Government

Public referendum set for Pike Street parking sale

Voters in the Mattituck Park District will decide whether to sell the Pike Street parking to Southold Town in a public referendum next month.

The vote will take place Tuesday, July 14, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Mattituck Park District headquarters at Veterans Memorial Park in Mattituck.

The district plans to sell the lot to Southold Town for $230,000, and the town plans to continue using it as a parking lot.

“All residents of Mattituck and Laurel who are registered to vote in the district can vote,” said park district clerk Lydia Tortora.

People who own property within the district but are registered to vote elsewhere cannot vote in the referendum, she said.

The park district, which covers parts of Mattituck and Laurel and owns and maintains several beaches and parks in those hamlets, acquired the Pike Street lot in 1948 pursuant to a special Park District referendum that approved $2,500 for the land acquisition and $1,000 for the development of a park, according to district officials.

However, the 1941 state legislation that created the park district required that the district either develop a park on the 0.75-acre parcel “or divest itself of the parcel.”

Having never developed a park there in more than 70 years, the MPD decided to divest itself of the lot and the town was a willing buyer.

Commissioner Gerald Goehringer said the park district had leased the lot to Southold Town for about 30 years, but has not done so for the past four or five years.

“It’s been difficult for us to maintain it, primarily in the winter months,” Mr. Goehringer said in November. “The [district] board decided that probably the best thing to do would be to sell it.”

The lot abuts the back of stores on the east side of Love Lane.

Southold Town posted a $250,000 bonding resolution for the purchase on May 1. The town resolution is for $250,000, which is more than the park district amount, because it includes things such as survey and title search costs, according to Town Attorney Bill Duffy.

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