The Long Game

This week, unless something truly unexpected occurs, Discovery Land will see a 3-1 vote by the Central Pine Barrens Commission on Wednesday that will, for all intents and purposes, remove the final obstacle to a 118-unit luxury golf course resort on land encroaching on the Pine Barrens in East Quogue. It will be the largest development project in the South Fork’s history — more than 600 acres are involved — and, likely, the most expensive, and lucrative.

It also will be significant in another way: the precedent set will weaken the protections of the Pine Barrens Act, since the commission has chosen to interpret its rules in the most favorable way for the developer. A decision might be reversed by a judge — it’s expected to face a hastily filed legal challenge from environmentalists, which could mean a long stretch in court — but until, and unless, that happens, the Pine Barrens are just a little less protected.

It’s a big win for deep-pocketed Discovery Land and its strategy to play the long game: Stay the course, wait till the opposition tires and the finances on the other side are strained, and be patient. In the end, the bigger checkbook always wins.

There are whispers about the pressure campaign applied over the past few years to local officials from Discovery Land and its emissaries, often politically connected and powerful messengers. Others hint that the company is a gold mine for anyone who needs healthy campaign coffers for future ambitious runs, which is a shoe that fits many feet.

The vote was hardly inevitable. But Southampton Town fought hard for the project, via Pine Barrens Commission member Jay Schneiderman, the town supervisor, and his staff. At every step, the town barely feigned objectivity. It was clearly a project these town officials wanted to get done, in some form or another.

It will take decades to weigh the impact of the project, pro and con, and to decide if the benefits of welcoming an outpost of an international resort club for the most rarefied moneyed class is worth the risks of allowing a golf course in such an environmentally sensitive area.

But one calculation can be completed on the back of an envelope, or even on one’s fingers: Playing the long game works in Southampton Town, especially when the stakes are highest. You can be sure that’s a message that will find attentive ears.