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A local civic group is asking Southampton Town to enact a moratorium on projects at the Riverside traffic circle.
A plan to redevelop a defunct gas station site on the Riverside traffic circle prompted members of a local civic organization to call for a building moratorium. KITTY MERRILL
Residents concerned about a new development, including a 7-Eleven, on the traffic circle in Riverside have asked Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman for a moratorium on projects there until the issue can get more scrutiny.
But on Monday, Mr. Schneiderman declared, “I don’t need a moratorium to prevent something that can’t be done.”
Whether the project can meet the current zoning is a significant hurdle to clear before the plan could come to fruition — and Mr. Schneiderman said he isn’t so sure it can. “A 7-Eleven is not a permitted use,” he said.
Despite there being three 7-Elevens within walking distance of the property, that’s what developers propose.
If approved by town planners, the development would comprise a 3,000-square-foot 7-Eleven convenience store plus a gas station with a dozen fueling stations on the site, located at the southeast side of the circle, where an abandoned gas station currently sits. The proposal has been the target of impassioned opposition. And last week came a request for the adoption of a moratorium.
Speaking on behalf of the Flanders, Riverside and Northampton Community Association, its president, Vincent Taldone, criticized the proposal as “the exact opposite” of what land planners and community members envisioned for the vicinity when putting together a revitalization plan. That plan anticipates pedestrian-centric development and, looking at a convenience store and a gas station, Mr. Taldone said, “I can’t think of two uses that are more automotive intensive.”
In a letter to the board the previous day, and in testimony before the board, Mr. Taldone asked officials to invoke a one-year moratorium on the development of all gas station and related uses in the Riverside hamlet center.
During Planning Board review of the proposal, agents for the property owner, a company called 9-11 Flanders LLC, explained that the proposed convenience store and gas station is the most economically feasible development strategy, given the delay in the creation of a sewer district promised for the area.
This service station may be turned back by the Planning Board, as a previous application was, Mr. Taldone noted, adding that the current owner wants to build something to begin generating income. The property has lain fallow for over a decade, and Mr. Taldone said he understood the desire to derive a benefit for the taxes paid.
Still, he continued, “Much as I am sympathetic, I think we have to put the brakes on here.”
The store is being described as an accessory to the gas station, and the developer will have to convince the Zoning Board of Appeals of the store’s accessory status.
“They may have a problem with that,” Town Attorney James Burke opined. In similar situations, 7-Eleven is usually considered the primary use, he said.
“They need to understand what they’re up against — it’s not going to be so simple,” the supervisor pointed out.
The lawmaker was also sympathetic to the property owner’s plight, as well as the frustration of neighbors burdened by blight.
“When you drive through the area, it’s heartbreaking. Boarded-up building after boarded-up building,” he said. “But you also say, ‘God! What an opportunity this would be.’”
A moratorium isn’t an answer Mr. Schneiderman embraces. Instead, he wonders whether a handful of property owners in close proximity to the site might come together for the creation of a smaller phase of a sewer solution. Town property in the area could be dedicated for a smaller sewage treatment facility — a phase one project rather than the full-scale, $50 million sewer system imagined to provide for the entire area.
Speaking at the March 23 meeting, Mr. Taldone noted that the adopted Riverside Redevelopment Action Plan never contemplated the idea of smaller sewage treatment facilities for the area. Working toward such a facility could justify a moratorium.
Harkening back to early discussions of the revitalization plan, Mr. Schneiderman recalled, “That corner was so critical.” Voicing the frustration with delays of those involved, he said, “Every time I drive by there, I go, ‘Come on, we’ve gotta make something happen here.’”
He tasked Mr. Taldone with compiling a list of property owners who could be brought to the table to come up with an interim measure.
