A vote on an application for a luxury golf resort community in East Quogue, delayed until after next Tuesday’s election, will come before the end of the year, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said this week—which means the current Town Board members will decide its fate, regardless of the election’s outcome.
A vote had been expected before the November 7 election, but the developer failed to meet a deadline to properly notice a mandatory public hearing, delaying it. Some opponents charged that the error was a tactical move intended to push back the vote until next year—when there could be different representation on the board.
Two Town Board members, John Bouvier and Julie Lofstad, have said they are likely “no” votes on the proposed planned development district sought by Discovery Land Company, the Arizona developer behind “The Hills at Southampton.” To approve the PDD, four of the five Town Board members must support it.
Ms. Lofstad is up for reelection next week, and Discovery Land has targeted her, specifically, as the election draws near.
But this week, Mr. Schneiderman stated definitively that members of the current board—including Ms. Lofstad—will vote on the proposed PDD, and most likely before the end of November.
“We’re wrapping it up in this next month,” Mr. Schneiderman said on Monday.
The supervisor, who also is up for reelection on November 7, noted in an earlier interview that he would have preferred that the vote had been held prior to Election Day. He also has said he most likely will vote in favor of the project, citing recent studies focusing its potential environmental impact as compared to a traditional subdivision.
Discovery’s missed deadline came after Ms. Lofstad publicly announced that she would not support the findings statement for The Hills, the last hurdle that must be cleared prior to the board voting on the PDD itself. While its findings statement still will most likely be approved by a 3-2 margin, with fellow Democrat Mr. Bouvier also opposing, Discovery Land needs the support of four Town Board members—known as a supermajority—for the PDD to earn final approval.
On Monday Mr. Schneiderman, an Independence Party member who has already filed the necessary paperwork to change his political allegiance to the Democratic Party, said he intends to introduce a motion to vote on the PDD application at the board’s next meeting on Tuesday, November 14.
The final public hearing on the findings statement—the last step in the State Environmental Quality Review Act—is scheduled for the day prior, November 13, at the East Quogue Elementary School.
Both Republican Town Councilman Stan Glinka, who is up for reelection, and his running mate, Thea Dombrowski-Fry, have declined to say how they would vote on the application, though Mr. Glinka’s public comments have suggest that he is in favor of the proposal. Ms. Lofstad’s Democratic running mate on Tuesday, Tommy John Schiavoni, has said he would oppose the application if it were before him.
Discovery Land is seeking permission for a special zoning change that would allow it to build 118 luxury houses and an 18-hole golf course on roughly 170 acres off Spinney Road in East Quogue. Most of the remaining acreage, or roughly 430 acres, would be preserved as open space as part of the PDD.
Amanda Bernocco on Oct 31, 2017