Residents got the chance to get their questions answered about the proposed new fitness facility in Mattituck last at a free-wheeling Q&A session with the developers of Sports East Fitness hosted by the Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association.
The civic held a panel discussion featuring Sports East partners Paul Pawlowski and Joe Slovak as well as Group for the East End president Robert DeLuca and County Legislator Al Krupski.
Residents asked about site plan specifics, the membership fee structure, traffic impacts, wastewater treatment plans and other details.
The Sports East plan is for a 82,500-square-foot indoor sports facility on the south side of Main Road that would house a pool, four tennis courts, two pickle ball courts, a basketball court, multipurpose areas, a 7,000-square-foot fitness room, two yoga studios/classrooms as well as a 32-seat cafe for members, all on one level, Pawlowski said last night. Exterior facilities would include tennis courts and one multipurpose turf field, along with roughly 224 parking spaces.
Julie Amper, vice president of the civic group, asked whether the property owner would still agree to sell the 21-acre site for preservation — a statement Pawlowski, a Mattituck resident, made during discussion of a prior proposal for the site: 14,000 square feet of retail shops divided among five buildings, with rental apartments on the second floor of each building — a total of 12 apartments in all. He sought a zone change on 3.8 acres fronting Main Road to general business and offered to donate 17 acres for preservation. Pawlowski withdrew the application after pushback from residents.
“We asked if youd be willing to sell it to the county, leaving the hardwood forest for groundwater recharge,” said Julie Amper, vice president of the civic. “You said — quote — absolutely. If you are still willing, you have the perfect person sitting next to you,” she said, referring to the county legislator.
“After that, something better came along,” Pawlowski said. “If this isn’t approved we would definitely entertain that,” he said.
At that point, Krupski handed Pawlowski his business card, to laughter and applause from some in the audience.
“People ask why about the things we’ve proposed,” Pawlowski said. The property is currently zoned for residential use. “Everything I’ve proposed, we don’t have here in this town and that’s my goal,” he said, “to do something we don’t have.”
“We don’t have a perpetually preserved hardwood forest either,” Amper replied.
“You’ll have 70-something percent preserved,” he said. The site design retains mature woodlands all around the core of the site where the building, parking area, tennis courts and multipurpose turf field will be built. The owner will covenant that those buffers will remain forever, he said.
“If you have a change of heart, please contact our office we’d be happy to help you through the process,” Krupski told him.
“I appreciate that gesture but what would you rather – keep the trees or have your residents have this opportunity in the winter?” Pawlowski asked the legislator.
Krupski tossed the ball back to Pawlowski. “Land preservation is a voluntary program,” he said. “It’s up to you as a landowner. “If this doesn’t work out, the county has a little bit of money right now for land preservation. It is an option you could consider,” he said.
“What would I rather?” Krupski asked. “I’ve just seen this tonight. I’d rather not judge and say this is awesome or this is terrible.”
Krupski said in an interview this morning that if the developer were willing, he’d put in a resolution to have the property appraised. The site is not currently on any preservation list, he said, but the significance of that is all about procedure, not merit. Since it’s not on the list, the legislature would have to approve an appraisal beforehand, he said.
Plans for the project’s wastewater treatment were also the subject of considerable discussion. Pawlowski said he will use whatever advanced system the county will approve, but he believes a system called BioClear will be best suited to the proposed use.
Defend H20 founder Kevin McAllister asked why he chose the BioClear system. Pawlowski explained that many of the advanced systems, which treat waste for nitrogen reduction, require much larger flows than the 3,000-gallon-per-day maximum possible with the current plan.
“I believe BioClear is the only one that would work with the mininmal amount of flow we will have. A lot of what’s in front of the health department right now is for 10 times the flow,” he said.
Pawlowski said he’s had a hard time getting the county health department to engage with him on the issue and the system manufacturers won’t even call him back, so information is not plentiful.
DeLuca focused on the review process mandated by the State Environmental Quality Review Act.
The environmental review process is designed to answer those questions in an organized way in one place, at a level where the average person can undertand it, he said.
He stressed the importance of the yield map, which is used to calculate what a landowner could build as-of-right on a given site. That map allows people to see what it would look like and how much buffer area there’d be. It also allows for accurate calculations to be made regarding water consumption and wastewater flow.
The result is one document, DeLuca said, that describes what the project is, what its potential impacts are, what the underlying zoning would allow and the mitigation measures being proposed.
“Make sure the agencies involved are hearing from you in an organized way with specific questions as early as possible in the process,” DeLuca told the group. “That’s the best way to ensure that the review is as complete as possible and that all your questions are answered.”
The special exception application to the Zoning Board of Appeals was the subject of a Feb 4 public hearing that was adjourned to a future date pending environmental review by the Planning Board, which declared itself lead agency for purposes of coordinated environmental review. There was a strong showing of public support for the plan at the ZBA hearing.
The planning board has scheduled a site plan hearing on the proposal for Monday, May 2 at 6:03 p.m.
