Town to Hear from Public on East Quougue Hill Project

Residents are expended to descend on Southampton Town Hall at 1 p.m. to voice their opinions on a development project in East Quogue, known as the Hills.

The community has been divided over the project, which aims to bring a championship 18-hole golf course and 82 homes to 400 vacant acres on Lewis Road.

The project is proposed by Discovery Land Company and DLV Quogue, formerly East Quogue Group LLC, which has been looking for approval since 2009.

The East Quogue Chamber of Commerce has thrown its support to the project with president Donna Lanzetta calling it a win for the community and the school district.

Lanzetta told Patch last month that she believes the project will not only bring in $4.5 million in taxes, but she said it will not have a huge impact on the school district.

She said, ""This company builds high-end homes. The people living there will not use these houses as their primary residence."

However, there are many that disagree with Lanzetta.

Members of hushquietskies.org, a group of area residents is also opposing the project, stating in an e-mail blast that that the Hills property is the largest remaining open tract of land in Southampton and needs to be preserved.

And members of the East Quogue Civic Association and CAC-West have announced their respective opposition.

On Patch, residents also made their sentiments clear. The following is a brief found-up of what they had to say.

leslie: "They are not thinking of our children's future with no woods no wildlife and clean water for future generations... and to have MORE HOUSING built for who? the RICH, the prices so high that NO ONE (meaning the locals) can not afford... STOP BUILDING AND STOP RUINING THE ISLAND!!!!!"

Matt Benham: "Hello there, I am opposed to this project."

WLH "In order to fix up the old and revitalize our community, we need income and commerce." Seems like we'd be better off pulling together to revitalize and fix up our community- not selling what we were trying to preserve to bolster property tax revenues."

Feel free to keep the conversation going by posting your thoughts in the comment section below.

The public hearing on the project, which opened in August, will continue on at 1 p.m. at Southampton Town Hall.

To learn more about the project, click here.