A Greater Sayville Hamlet Study petition for an overlay district was provided to Islip Town Council members on Oct. 22.

Sayville resident James Bertsch, who provided the petition to the town council members on Oct. 22, is hoping it will be included in the Town of Islip’s-360 Comprehensive Plan (TOI-360) launched Nov. 7, to guide future growth.

“The town said it would be. My questions are when is the plan starting and how vigorous will it be? Are they coming to us to meet with the community?” Bertsch said.

TOI-360 asks residents to take part in a survey that focuses especially on housing, sustainability and resilience, parks, recreation, culture, neighborhood centers, economic development, transportation and mobility, public services and hamlets. The plan is intended to guide the community’s sustainable growth and development for the next 20 years. The survey can be found at www.toi360.com. Residents are encouraged to send their comments in for consideration.

According to Town of Islip communications and media relations director Caroline Smith, the TOI-360 is not the only planned input vehicle. “The townwide ideas and survey online and ideas will remain open until end of February. Results will be summarized in March.” Smith was also asked what happens after the summary and when meetings would begin. “The preliminary findings will be shared at the hamlet meetings, also scheduled to start in March.”

BFJ Planning for the Comprehensive Plan Update was authorized for the project, for an amount not to exceed $469,000, she said; the Comprehensive Plan will be informed by the SEQRA findings of the applications under review.

“It’s how much density can we tolerate and how can we change zoning to support local businesses,” added Bertsch, who is currently leading the call for a push that began from another committee formed in 2020. “Long Island is being urbanized,” he said. “We have to have a real discussion on preserving quality of life.”

So far, 300 residents from Sayville, West Sayville, and Oakdale have signed Bertsch’s petition; it was viewed by 8,179, he said.

At present, according to a Town of Islip map, there are 461 parcels of publicly owned lands between 9 Montauk Place in Oakdale and the Islip Grange. “They range from1/8th of an acre to more than an acre,” Bertsch said. Some are school districts, churches, Islip Town land.

Bertsch said the TOA-360 Comprehensive Plan is hopefully a conduit for what the Greater Sayville Hamlet Study is trying to do.  “Our zoning is old and was developed in the 1920s,” he said. “It was re-codified in 1967. If they truly want to engage, it will mean hosting meetings at sites. I’ll press for the town to hold public meetings at good hours.”

Bertsch said he was urged to get involved by two occurrences. The first was the Bayport Zoning Study approved by the town in December 2020, led by Bayport Civic Association president Bob Draffin. A Bayport Overlay District for non-residentially zoned properties along the Montauk Highway corridor was a main recommendation. It outlined permitted uses as well as Main Street characteristics for a unifying, more attractive design.

The second was the QuickCheck gas station application voted down by the town board, which was the big galvanizer. However, QuickCheck fought the ruling with a lawsuit and won. The change of zone issue attracted 300 people to a Town Hall meeting. A petition with 1,000 signatures against it was submitted.

But the bottom line: a town zoning study wasn’t completed.

One reason, Draffin said, was that the study required lengthy approvals and cost $100,000.

“It’s now a 7-Eleven with a gas station, which took over the application QuickCheck had,” said Draffin of the location at the end of Snedecor Avenue and Montauk Highway that was an issue. “If we’d had that study, that never would have taken place.”

Since Bayport’s zoning study was approved, “We haven’t had one contentious issue since the study has been in place. It serves both the town and community well and encourages good projects. I heard through the grapevine that the planning department got proposals and said, ‘This won’t fly here.’”

But the Island Hills development also gave Bertsch a big shove.

“They have listened to the community,” he did say of the Rechlers. “But from a Sayville-centric standpoint, we need students and taxes.”

“The school property taxes are the education taxes going to the Connetquot School District,” said Rechler consultant Jim Morgo. “The property is in the Sayville, West Sayville Fire District. It’s where the real estate lines are drawn. The Connetquot School District has Oakdale, West Sayville, Bohemia and not much, but some of Sayville.”

Morgo pointed out South Bay Village’s  benefits for Sayville, especially the downtown and all other surrounding hamlets. “We’ll have shuttles for the downtown. We’ve reduced the density by 35 percent; it will have a suburban look. The Rechlers said their wastewater treatment plant on the property has the capacity to take in Main Street businesses. And there’s stormwater management on the site.”

While Sayville’s Master Plan isn’t the focus of Save the Great South Bay’s mission, clean water and the environment is, said executive director Robyn Sylvestri. 

“It must be at the forefront of development plans going forward,” she said. Sylvestri said her group hadn’t been in touch with the town yet, but intends to meet with officials.

“Using land management is key to protecting our waterways,” she said. “What happens on the mainland affects what happens on the Great South Bay.”

Sylvestri commented that the passing of Proposition 2, Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration (voters approved a new small sales tax for a fund to clean up Suffolk’s waterways via expanding public sewers and through grants that encourage residents to replace polluting cesspools), shows residents are aware of the urgency of protecting drinking water and waterways.

“We’re not antidevelopment, but any project has to have a net-zero environmental effect.  Think about the $6 billion tourist industry; people come here for our beaches. And  home values on an island depend on healthy waterways.”

According to the Islip Town website, the TOI-360 Plan will guide the community’s growth for the next 20 years. As for its name, in two decades, it will be just over 360 years since William Nicoll purchased land from the Secatogue Nation in 1683. The number 360 also represents this full-circle opportunity to look back at Islip’s history, thoroughly examine growth patterns and land-use trends, assess current community priorities, and collaboratively develop a shared vision for Islip’s future.