Developer Paul Pawlowski, who withdrew a proposal for a mixed-use affordable housing project in Mattituck this fall after it met community resistance, is back with a plan to build a 144,000-square-foot indoor sports facility with an outdoor multipurpose turf field and tennis courts on the same 21-acre site.
The indoor facilities, housed in a 240-foot by 600-foot metal building, would consist of a 75-foot by 50-foot indoor swimming pool, a 20,250-square-foot turf field, four tennis courts, two batting cages and a gymnasium.
The outdoor facilities would include a turf field, five tennis courts and 236 parking spaces. The turf field would be located on the north end of the site, set back a minimum of 50 feet from Main Road. The buffer areas on the periphery of site, including the one along Main Road, would remain in their natural wooded state, according to the plan filed with the town.
The site is located on the south side of Route 25, between Old Main Road and Sigsbee Road in Mattituck.
Pawlowski filed an application with the Southold Zoning Board of Appeals for a special exception use, seeking permission to build the sports complex on property currently zoned for residential use. He has also filed an application to the planning board for site plan approval. Both applications followed a “notice of disapproval” of a building permit application filed Dec. 2.
Planner Mark Terry reviewed the application with the planning board at today’s work session. The ZBA has asked the planning board for some preliminary comments on the proposal, Terry said.
Planning board members had questions about hours of operation and outdoor lighting, which Terry said would need to be answered by the developer.
Mary Eisenstein and Julie Amper of the Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association attended today’s meeting and listened with interest to the discussion of Pawlowski’s plan.
“We’re looking forward to seeing all of the details of this proposal,” Eisenstein said.
Editor’s note: This story has been amended to reflect a correction in the originally published version, which misidentified Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association vice president Julie Amper.
