Location: Southold, NY | Status: Active
Summary: Mattituck Creek is a tree-lined waterway feeding into Long Island Sound. It is home to a diversity of birds, including terns, osprey, warblers, hawks, and owls, as well as other wildlife. Fishermen enjoy the creek’s jumbo fluke, scup, and striped bass. And other residents enjoy its sandy beaches, boating opportunities, and all-around beauty. But a developer’s plan to build a pair of gigantic yacht storage buildings on the banks of the creek threatens it all.
The original plan would have expanded Strong’s Yacht Center’s existing facility with two massive structures with footprints of more than an acre each to accommodate 88 yachts, requiring the clear-cutting of 630 mature trees and removing 134,000 cubic yards of marketable sand from a steep slope above the creek. The proposed construction also abuts a 27-acre public nature preserve that includes old-field shrubland/grassland and a mature forest, the integrity of which would be threatened by the yacht center expansion.
The local community has come out strong against this development. A group of concerned citizens came together in 2020 to form the organization Save Mattituck Inlet. Save the Sound has been working with and supporting this group and other community members in their efforts to protect Mattituck Creek and the surrounding area.
In December 2021 Strong’s Yacht Center submitted a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) to the Town Planning Board. In May 2022 the Planning Board determined the DEIS was inadequate for public review, in part for its failure to adequately address topics specifically noted in the April 2021 scope, including impacts from traffic and noise, impacts on groundwater and surface water, impacts on the community from scheduling of construction activities, and an explanation of the public benefit of the project. The developer revised the DEIS in November 2022, and in March 2023 the Town Planning Board accepted the revised document as adequate for public review. In May and June 2023, the Planning Board held public hearings at which Save the Sound staff provided comments. The Town received such a massive outpouring of public comments that it hired a consulting firm to complete the Final EIS (FEIS), released in May 2024.
The County Planning Commission disapproved the yacht center proposal during a special meeting on June 20, 2024. At that meeting, however, the project applicant stated their intention to revise the application. In July 2024, the applicant submitted a new site plan application to the Town Planning Board. The new application proposes one 65,100 square foot building for 56 yachts and purports to reduce sand removal, total building area, and tree removal as compared to the original proposal. Save Mattituck Inlet and Group for the East End submitted letters to the Planning Board explaining why a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) is necessary for the revised site plan application.
Latest Step: On September 6, 2024, the Planning Board sent the applicant a letter informing him the new site plan application was incomplete and requesting additional information, including a Tree Removal Plan and a Landscape Plan. The Planning Board had placed the revised application on the agenda for its meeting on September 9, 2024, but the item was adjourned to a future meeting because the Planning Board was still awaiting the requested additional information from the applicant.
Next Step: Save the Sound continues to track this proposal and support the local community in its opposition to this development. We will see how the Planning Board proceeds once it receives the information it has requested and evaluate next steps from there.
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Last Updated: September 26, 2024