Letters

The recent article “Wainscott Residents File Village Incorporation Petition With East Hampton Town” [27east.com, December 30] piqued my interest and raised a question that I thought warranted consideration: Is it time for North Sea to incorporate as a village?

Southampton Town government is once again pushing forward with consideration of undesirable levels of development for the hamlet of North Sea: 120 condominium units on a parcel (the “Stachecki” site) sandwiched between Straight Path and Majors Path. The town’s Master Plan calls for 12 single-family homes.

It is time for all elected town officials and appointed board members to prioritize the interests of the people who live here. We are all, no matter where we live in the town, entitled to reasonably rely on the provisions of the Master Plan.

There is a disturbing pattern to the town’s treatment of developers. Just a few years ago, New York Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs proposed building a day camp abutting little Fresh Pond, a water body already degraded by a serious algal bloom. Despite vigorous, lengthy and expensive community opposition to that proposal, the town found the proposed use was consistent with the site’s prior non-conforming use as a tennis camp.

Evidence of the environmental impact (read: sewage) of intensive use by hundreds of campers — not a few dozen tennis players — during the summer months was considered unimportant, and the Day Camp was approved, with the anticipated negative impacts on traffic on winding Majors Path and the waters of Little Fresh Pond.

Arguments favoring proposed intensive development of the Stachecki property will undoubtedly cite its recently updated, non-conforming use designation as “brush and vegetative collection site” to rationalize why building 120 condominiums (or 90, or 70, or 30 ) is a “less intensive” use of the property. No, it is not. Not even close.

Perhaps the time has come for the second-largest hamlet in the town to consider becoming a village; for North Sea to assert its historically independent spirit and take control over decisions that profoundly impact our residents, the environment and the future direction of our community.

Myron Holtz

North Sea