Government

Sports East could be built on 10.4 acres in Peconic

The Southold Town Board approved a bond resolution last Wednesday with an eye toward acquiring a 10.4-acre parcel in Peconic for a town recreational use — or as a potential site for the Sports East athletic facility, Supervisor Scott Russell confirmed Tuesday.

The site is a vacant parcel at 1080 Carroll Ave., across from Tasker Park, where the town has ball fields and tennis courts. The estimated maximum cost of the property is $750,000, according to the bond resolution.

“The town has identified it as a good location for an indoor facility similar to the model that was presented as Sports East. The mechanics of such a proposal would still need to be worked out,” Mr. Russell said Tuesday in an email. “We don’t own the property. We need to close first, then we can focus on end uses.”

The site is a “nice, attractive piece of property for the town” if the Sports East concept does not work, the supervisor said in January. But it is being purchased with the priority of finding a site for Sports East, Mr. Russell said earlier this year at the Mattituck Chamber of Commerce’s “State of Mattituck” meeting.

“We feel it is a great site, centrally located for our town, and look forward to the next steps that would allow us to make Sports East a reality,” local developer Paul Pawlowski said by email Wednesday.

Mr. Russell said in January that the town was in the process of purchasing a property, but could not disclose its location until the sale was set.

When plans for Sports East, an indoor sports facility, were determined not to fall under the definition of a “membership club” and were therefore unfit for a property its developers had purchased in Mattituck, Mr. Russell said he would help them find a new location. The project concept had received community support at public hearings throughout the approval process for the Mattituck site.

“At the end of the day, the goal is for Sports East being built for our town,” Mr. Pawlowski said. It’d be a healthy option for the town, he said, offering an indoor space for sports, including when there’s a snowstorm, and a pools to do laps in.

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