Rebellious Crowd Packs Auditorium For Redevelopment Forum In Hampton Bays

At 7:15 p.m. on Monday night, August 29, the standing-room-only crowd in the 500-seat auditorium at Hampton Bays High School began to clap, like concertgoers impatient for the show — which was slated to begin at 7 p.m. — to start.

But it wasn’t music the assemblage was waiting to hear: It was the panel of professionals on hand to speak at the Hampton Bays Civic Association forum, which aimed to dispel misinformation about the revitalization and proposed redevelopment of the hamlet.

Town officials are in the process of trying to create an overlay zoning district to make way for the redevelopment. The overlay district originally approved by the town was thrown out by a judge last year following a lawsuit by a district resident challenging how it was passed.

At the same time, Alfred Caiola, a Hampton Bays resident and developer, has purchased a dozen or more parcels in the hamlet on the north side of Montauk Highway, near Good Ground Park. He has pitched a plan to revitalize the downtown business district by creating both commercial and residential buildings. It includes a sewer treatment plant proposed on a parcel he owns.

The forum was marked by bursts of applause and, as time wore on and presenters continued to talk, heckling. By the end of the forum, a promised straw vote, with the goal of deriving a sense of the community, fell by the wayside.

Audience members, clearly frustrated, simply got up and exited the hall.

Some 90 minutes in, shouts of “Vote! Vote!” filled the auditorium. Hecklers called for an end of the meeting, and dozens of people began to leave.

Hampton Bays Civic Association President Maria Hults attempted to ask for a vote; her first question was a vague query about how many people favored revitalization.

The next question prompted more verbal outbursts. Hults asked whether residents would prefer a downtown with “big-box stores.” A cacaphony of groaning and booing ensued, followed by a mass exodus.

As they filed into their seats almost two hours earlier, Hults complained that opponents were “packing the house.”

“Who cares, as long as they leave here with correct information,” Town Councilwoman Cynthia McNamara said.

Opponents stole her clipboard, Hults complained.

Opening the proceedings, she had warned that if comments were not positive, she’d ask a speaker to step down. “I want to keep this civil at all times,” she said.

Later on, when complaints shouted from the audience became more frequent, loud, and impassioned, Hults threatened to close the meeting.

Supervisor Jay Schneiderman was the first official to offer comments.

“Our job is to listen to you,” he assured. “Nobody can say anything that’s wrong.”

The lawmaker expressed a desire to “begin the process again” and “start fresh.”

Alluding to recent news that a section of the scoping document prepared by the consulting firm Nelson Pope Voorhis as part of the overlay district legislation contained language suggesting opponents’ views could be “neutralized” by discrediting them, he apologized for signing the contract without catching and removing the language. The contract was subsequently rescinded and the passage removed from the scoping section.

“We will work extra hard to make sure we earn your confidence,” Schneiderman said. “We have an even tougher job now.”

Town Planning and Development Administrator Janice Scherer took the microphone next. Town officials want to reflect back in zoning what the community wants: “You’re going to get what you want if we can hear from you,” she said.

NPV partner Carrie O’Farrell followed. She methodically offered a lengthy history of planning efforts that led to the adoption of the overlay district, which was first approved by the Town Board and then annulled last year after the environmental review performed with the consultants and town staff was deemed deficient.

As her talk and PowerPoint presentation wore on, audience members got restless. “This is a mistake!” one shouted out.

And the screen went dead.

While technicians worked to restore the program, engineering consultant Stephen Hayduk took over to discuss the planned sewage treatment plant tentatively proposed for 30 Cemetery Road.

His company, Hayduck Engineering LLC, crafted a report focused on the site, and he discussed why a sewage treatment plant is preferable to existing, antiquated cesspools and septic systems that currently serve businesses downtown.

He said after the report focused on 30 Cemetery Road was completed, his team analyzed other sites, but they were unsuitable.

He also refuted a rumor that the plant would process 300,000 gallons per day. That’s double what’s planned, he said.

Sludge would not be carted away on a daily basis, he said, looking to allay another concern. Rather, it would be held in tanks and removed every 20 or 30 days.

County health department variances will be needed for the plant’s building, but proposed leaching pools comply with Suffolk County regulations.

Hayduk emphasized that the sewer district would treat wastewater and decrease nitrogen loading, something that isn’t happening under current conditions. To the concern that the plant would only serve a small area, he said, “This is common on Long Island.”

Technical glitches resolved, O’Farrell returned to the podium. To address a concern about the height of proposed structures — opponents have worried about hulking, four-story buildings — she explained that the overlay district calls for allowing 3½-story buildings that can take up no more than 60 percent of overall building heights and run no longer than 72 feet along a streetscape before smaller structures are required to break up the look.

Moving to traffic concerns, she said there’s a plan to come up with improvements, “even if there is new development.”

Barry Long of the firm Urban Design Associates, a consultant for Caiola, began a presentation via Zoom teleconference. The presentation reiterated one offered by the team during a Town Board work session focused on Caiola’s vision last year.

The audience wasn’t having it.

By now, the meeting had gone on for 55 minutes. “This is a waste!” shouted one audience member. “Open the floor!” another hollered. “Come on, Jay!” yelled a third.

One woman protested, “We already saw this,” as others complained that they couldn’t hear the presentation or see what was on via Zoom, which was viewable only on a small screen at the front of the auditorium.

“We could end the meeting right now,” Hults said, and was shouted down.

Scherer stepped in and promised a further discussion of the developer’s vision at a future date. She emphasized that any plan would have to go through a long process of hearings and approvals. The Town Board crafts the code, the landowner proposes a plan that officials may or may not approve, she stressed.

Caiola was present at the meeting but did not speak.

Ray D’Angelo elicited applause and cheers when he took the microphone. A frequent critic of the Town Board and the overlay district, he asked, “Why do we want to do this?” There would be more traffic, more parking problems, the water supply will be challenged, and higher taxes, he predicted.

“This whole exercise is to increase density and to be profitable for the developer. It’s not for us,” he said to boisterous applause and clamor.

Increased population density was a concern raised by several speakers.

Petti Cellura said she learned that Hampton Bays, the most populous hamlet in the Town of Southampton, has 1,062 people per square mile. She demanded to know how many apartments are planned.

“Just tell me now,” she persisted. “How many apartments actually will be built over this commercial property?”

The zoning had a theoretical build-out of 10 years, Scherer explained. Right now, current zoning would allow 101 apartments. The zoning for the overlay district assumed 248. Subtract the two, and it would allow 147 more.

Asked whether the apartments would be two or three bedrooms, Scherer reiterated that the town adopts the zoning, then any developer would have to propose plans and undergo a review process. Officials can’t know what a developer has in mind.

“So you have no idea how you’re going to increase the population of this hamlet,” Cellura said.

The sewage treatment plant was another focal point of concern. Robert Jay acknowledged that people fear development. But “septic is not the way to go,” he said. “Let’s join the modern world.” Though he appeared to favor the creation of a sewer district, he noted, “The town is not looking out for our best interests.”

“My concern is the vagueness of this whole presentation,” John Bourgal asserted. He wants more specifics about the sewage treatment plant and said, “The location is abominable.”

“Would you put one in Southampton Village?” he asked, then answered his own question, “I doubt it,” to uproarious applause and cheers.

Southampton Village actually has an operating sewage treatment plant, at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

Gayle Lombardi, the resident who launched the legal action that struck down the overlay district’s first iteration, has criticized the process since the beginning. Opponents called it “Jahn’s kitchen sink,” after the New York City ice cream parlor known an offering that included putting all its flavors and toppings into one bowl.

Introducing herself, she noted she had been one of the opponents likely targeted for “neutralizing” and has been subjected to criticism even from Civic Association members. Hults attempted to stop her input to shouts of “Let her speak!” from the audience.

“We’ve heard this presentation before,” Lombardi said. “Why should we believe them?”

While the supervisor said they were starting from scratch, O’Farrell recently said her firm would just be “tweaking” the original legislation. NPV has no intention of starting from scratch, Lombardi asserted. Town officials have to go back and “actually listen to us,” she said. Applause interrupted. “Let them come to a meeting like this with something they damn well know we want.”