Lawsuit aims to halt East Quogue golf community development in pine barrens

A lawsuit filed by a pair of environmental groups and several East Quogue residents seeks to overturn a recent Southampton Planning Board decision that cleared the way for a golf community featuring 130 residential units in the pine barrens.

The Article 78 petition filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court Monday argues the proposed Lewis Road development received approval from the planning board Dec. 8 despite zoning restrictions against a resort. The planning board also failed to comply with the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act in approving the project, the petition says.

Richard Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, and Robert DeLuca, the president of Group for the East End, filed the lawsuit on behalf of their organizations.

Amper said the lawsuit was necessary to halt the developer from moving forward.

“The approval process was fraught with problems from the beginning,” he wrote in an email.

The proposed development, which would include units set aside for affordable housing, along with a private 18-hole golf course and recreational complex with a spa and fitness center, pool, clubhouse and other amenities, would become one of the largest developments in the environmentally sensitive pine barrens. The petition also argues that the golf course is not a permitted use under the town zoning.

The planning board voted 4-3 to approve a subdivision and site plan for the Arizona-based developer Discovery Land Company to proceed with the controversial project.

"The decision of the planning board is contrary to nearly four decades of conservation efforts, by increasing land use intensity in this critical area thereby risking water quality at a time when water quality efforts are intensifying due to a continuing degradation of water quality," the petition says.

Claudia Braymer, a Glens Falls attorney who filed the petition along with attorney Jeffrey Bragman of East Hampton, called the application and its approval “really unusual.”

“It’s basically a giant resort project in an area where resorts are not permitted,” she said. “The planning board just seemed to look the other way about that.”

In 2017, the Southampton Town Board voted 3-2 in favor of the plan when it was known as “The Hills,” but the application failed because a supermajority was required for a zoning change. A few months later, the project reemerged and its review fell to the planning board.

The petition names the Southampton Planning Board, the Southampton Town Board and several LLCs that were listed on the application that received planning board approval.

Attorney Scott Kreppein, who has represented the planning board, said he had not yet seen the petition when reached for comment Wednesday. Representatives for Discovery Land Company could not be reached for comment.

With Jean-Paul Salamanca