Government

Brinkmann Hardware submits site plan for new Mattituck shop

Brinkmann Hardware, a family-owned business with fives stores on Long Island, including VanKemenade Paint in Jamesport, has submitted a site plan for a new store to the Planning Board for further review, despite having faced an unwelcoming crowd in September at a Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association meeting. 

The store is proposed for a vacant 1.78-acre property  at the corner of New Suffolk Avenue and Main Road in Mattituck, in the Hamlet Business zoning district.

The Brinkmanns want to construct two buildings there:  a 12,000-square-foot building for the hardware store and an adjacent 8,000-square-foot building for the paint store and storage — and are proposing 80 parking spots as required by code. The application is considered a special exception by the Planning Board due to the size of the buildings.

The application was deemed incomplete, in part because town code requires parking to be located at the side or rear of the building. But in this case, all 80 spots were proposed for the front and the applicants were advised that the site plan cannot be approved as is.

In September, residents attended the MLCA meeting to voice their opinions about the project. Most were concerned about traffic in the area, saying turns from New Suffolk Avenue onto Main Road and vice versa can be very dangerous.

The next steps for the Planning Board will be to conduct a Market and Municipal Impact Study to determine whether the project could have an adverse effect on the community, followed by a State Environmental Quality Review. The town will seek bids for these studies but expenses are the responsibility of the applicants.

Other incomplete aspects of the application included  missing key maps required by code and renderings and dimensions for the proposed signage, but Planning Board chairman Don Wilcenski advised against working on the site plan any further until the studies were completed. He added that this was one of the largest buildings proposed in the Town of Southold in years.

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Photo caption:  The proposed Brinkmann Hardware site. (Cyndi Murray photo)