In order for the town’s $36 million purchase at the Wainscott sand pit to go through, both the Peconic Land Trust and the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation must raise $15 million in private funding by Dec. 31, Scott Wilson, the town’s director of land acquisition and management, told a crowd eager to extol the plan at a public hearing on the purchase last Thursday.
That reduces the town’s portion for 38.3 acres of the 70.5-acre lot to $21 million.
The public-private aspect of the purchase had not been previously disclosed.
“The seller retains the right to extinguish this contract if we are unable to raise these private funds before Dec. 31,” he said.
It was a twist that most ignored in their praise, focusing instead on the possibility of having a positive outcome on the property that many feared would be developed into 50 one-acre commercial-industrial building lots known as the Wainscott Commercial Center.
At present the town is calling for 33.3 acres to be preserved for open space and recreation and five to be set aside for “municipal purposes,” paid for with a separate bond.
Still, announcing the public-private partnership only at the very start of the hearing was an unforced error that led to warnings from a couple of residents.
Carolyn Logan Gluck supported the purchase, calling the hoped-for restoration of the land to a “native grassland” a “dream come true.”
“But don’t booby-trap this by not being fully transparent with the community,” she said.
David Buda, who frequently highlights the board’s failure to get documents online ahead of meetings, or for them to be easily found on the town’s labyrinthine website, said, “I hate to have to come up here and chide you and reprimand you each time you just ignore your obligations,” adding that, while “the public is guessing as to what you’re really planning to do, I think it’s generally something that the public will strongly support.”
More than 10 people spoke in support of the plan.
Most comments were focused on the benefit of the purchase to water quality in general, and to Georgica Pond specifically.
“One of the most important lessons we have learned over 11 years is that protecting Georgica Pond means protecting the entire watershed,” said Kim Quarty, the executive director of the Friends of the Georgica Pond Foundation. “What happens on land, even miles from the shoreline, ultimately affects the health of the pond. This is why the future of this property is so important.”
“Georgica Pond is an impaired water body,” said Christopher Gobler, of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. “It’s had intensive blue-green algae, or toxic cyanobacterial blooms. One so intense it literally killed a dog in 2012.”
“This property is in the two-year travel time,” he continued. “So, a development that happens today, within two years, whatever is put into the ground will end up in Georgica Pond.”
He added that forever chemicals had been detected in the groundwater under the property, and that they had traveled to the pond and had been found in blue-claw crabs.
“Any additional activity there will almost certainly add to that load of forever chemicals, because they’re in everything,” he said. “Specifically in industrial applications.”
“Restoring and protecting our groundwater and surface waters is not something we can defer,” said Matt Swain, vice president at the Peconic Land Trust. “As a community, we have one critical chance to get this right and secure this property for the future.”
Others wondered what “municipal purposes” meant.
Larry Cantwell mused “it could very well be used for housing,” while Mark Graham, a Wainscott resident, pressed the board, asking, “How is ‘municipal purposes’ defined?” and then, “Does the town board anticipate that this will be multifamily affordable housing?”
“We have no plans for the municipal portion of the property at this time,” said Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez. “I think that’s the last question I’m going to answer. I mean, we’re here to listen to the public.”
“Well, I’m part of the public and the questions are informative and so thank you for the responses,” said Mr. Graham. “Is multifamily affordable housing a valid municipal purpose?”
“Yes,” answered the supervisor. “It’s probably for a future board to decide.”
On a five-acre parcel of land under current code, 60 units of affordable housing could be built. The Wainscott School District is small, with only a tiny schoolhouse serving just over 20 children in
prekindergarten through third grade. Any increase there could present challenges.
“It really is a turning point for the hamlet,” said Jaine Mehring, who spoke in support of the purchase, noting that the entire parcel is in the water recharge overlay district.
“This is fantastic work,” Marian Lindberg said.
