Letters

Our 6-year-old loves Dr. Seuss’s classic “The Lorax,” a cautionary tale featuring a dapper, environmentally minded gentleman spitting into the wind as he attempts to “speak for the trees.” He does so over the indifference of a rapacious salesman producing fast fashion “thneeds,” amorphous unflattering garments that he insists “everyone needs.” He persists as the colorful, life-giving trufula trees are uprooted en masse, leaving a barren, lifeless factory-dotted hellscape choked with smoke.

We should be thankful that Southampton Town Highway Superintendent Charles McArdle and the Town Board have boldly taken up the cause of open space and a road that can’t speak for itself [“Discovery Land Sparring With Southampton Highway Superintendent Over Rights to Dirt Road Through East Quogue Golf Course,” 27east.com, April 23]. The town’s provisions on planned residential developments, the vehicle used to create The Hills Golf Course Community, were designed to promote developments that “preserve the natural and scenic qualities of open lands in order to provide larger areas of open space, both for recreational and conservation purposes” (town code, Section 247-1).

The code is supposed to lead to development that gives back to the community, with design elements born of compromise and hewing to the Comprehensive Plan for safeguarding the rural, scenic nature of Southampton. The original application spoke repeatedly of “Spinney Road” and pledged to keep aspects of the layout of a preexisting farmland subdivision. The road’s former use as a biking path speaks to the hankering of residents to find a way to be in nature while seeking recreation in the Pine Barrens.

In another disheartening development, The Southampton Press reported this week that the quaint courtyard on Jobs Lane that has, in recent years, hosted seasonal pop-ups from time to time is going to be demolished and replaced by a back parking lot and two-story structures fronting the street [“ARB Approves Demo of Jobs Lane Courtyard and Shops,” 27east.com, April 24]. It seems it was successfully argued that there was nothing worth preserving.

When I sat on the Southampton Village Planning Board, I began to be told that our code provisions for parkland set-asides and the maintenance of scenic views and open space were archaic and no longer binding. I was pointed, instead, in the direction of selectively chosen case law that favored unhindered development. The law, and the threat of lawsuit, was used as a cudgel, instead of the framework for balancing private and public interests that it is.

If we continue to go down that path, with land use boards cowed into silent acquiescence, instead of championing the active negotiation that the codes require, we will end up with the equivalent of a pile of no-longer-trendy “thneeds” and no place to play.

If the unpaved part of Spinney Road could one day lead to a park, or affordable housing, or a walking trail, “unless ...” — then it’s probably worth speaking up.

Willa J. Bernstein

Southampton