NYS appeals court sets hearing on Shinnecock effort to keep billboards operating

An electronic billboard erected by the Shinnecock Indian Nation alongside Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays. Credit: Newsday/Vera Chinese
A state Appellate Court has set Jan. 27 for a hearing on the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s request for reconsideration of case to keep its Sunrise Highway billboards operating following a federal finding that the signs are on protected sovereign land.
But the court declined to suspend its Dec. 4 ruling that found a lower court should have allowed the state Department of Transportation’s 2019 request for a temporary injunction to block construction and operation of the 60-foot electronic signs on tribal land in Hampton Bays.
The hearing, scheduled for Brooklyn, comes amid increased acrimony between Shinnecock Nation leaders and the Town of Southampton stemming from the town’s recently filed lawsuit seeking to block a tribal gas station on land adjacent to the signs. The tribe’s Westwoods property was the subject of a Dec. 23 letter from the Department of the Interior that found it was part of the Nation’s aboriginal, sovereign land.
The town’s lawsuit cited the Appellate Division’s December ruling in claiming Westwoods had no special status and was subject to the town’s zoning laws.
"The town’s position that somehow they have dominion over land that has been in our control prior to this town being formed and prior to settlers coming over from Europe is a slap in the face to the Shinnecock people," former tribal chairman Bryan Polite told Southampton council members Tuesday.
Polite said the town’s action has resulted in a "generational schism" with its Shinnecock neighbors and "irreparable harm" to tribal relations after "years and years of trying to mend those fences."
"Our tribal membership is livid at this development," Polite said. "We have been dragged through the mud" and he criticized comments of the town supervisor that attempted to discredit the federal finding about Westwoods.
"You’ve chosen to weaponize the judicial system against us," added former tribal chairman Randy King, who was chair when the tribe won federal recognition in 2010.
Southampton Town supervisor Maria Moore said the lawsuit "should not be interpreted as a show of disrespect," saying it stemmed from the apparent lack of oversight at the gas-station construction.
"We really felt we didn’t have a choice," Moore said of the lawsuit. "It’s not that we are disputing the ownership of Westwoods and don’t want the nation to be economically independent and successful. It’s merely that there’s an issue in some of our minds as to whether the nation should comply with the planning rules of the town when it comes to construction."
She said no one from the town was contacted as the tribe sought a federal finding of sovereignty over Westwoods, making it appear the federal letter was "quickly written" with ambiguity about the land’s status.
"To us [restricted fee] means you can’t transfer the property without the federal government’s approval," Moore said. "It doesn’t address the issue of aboriginal title, and yet the word aboriginal was in the letter."
Shinnecock vice chairman Lance Gumbs, in an interview, pointed to federal oversight of the project, including gas tanks now awaiting inspection, in rebutting Moore’s claims.
"What’s really insulting about those statements is that our developer has built these projects all over the country," Gumbs said. "It’s quite insulting to make the suggestion that we’d do something substandard."
Gumbs and other tribal leaders were in Albany Tuesday for Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State address, and met with Attorney General Letitia James, who is defending the state in the case about the signs.
Gumbs noted the tribe had at least seven meetings with the Department of Transportation about the billboards, and even changed engineering firms to certify the plans. "We absolutely would have allowed the state to inspect the signs," he said.
A spokesman for the Department of Transportation said the agency will not comment on ongoing litigation. Gumbs said there’s been no formal request by any agency to cease operating the signs.
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