Hearing held on controversial Hamptons golf resort plan

East End residents packed East Quogue Elementary School Monday night to debate the pros and cons of building a high-end Hamptons golf resort and housing development. The Hills at Southampton would

News 12 Staff

Dec 6, 2016, 8:02 AM

Updated 2,865 days ago

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East End residents packed East Quogue Elementary School Monday night to debate the pros and cons of building a high-end Hamptons golf resort and housing development.
The Hills at Southampton would feature a private golf course, 118 homes, condos and cabins.
East Quogue resident Al Algieri says he is worried that his water may one day become contaminated.
"Anyone that looks that up will find out it is pesticides and fertilizers, nothing else on any golf course that makes the grass green without those elements, and that is what is poisoning our water," he says.
Developer Discovery Land is asking the Town of Southampton to change zoning on more than 500 acres of environmentally sensitive land that was designed to protect the Long Island aquifer.
"The water that is protected underneath this site is a source of clean drinking water for the people of Southampton," says environmentalist Bob DeLuca. "And in addition to that, the water that flows from this site reaches our bays and surface waters and those bays and surface waters are also in trouble."
The Long Island Pine Barrens Society says the project would be built right over a groundwater protection area.
In recent months, actor Alec Baldwin has joined environmentalists, rallying to "Kill the Hills" and stop the project.
Discovery Land tells News 12 that it has more than 1,500 letters from residents who support the project. It also says it will install state-of-the-art septic systems required by the Suffolk County Health Department.
"We're also generating $1 million in septic systems subsidies for other members of the community outside of the site, and we're also employing a fertilization system for the irrigation of the golf course, which actually makes the site nitrogen negative," says project manager Mark Hissey.
Town officials say there will be at least two more public hearings to give residents a chance to have their say. The next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 10 at Southampton Town Hall.