Government

Phase one of plans for academy raises concerns in Mattituck

A stop-work order has been issued at the Showalter Farms property on Main Road in Mattituck, where this barn was resided and another pre-fab barn was delivered before the owners received site plan approval, town officials said. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)
A stop-work order has been issued at the Showalter Farms property on Main Road in Mattituck, where this barn was resided and another pre-fab barn was delivered before the owners received site plan approval, town officials said. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch)

The Planning Board first discussed the horse farm’s site plan at a July 7 work session, according to that meeting’s agenda. The application was then scheduled for a public hearing and a decision at Monday night’s Planning Board meeting, where more than a dozen angry neighbors showed up in protest. The Planning Board ultimately tabled the determination to its next regular meeting on Sept. 8, since members of the community expressed concern.

“If nobody showed up they would have approved it,” Ms. Showalter said. “But because people offered their concerns, they did not.”

This is the first site plan this year to be scheduled for a hearing and decision on the same night, Planning Board records show.

Most of the residents who spoke out against the project at Monday’s hearing live on Gabriella Court, which runs along the south side of the Showalter Farms property.

They said noise from the property since it was purchased by Showalter Farms has affected their quality of life. They also offered concerns over manure removal on the property, parking and traffic.

Several residents are worried that the dead-end at Teresa’s Lane, which abuts the rear of the horse farm, might be opened up to serve as an entrance and exit to the business. Mr. Wilcenski said that as chairman of the Planning Board he would never support that. Mr. Nemschick, the architect, said all traffic would enter and exit from Main Road under the current site plan. Ms. Showalter said Tuesday that a manure plan, which would see waste removed once a week, was already approved by the preservation committee.

Most of the neighbors said their biggest complaint with the site plan is the inclusion of the language “phase one,” which they say implies the site plan before the Planning Board is the first step in a larger plan for the property.

Ann Gilvary of Gabriella Court said having a preserved farm behind her property was a major selling point when she purchased her house.

“We bought knowing we were purchasing land behind farmland where the development rights had been sold,” she told the Planning Board. “Now we’re concerned about the health, quality of life and safety for ourselves and our neighbors.”

Ms. Sullivan, the horse trainer, said she worked more than two years toward the approval of her farm, G.W. Meade Farm and Riding Academy on Ackerly Pond Lane in Southold. She said she felt the approval process was unfair considering how quickly the site plan for Showalter Farms appeared to be heading toward approval.

“How come we are even considering expediting this?” she asked the board. “We bore the financial burden of carrying our property for two years [while awaiting approvals].”

Southold Town Planning Director Heather Lanza said Tuesday there are several key differences between the two horse farm proposals, including the need for G.W. Meade Farms’ to seek a variance on its property.

“Also, there were significant gaps in time where the Planning Board was waiting for information from the applicant,” Ms. Lanza wrote in an email to The Suffolk Times.

Ms. Showalter said the two horse farm proposals are unrelated and should be evaluated on their own merits.

“We had nothing to do with why their process took as long as it did,” she said Tuesday.

Ms. Lanza said Showalter Farms’ site plan is being expedited at the request of the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, which sent a letter to the town in April stating that they only support “site plan review” from a local municipality on a commercial horse boarding proposal “as long as the review is streamlined.”

“The attention this application received by this state agency is the reason we, at planning, did our best to demonstrate that we were expediting agricultural projects,” Ms. Lanza wrote. “While we strive to move every project along as quickly as possible, and we always work to expedite agricultural projects, we took extra steps to improve our process to expedite them even more.”