Letters

I was happy in semi-retirement until the Hampton Bays Downtown Revitalization Plan, in a district zoned village business, was gaining traction. The usual watchdog organizations were seemingly not paying attention to some negatives, such as a sewer treatment plant between the cemetery and Main Street for starters.

Fortunately, Gayle Lombardi realized these plans were not following the town’s own codes, which were adopted not to stifle progress but for environmental benefits and orderly growth. It should be noted that these codes were based on sound planning without any specific development plan in mind, so they are relatively unbiased. Professional long-term planning for orderly growth beneficial to the community.

Unfortunately, the town’s reaction to Gayle’s concerns was astoundingly negative. So, as a concerned citizen volunteer, she sacrificed time and money and took it to court. The court ruled that Gayle was right and the town was wrong.

Rather than thank her for saving them from error, the administration treated her as public enemy No. 1, or, as John Leonard, the head of the newly formed Hampton Bays Alliance now calls her, one of the “horribles.”

Then, mostly due to COVID, the real estate market turned upside down. Residential development boomed as commercial properties were in trouble. So we get a “new” plan. This plan, for 10 acres of a larger piece, now contains 200,000 square feet of residential development and only 90,000 commercial. Much of the residential appears to be townhouses with Good Ground Park as their front lawn.

As the proposal effectively shrinks the business possibilities for downtown, it is deceptively called the revitalization of the business district. They also neglect to point out that village business zoning, as is, prohibits strictly residential buildings. But residences above stores, for example, are allowed since they are traditional in our local downtowns.

Much of my concern has been and remains with the town planning/development department. Let me refer to what this newspaper called a “faux pas” blamed on a consultant about a letter to that department and inserted into a town contract. This letter paints opponents as yet unidentified but already labeled as NIMBYists while spreading false information about their motives.

Does anybody really believe these sentiments originated with the consulting firm and not as a reflection of those expressed to them by person or persons unknown in Town Hall? And that’s only one example.

I have glimmers of hope watching our recently elected Town Board. But I know we must stay vigilant. “Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us.”

Marion Boden

Hampton Bays