Community Corner

Save Main Road Group Seeks Legal Counsel

Group has retained counsel in their ongoing fight; seeks donations for legal fund.

Members of the "Save Main Group" met on Saturday at the Jamesport Meetinghouse to discuss their strategy moving forward, which includes legal action.

Georgette Keller, a founder of the "Save Main Road" organization, which seeks to preserve rural character on Main Road from Route 105 to the Southold Town line, announced on Saturday that the group had retained Westhampton attorney Bo Bishop, who has provided concessions in his fees to provide oversight during the site plan review process regarding a controversial project, the Village at Jamesport.

In addition, said group member Larry Simms, the plan is to seek an Article 78 to overturn a recent decision by the Riverhead Town Board that hat would allow for bistros and professional offices at a proposed development, the Village at Jamesport.

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Keller said a petition would be circulating for residents to sign, to ask the town board, under a new law, to allow a civic organization to request a public hearing regarding the next stage of the site review plan process.

Simms said he finds it "astonishing" that the Riverhead Town board moved forward with the vote, stating that the project would result in diminished traffic in the area and tax base benefits, referring to what Simms said were not accurate statistics. "Either the town board is not reading these things or they just don't care," he said.

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In addition, Simms said, his concern was with not just the project, but the process by which the town board came to the vote.

As for the legal fund, Simms said. "This is not hypothetical. We have obtained counsel."

According to Simms, a Sag Harbor group, the Northern Environmental Law Center, has agreed to help file suit against Riverhead Town, in the form of an Article 78. "In many ways, this is a lawless town," Simms said. "They are taking on this case because it sends a message: Our mission is to change the way Riverhead Town does business."

Robert DeLuca, president and CEO of the Group for the East End, said the organization is supporting the mission and will help to allow for the legal fund to take shape and individuals to give donations.

"We need to let the will of the public shine forth," DeLuca said, adding that his organization is providing a matching grant of $3000. "We need to empower the organizations that have an impact on our communities' futures." 

At the end of the meeting, the group raised over $1450 toward their legal fund goal.

Town boards, DeLuca added, have the ability to shape the future and development of East End communities. Zoning boards of appeals, he added, can "eviscerate" even good zoning code.

The North Fork Environmental Council is also offering support and alliance with the "Save Main Road" group's initiatives.

Next, Keller said, she hopes to approach Joseph Gergela and the Long Island Farm Bureau and ask them to stand alongside the "Save Main Road" group in their quest.

Down the road, the possibility of incorporating Jamesport as a village, similar to the way Greenport and West Hampton Dunes have evolved, is a possibility, Keller said.

At Saturday's meeting, Keller said residents can donate and further the legal fund drive, sign the petition, and work together for change.

"It takes a lot of people doing just a little bit to have a profound effect, for our children's sakes," Keller said, her eyes welling with tears. "No man, no piece of property, no group stands alone.  Our circles need to overlap and create a chain."

Keller also talked about potential zoning changes, which would spotlight design based zoning, so pictures of what's desired in an area are shown and architects no longer make "arbitrary decisions," with nothing to dictate what a project should look like.

"We have the right to remain rural and I'm committed to that fight," Keller said. "We'll be shoulder to shoulder and when one of us gets tired, we'll have someone to lean on in the fight to change the way government works. Hopefully, in the end, we'll be loud voices, rejoicing -- celebrating that maybe we've gotten there or are a lot better off five years from now than we are today."


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