Politics & Government
Hearing on Annexation of Bishops Pond Continues Thursday
Southampton Village weighs annexing half of a new housing development that falls on both sides of the village border, but Southampton Town must agree too.
The Southampton Village Board and Southampton Town Board will convene again Thursday to continue a joint public hearing on possibly expanding the village's western boundary to encompass a new housing development.
The Beechwood Organization's luxury condo development, named Bishops Pond at Southampton Village, straddles the border, but the developers would like the entire complex to be within the village.
The condos are taking shape east of Magee Street, where a cement and composting site once was.
During the first hearing date May 9, Ed Deyermond, a former town town assessor speaking on behalf of the developers, said that of the 77 units planned there are eight that are cut by the village boundary and 23 that are in the town, while the balance of units are wholly within the village.
For the annexation to go through, both the village and the town must agree to it.
At the May 9 hearing, town resident Elaine Kahl said she was concerned with the precedent redrafting boundaries sets. Village resident Susan Stevenson said, “I am completely against zoning or changes that have to do with specific developers who want something to enhance their investment in land that will be developed."
However, Bonnie Goebert, the chair of the Southampton-Shinnecock Hills-Tuckahoe Citizens Advisory Committee, said the CAC is behind the annexation.
Frances Genovese, a longtime critic of the composting facility that once existed there, told the boards the community is 100 percent in favor. “We feel that the community and the developers deserve the cohesion and protection an annexation will confer,” she said.
David Gilmartin, a Southampton attorney with the law firm Farrell Fritz speaking on behalf of Beechwood, told the boards, “The legal standard for you to consider this is whether it’s in the overall public interest, number one, and number two, whether there is a unity of purpose and facilities that constitute a community here. I would say that the evidence in that regard is overwhelming.”
The hearing continues at 4 p.m. Thursday at Southampton Town Hall in the Town Board meeting room on the second floor.
