Southampton considering 40-acre buy in Riverside

Purchase could aid creation of sewer district, spur redevelopment

Southampton Town supervisor Jay Schneiderman (jayschneiderman.com, Google Maps)
Southampton Town supervisor Jay Schneiderman (jayschneiderman.com, Google Maps)

Revitalization of a hamlet can be grimy business, as evidenced by Riverside’s need for a sewer district to stir redevelopment.

Southampton Town is looking at buying approximately 40 acres across three parcels at 448 and 500 Flanders Road, according to 27East. The Susan E. Shumejda Credit Shelter Trust is seeking $1.7 million in a sale of the land, which is adjacent to nearly 25 acres of preserved land and 16 acres of town open space.

The town’s Community Preservation Fund manager, Lisa Kombrink, said water quality money set aside in the fund would be used to buy the property, which would be used along with the proposed Riverside redevelopment sewage treatment plant.

“This is a very critical acquisition for the redevelopment of Riverside,” Kombrink told 27East.

While the land would mostly remain open space, parts of it could be used for an outflow pipe from a treatment plant in the industrial area. Town supervisor Jay Schneiderman said a sewage treatment plant wouldn’t be built on the property. The land was previously used for depositing dredge spoils.

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The purchase would go a long way toward the realization of the Riverside Redevelopment Action Plan, approved in 2015. The plan called for a plant that could treat 800,000 gallons of wastewater per year, according to 27East.

The creation of a sewer district downtown is considered to be a necessary step for construction in Riverside, as the hamlet’s septic systems probably can’t handle waste from new residential or commercial developments.

Septic systems are the soft underbelly of development efforts across the East End. In East Hampton, the town board is eyeing a potential zoning overlay for a property it purchased in 2019 for an affordable development.

Town officials have aired concerns over delays or complications related to the septic system on the 6.4-acre site, which is in an area critical to protecting groundwater supplies. With the zoning overlay, officials are aiming to deliver 13 apartments or six homes to the area.

[27East] — Holden Walter-Warner