Like high tide at an East Hampton beach, an opposition group is trying to wash away a developer’s industrial dream in Wainscott.
The Coalition to Stop the Wainscott Commercial Center has formed to prevent a 50-lot industrial park from being built on the site of a former sand mine, 27East reported.
Foes of the project cited fears of even worse congestion on the notoriously slow Hamptons roads, as well as the environmental effects on nearby Georgica Pond. According to the coalition, traffic studies suggest the industrial center could add 600 vehicles per hour to local byways.
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“It’s hard to think of a worse place to consider the construction of a major industrial park than the location of the proposed Wainscott Commercial Center,” coalition member Bob DeLuca, president of Group for the East End, told the publication.
The Tintle family, owners of the 70-acre reclaimed mine at the western end of East Hampton, proposed subdividing it for the industrial park. In December, however, the town planning board ruled the draft environmental impact statement was incomplete, sending the Tintles back to the drawing board.
At the time, the board expressed similar concerns about traffic and the impact on ground and surface water. The board also asked for an economic analysis on the need for more commercial space in town.
The Tintle family is still working on addressing concerns about its proposal, which it first made more than four years ago.
The planning board has said the project won’t be allowed as proposed because it violates town code.
The coalition does not want to wait for a code-compliant plan. Instead, it is urging the town to purchase the property for municipal purposes and open space. The Tintle family proposal didn’t include any green space.
— Holden Walter-Warner