Letters

The Shinnecock continue building a gas station on the Westwoods property in Hampton Bays despite a stop-work order issued by the Town of Southampton that cites failure to file a plan and work that has been done in the town road’s right of way [“Hampton Bays Residents Call for Road Closure or Protests To Slow Shinnecock Gas Station Construction,” 27east.com, August 28]. None of the neighbors adjacent to the property has been contacted, and no one outside of some of the members of the Shinnecock Nation and their corporate partners seem to know what’s going on.

There has been no environmental plan shared despite a promise, in July, to provide one to the Hampton Bays Civic Association. Indeed, whatever may have been done in the past was for a different construction project, one that called for exit ramps off Sunrise Highway. Instead, because the state has not granted permission to the Shinnecock to use non-Shinnecock land to create such exit ramps, sole access to the gas station is now via Newtown Road, a small residential road adjacent to Peconic Bay.

The neighbors whose property abut the construction project will surely face a reduction in home value. When they grieve their taxes this year, the case will go directly to the town’s sole assessor of property values — who is also the Shinnecock Nation’s chairwoman. That’s right, the person in charge of the group ignoring the town’s stop-work order is a town employee paid by the taxpayer.

The Shinnecock claim the right to do whatever they want on their land, with no oversight. But who will come when there’s a fire? Who will respond to crime or an accident on site? Where will they get their water? And who will pay for these services?

Everyone understands that the issues are complicated when it comes to regulatory oversight of a sovereign nation. That’s why we are asking the town to do what it can do, immediately, before the tractor-trailers start coming off Sunrise Highway at Exit 65 and lining up on Newtown Road for cheap diesel.

Restrict commercial vehicles on Newtown Road. Better yet, the town should stop Newtown Road to the west of Westwoods so that traffic cannot get through in that direction. A large group of concerned citizens asked for exactly that at last night’s Town Board hearing.

Diana Adams

Hampton Bays