Despite an outcry from neighbors in past months, a proposed riding academy in Mattituck was approved Monday by the Southold Town planning board without any public comment.
The board voted unanimously on Monday to approve the site plan, which calls for a horse farm and riding academy and includes one 24′ x 30′ three-stall barn, two 24′ x 10′ two stall barns, an outdoor riding/training area approximately 140′ x 270′ and 12 parking stalls on 24.2 acres in the agricultural conservation zoning district. The property is located at 18625 Main Road, just west of Elijah’s Lane in Mattituck.
The planning board said the approval was based on two conditions, including filing a covenant and restriction that would allow for no vehicles other than emergency vehicles on Noah’s Lane, a main point of concern during the public hearing from residents who feared for their children’s safety on the quiet road.
In addition, the planning board said the applicants, Joanna and Chris Showalter of Southold, would have to adhere to zoning board of appeals conditions, including a limit of six special events at the riding academy per year.
Back in August, ZBA chair Leslie Weisman said the ZBA had received “a ton of letters” that needed to be carefully reviewed, and that time was needed to digest information from planning and land preservation.
ZBA staff said the Showalters had submitted the new plan to the planning board, as per the planning board’s request that they label buildings on the parcel, identify setbacks to side yards, and other details so “it’s all clear now”.
In past months, neighbors have turned out at both planning board and ZBA meetings to raise concerns about the proposal, including fears for their safety and quality of life.
A public hearing took place in early August; under town code, the riding academy use would be allowed as a special exception.
But not all residents were pleased, saying if the plans got the green light, it would shatter scenic views that would be “lost forever,” said neighbor Christina Oman.
According to Heather Lanza, Southold Town planning director, phase II of the project would include construction of an indoor training ring. “They typically are fairly large buildings,” Lanza said.
Lanza said she believes the reason the project was being phased is because the applicants wanted to get started on outdoor riding lessons while the weather was still warm. Phase II will take longer than the first phase because other agencies, such as the Suffolk County Health Department, must be involved, she said, adding that she expects Phase II to follow “shorty after” Phase I.
“A horse farm is one thing but an equestrian center and riding academy with an indoor riding facility is another,” Oman said. “I’m sickened by the whole thing.”
Raymond Nemschick, of Nemschick Silverman Architects in Cutchogue, addressed the board first, explaining that the Showalters live in Southold with their three children. “Their vision is to build a scenic, family-friendly facility as a commercial equine operation,” he said.
Activities on-site will include growing of agricultural products, breeding horses and ponies, and riding lessons, a vision, he said, that is “consistent with Southold Town code and the farmland bill of rights, which specifies horse boarding as a protected farm practice.”
But neighbors came out en masse to demand answers. Ann Gilvary, who lives on Gabriella Court in Mattituck, adjacent to the parcel, said plans for an equestrian facility led to concerns for “health, safety,and quality of life.”
Gilvary asked about manure, and also, about whether or not special events would occur. “The existence of this will impact our quality of life. Our neighborhood is very quiet and dark. At night, you can see every star.”
Her chief concern, Gilvary said, involved safety, with possible access on Noah’s Lane, also called Theresa Drive. “It’s a road, but for all intents and purposes, it’s a dead end,” she said. “My fear is that this could become a second entrance and to have that traffic on a quiet street would be devastating to us.” She added that the road is filled with children on bikes or trick or treating.
Gilvary said the presence of trailers, trucks, traffic and cars parked on the lane could pose a danger.
Derek McLean, who also lives at Gabriella Court, said, of the proposed project, “It’s all just very vague. Nobody’s telling us anything.”
Looking at a description of the project, he said Phase II is never mentioned. “They’re trying to sneak it in,” he said. And, he charged that already, the Showalters were “bad neighbors,” bringing trucks in the early morning hours and waking his children with noise so loud he said it made his home “vibrate.”
McLean, who said he was grateful for the opportunity to have secured affordable housing in Mattituck, said he was fearful that his quality of life would change, should the project move forward.
McLean had questions about noise, dust, lighting, access, parking, manure, and odor.
“I can’t tell the man what to do, he bought the property, but I want him to have restrictions, to be a good neighbor,” he said. “If there’s a building, I want it landscaped and maintained so it looks nice, not like Nassau County strip mall.”
Having to leave work early to attend the meeting, McLean added, was also a frustration and annoyance.
Lucille Sullivan, who owns G.W. Mead Farm in Southold with her fiance Brian Glenn, said as a fellow member of the horse community, her perspective was a bit different.
She brought a May, 2014 issue of Today’s Equestrian magazine, in which the Hunters Creek East Riding Club announced a relocation to a new facility in Mattituck featuring two outdoor rings, an indoor arena, a hunter derby field, bridle path, paddocks and stalls.
Sullivan asked how many horses the Showalters personally owned and were planning to move to the Mattituck facility, and how many horses overall would be boarded there.
She asked why the planning board was being “so sympathetic,” allowing the project in phases, had questions about a stormwater prevention plan, a manure disposal strategy, about rest room provisions, and demanded to know why there was no approval from the Suffolk County Health Department.
“How come we are even considering expediting this?” Sullivan asked, demanding a level playing field for all.
Sullivan also asked who would be living in the house and wanted to know if farmhands were occupying the dwelling — and if a notice of intent had been filed with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
“I have faith in the system, but now, all of a suden, this is going right through and it’s not fair, and it’s not right. My site plan answers every question — what’s their plan?”
Resident Doug Pearsall said, based on acreage, a building as large as 300 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 22 feet tall could be built on the parcel, and, because the development rights had been sold to 80 percent of the property, the “monstrosity” of a structure would not be able to be built near the railroad tracks, where it is “best suited,” but instead, near residential homes.
He also questioned why the project was being introduced in phases.
Gabriella Court resident Jennifer McNamara agreed. “Phases are not acceptable.” She added that she would not even have had to attend the meeting if she’d gotten a full project description sent to her home. “This is all very secretive.”
Safety concerns over the access road were critical, she said. “I need a guarantee that this board will give us, that this street will stay closed.”
Planning board chair Don Wilcenski said, “I’ll do my best as chairman of the board never to allow that to happen,” he said.
Gabriella Court resident Lisa Testiny said work done so far had brought rats into her basement and agreed the applicant should have the same restrictions placed on him as everyone else.
“Don’t try to sneak in a business where there shouldn’t be one, in a residential neighborhood,” she said.
Fred Perrone, also of Gabriella Court, said the application “was so incomplete, it’s disgusting.”
Annette Collins Ferrara of Gabriella Court said the work done so far had make her house feel as though an earthquake were happening. She asked for an environmental impact statement, about hours of operation, about lights, and said she was allergic to horses.
Glenn, of G.W. Mead Farm asked why his own project had “no less than 12 revisions to the site plan” along with five visits from the board and 20 from the local police department. “I want to know why this is being pushed through so fast.”
Nemschick responded to concerns, stating that there was a manure plan that had been approved; manure would be removed once a week by a trailer owned by the Showalters. In addition, he said, Route 25 would be the “main and only access to this farm right now. Noah’s Path,” he said, was not seen “as a viable access.”
As for an advertisement in a magazine, Nemschick said it was issued without his clients’ knowledge.
And, as for phases, he said, “They have a right to design at their pace, to file at their pace, for what they have the means to put up right now. That’s what we came here today to talk about.”
