—he just wants the same old thing.”
Linda Ashcraft, a Shinnecock Hills resident, shared this opinion, noting there are no plans to provide a left turn signal at the light or widen lanes for turns.
“In the last two years, there has been an increase of northbound traffic on Magee Street to County Road 39 that now can stack up as far back as south of the railroad tracks,” she said. “If a shopping center is needed, then an appropriate location should be found and roads and intersections should be improved to accommodate it. This proposal at this location, not only does not accomplish this, it creates increased negative impact in an already difficult traffic and safety situation.”
She added that the two proposed curb cuts for the development on County Road 39 would only worsen already-existing traffic congestion in the area.
