Days after a hearing that saw dozens of residents turn out to blast a plan by Mattituck resident and developer Paul Pawlowski for affordable housing, preservation and stores on Main Road, the developer has withdrawn his request for a zone change on the parcel.
Pawlowski’s proposed plan is now dead in the proverbial water.
“What prompted me was that it was obvious it would not get the support needed. People only heard ‘zone change’ and or the word ‘change’ and decided to not look at the big picture and how good the proposal was,” Pawlowski said this morning.
This is the second plan for affordable housing Pawlowski has withdrawn for the site, after receiving public pushback, he said.
“I withdrew now Plan B because it will not get the needed support. So now, workforce house was not supported, preserving 17 out of 20 acres was not supported, adding jobs, adding affordable rental opportunity and offering business people a new and exciting place to open their business — all these positive things were not supported because of the word ‘change,'” he said.
Pawlowski said he thought the proposal spoke for itself. “I was asking for a zone change to business in the business corridor while at the same time protecting the residential backyard of the properties.”
He added, “as a developer I am disapointed and a resident I am extremely concerned for our town as a lot of public benefit and preservation was just lost.”
Plans for the parcel will now encompass “either a major subdivision or something as of right,” he said.
The supporters who did turn out for the hearing said Pawlowki’s plan, which included 12 apartments that he vowed to keep affordable in perpetuity, would have meant a chance for workforce housing in Mattituck, where it’s desperately needed.
Incensed residents turned out last Tuesday and headed to the podium at the hearing to blast Pawlowski’s request for a zone change on the 20.8 parcel’s current residential, or R-80 zone, to general business.
The land is located across from the former Capital One building on Main Road; the plan involved developing 3.5 acres of the 21 acre parcel with stores and 12 apartments, and donating the remaining 17.5 acres to the town, as preserved land.
Pawlowski proposed five individual buildings, totaling 14,000 square feet. Four of those will be 2,000 square feet and one, 6,000 square feet, all in a “campus style” with each building separate and green space and landscaping between each structure. A pavilion was also planned for public use.
Southold Town Councilman Bob Ghosio kicked off the hearing by reading comments from the planning board that said support for the potential zone change was divided, citing “potential adverse impacts” to nearby property owners and environmental, traffic and other issues.
Bill Toedter, president of the North Fork Environmental Council, was first to voice his concerns.
He questioned the “costs” of the proposed project to the town, specifically to declining quality of ground and surface waters and said the impact of 12 apartments, stores, and a pavilion, compared to the seven to nine homes allowed as of right, would further “stress our groundwater. What you flush today doesn’t take years to get into the bays and creeks. It takes months, if not weeks. What is the cost to ground and surface water?”
Toedter also urged the town board to consider costs including traffic, congestion, air pollution, possible car and pedestrian accidents, increased lights and other issues.
As for the proposed donation of 17 acres of land to the town, Toedter asked if the town would be “on the hook” to maintain the parcel.
The town is facing a critical water situation and must do everything possible to protect local waters, Toedter said. “It is going to cost more to build on Long Island to protect the quality and quantity of our water supplied.”
The town, he said, must demand that developers provide wastewater treatment systems aimed at nitrogen reduction and water reuse.
Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said the town has demanded alternative wastewater treatment systems for projects such as the controversial Heritage at Cutchogue but the Suffolk County Department of Health has still not given the okay for new systems. “They are making slow movement and embracing this technology but at a snail’s pace,” he said.
Julie Amper of Mattituck asked how businesses proposed for the site, including a possible cheese shop or fish store, can “reverse the brain drain” and keep college graduates on the North Fork. She asked how seniors will be able to live in second floor apartments with no elevators or guaranteed parking, and how 12 apartments would protect the environment more than seven or nine single family homes.
“I implore this board to honor our vision for Mattituck and deny this request for a zone change,” she said, to loud applause.
Others voiced safety, traffic, congestion and quality of life concerns
Russell said the town board had made no decisions and the purpose of a public hearing was to hear all input and shape a decision based on the will of the people.
Joy Ellinghaus of Mattituck, who drove two hours to attend the hearing, said her family has been traveling to the hamlet since 1968, when her father, a teacher, would pack up the car after the last day of school for the trip out. She and her siblings, she said, were always excited to see what had changed, which was “nothing much,” she said. “As I got older and wiser I realized big changes were happening.”
Ellinghaus said big corporations and stores such as McDonald’s, 7-Eleven, and CVS never made people say, “Aren’t we lucky they’re here?” Instead, she said, “Their presence is regrettable. I see them as degradation to the area.”
The town board, in allowing for those stores, and also when adopting the recent short-term rental legislation, said its hands were tied by the town’s zoning map. “I hope you and your board are as dedicated to the zoning map when considering the zoning change he is asking for, which is to put commercial use in a residential zone, but on a far greater scale than just someone renting out their home. The only word that comes to mind is ‘why?’”
She added, “Throwing out zoning maps to benefit small town friends, these are things that degrade a community.” Ellinghaus added that the vacant Capital One building right across the street is a commercial property and said Pawlowski should have bought a commercially-zoned parcel is he wanted commercial acreage.
“What will it take for you to say ‘enough is enough’?” she asked the board. “Please don’t make zoning changes that add to the glut. Please protect us.”
Mary Eisenstein, president of the Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association, said the group has met numerous times to discuss the project and has hosted Pawlowski, who answered questions at one session with the public.
After a vote of the MCLA’s members asking if they wanted the town board to grant the zone change request from residential to general business, 111 voted, with nine voting “yes” and 102 voting “no.” Therefore, she said, “Guided by our members, we are requesting the town board to deny permanently this request for a zone change.”
Pawlowski set out to answer questions and assured the crowd that as a Mattituck resident himself who cares about the community, “Money is not the underlying reason” for the project.
He said starting with his first proposed project, which was for affordable housing, his aim has been to provide workforce housing, desperately needed in town.
“Our biggest export is our children,” he said. “I would not be here if I did not think this proposal was in the best interest of the town. For a zone change to be considered it must be in the best interest of the community as a whole, not 50 or 60 people,” he said.
He said despite other possible development scenarios, which he displayed, he had proposed to develop only 3.7 acres of the 21 acre property. Residents would have “woods behind their houses for life,” he said.
Plans pitched so far were only in sketch plan form, he said, adding that he’d have no problem with installing a state-of-the-art septic system.
The campus style property would have resembled the Hudson City Savings Bank, across from the 7-Eleven in Greenport, he said, featuring a “North Fork, traditional look. I can’t stand strip malls,” he said. “These are not 24 hour stores.”
In addition, Pawlowski said he’d put in elevators and dedicated parking spots, making the property ADA compliant.
He said he was willing to put covenants in writing that the homes would be affordable in perpetuity and mirror Suffolk County guidelines for affordability.
The project would also provide local jobs, he said. “I am not asking for zone change without offering something.”
Pawlowski said he believed his plan would not bring additional traffic and said those renting the apartments would be locals seeking affordable places to live. “The people who will be using the stores are here already,” he said.
The plan did draw support from some. Fred Andrews, a member of Southold Town’s housing advisory commission said he heard Pawlowski promise to address water quality issues. “I take him at his word,” he said, adding that while the affordable housing wasn’t “official” the covenants should offer a viable substitute.
“There’s a really desperate need for affordable housing,” he said, adding that he was disappointed to here so many disparage the Cottages at Mattituck, something Andrews says has been a benefit to the community.
Others remained firm in their objection to the plan. “The North Fork is under assault,” one man said. “People promise a lot and don’t deliver. When something seems to be too good to be true, chances are it isn’t true. I believe this proposal is an assault on Mattituck.”
Pawlowksi said it’s “not” too good to be true.
Others felt approving the zone change would be setting a precedent.
Frank Buomaiuto said if he were to have anyone build near him, he’d like it to be Pawlowski. His parents moved because they could no longer afford the North Fork, he said; his children cannot afford the area and he, too, might be unable to stay.
Another man said he and his wife both think the apartments are necessary and think the proposal is a good one.
For months, Pawlowski has come before the planning board and also, has spoken at public meetings, explaining to the public the benefits he said his project would have brought to the area.
