Fed board rejects Southampton, NYS appeals on Shinnecock land ruling

An appeals board of the U.S. Department of the Interior has rejected attempts by the Town of Southampton and New York State to challenge the federal government’s finding that the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s 84-acre parcel known as Westwoods is federally restricted, sovereign land.

Separately on Monday, the Southampton Town returned the Shinnecock nation's official seal to tribal leaders, according to a tribal official who had requested its removal following a series of legal challenges by the town over Shinnecock economic development projects.

In a letter dated July 7, the federal Board of Indian Appeals within the U.S. Interior Department dismissed appeals filed earlier this year by the town and state that questioned the federal agency’s finding that Westwoods was federally protected "restricted-fee" land that was part of the Shinnecock nation’s sovereign holdings. The federal board dismissed the appeals for "lack of jurisdiction."

Citing a previous case, the board’s judges noted that the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs in the Interior Department "has been given the authority to lead and direct the [Bureau of Indian Affairs] and to discharge the duties of the Secretary of the Interior with respect to the administration of a wide array of laws, regulations and functions relating to Indian Tribes," the ruling stated. "With exceptions not relevant here, decisions made by the Assistant Secretary are final for the Department."

Southampton Town attorney Jim Burke, in an email, said, “In general the town is not necessarily objecting to the finding that the Westwoods property is held in Restricted Fee by the Nation but is looking for clarification on what if any impact the Restricted Fee status has on the town’s obligation to apply its land-use review and controls on the subject property.”

State Department of Transportation spokesman Joseph Morrissey said, “We have no comment on this matter due to pending litigation.”

Lance Gumbs, vice chairman of the Shinnecock nation council of trustees, said the latest federal decision "goes against, directly against these frivolous lawsuits" by the state and town that have stymied tribal economic development projects and community aid programs. "There's never been any doubt about Westwoods," he added of the property and its sovereign status. 

Southampton and the state's challenge of the federal status of Westwoods came as part of lawsuits they filed against the nation to enforce local and state zoning and other restrictions on a Shinnecock gas station/travel plaza on the main property and adjacent electronic billboards on Shinnecock land on Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays. 

The state Transportation Department has sought for years to halt work on the billboards, and received a favorable ruling in the state Appellate Division in December, but the tribe, citing the federal status letter in January, is appealing that ruling and the billboards continue to operate. Construction on the gas station was halted by a state court ruling earlier this year; the ruling is on appeal. 

The decision of the Board of Indian Appeals comes as the Shinnecock nation has brought its own case against Southampton Town in federal court in Central Islip, challenging a town order to prevent parking at Westwoods for a June music festival. The nation has argued that the state courts have no jurisdictional authority over the tribe.

Contentiousness between the Shinnecock and the town came to a head last month after the tribe requested that its official seal be removed from the town hall, where it adorned a wall since 2008. Gumbs at a town board meeting in June said the Southampton's legal actions demonstrated what he described as the town's "great disdain" for the Shinnecock people. Town leaders had requested the seal remain, but returned it Monday, Gumbs said. The town didn't respond to a request for comment about the seal. 

Even as the town seeks to enforce its zoning rules on Westwoods, Gumbs has raised questions about the town’s enforcement of its own zoning rules on properties bordering the Westwoods property, including some that appeared to approach or exceed a buffer.

Burke, in a recent email responding to Newsday questions, said he requested a staffer who handles town code-enforcement matters to review a list of properties that appeared to breach the buffer, including one on which several large boats appeared to be stored on tribal property.

"That [boat] issue definitely came up previously and I did see that property when I walked the property with Lance [Gumbs] and some others a few months back," Burke wrote, saying the matter was under review. 

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.