Years ago, I was out on a late-night run at Island Hills Golf Course, having just arrived home from graduate school in Colorado. I wondered: was it foolish of me to come home? The woods are disappearing. Traffic is too much.

The night was black and silent. Trees swished. Before me, as far as the eye could see, were the soft, twinkling lights of lightning bugs. Soft, yellow dots on a black blanket. I was glad I came home. Now, I find myself stepping up to protect nature. But I need your help.

I support a zone change at Island Hills.  I want to make it a park. After considering my three articles (this is the first), I hope you sign my petition: https://chng.it/VcymqfyYd5. My next two articles will be printed here the next two Thursdays.

If you live within Sayville schools, ask yourself this question about Island Hills: why would we get the costs of a development yet none of the benefits? The golf course is within the Connetquot School District. It is also on Sayville schools’ main traffic corridor (Lakeland Avenue). We won’t collect the taxes or enroll students. We need both. Instead, we are adding high density housing a mile and a half east of the worst traffic boondoggle on Long Island, the Oakdale Merge.

We need to preserve our vanishing open spaces as part of a community-led effort to update zoning throughout Greater Sayville. Our zoning was developed in 1928 and updated in 1967. We are vulnerable to the approval of zone change requests over our objections because our zoning is so outdated.

Why? Developers will sue when the town rejects zone change requests and win. When you reject a zone change, you’re saying your zoning meets current needs. Gas was 33-cents a gallon in 1967. How can we say such outdated zoning meets our current needs?

Island Hills would be declared a park as part of developing a new masterplan, or an overlay. An overlay district is a specialized district with revised zoning rules for what can be built and where. Creating an overlay as a community will protect us from careless overdevelopment, help save our bay and help our downtowns remain competitive.

To ensure new projects align with and protect their quality of life, an overlay was recently created with community input in Bayport: https://islipny.gov/community-and-services/documents/planning-development/1180-adopted-bayport-zoning-study/file. Others including Holbrook have done the same.

Completing an overlay needs to be conducted with 100 percent transparency. Meetings need to be advertised in advance, streamed live and all notes and recordings need to be published. The public needs to able to participate and ask questions at some meetings as well.

Only residents from Sayville, West Sayville and Oakdale are eligible to sign this petition.  Please note the related dates:

Sept. 30, 2024……….. Petition Due Date

Oct. 4, 2024……………… Survey Mailed to Town of Islip

Oct. 22, 2024……………. Survey Presented at Town of Islip Board Meeting

In exchange for declaring Island Hills a park, the town would transfer lands it owns near downtown Sayville and Oakdale (near our train stations) to Rechler.  With limits we determine at public meetings, properties near the Sayville and Oakdale railroad stations and in other commercially significant areas (Connetquot River, Brown’s River, etc.) would be rezoned to allow for downtown housing.

Transit-based housing is used throughout the county for a reason: we lack the roadways to handle our traffic and the housing varieties and inventory to make Long Island affordable. Transit-based housing would help our merchants while keeping our downtown prosperous and quaint. Finally, the Town would pay the architect to draft the plans for the overlay.

Regarding Island Hills, why develop another green space a mile east of the worse traffic boondoggle on Long Island (the Merge) and at the headwaters of our creek? Consider the construction along Sunrise Highway over the last 30 years: West Brook, the Greenway Commons (former Oakdale Golf Center), Brightview, Bayport Meadow Estates and Fairway Manor.  Developing Island Hills is part of an irresponsible trend that creates more problems than it addresses.

The only talks on Greater Sayville’s zoning needs are led by Rechler Equity, the property owner of Island Hills. News outlets just reported that Rechler hopes to obtain community buy-in for 890 homes, down from a previous request for 1365 units (2017). The most recent report is the result of months of invitation-only meetings hosted by local resident facilitators hired by Rechler, some paid, some unpaid: https://fkzb97.p3cdn2.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Island-Hills-Advisory-Committee-Report-Public-6.24.pdf  The proposal includes 314 single-family homes for people over 55; 10-15 rentals for adults with disabilities; 576 rental homes (173 for those over 55); and it caps building heights at two stories. Housing options would range from studio apartments to bedroom-detached cottages.

Island Hills is part of a bigger problem. Our outdated zoning could make Island Hills one of many projects like it. Consider Starbucks in West Sayville. The town approved a zone change over the objections of residents. Why? They knew they’d lose a lawsuit to Starbucks.  Why do we continue to sit back and react to zone change requests? Why not be proactive, take control of the process and make a master plan in public for everyone to see?

Then there’s the fact that our Town of Islip supervisor is serving her last term. Elected officials are simply less accountable to the public during their last term. When you plan to run for reelection, you risk losing your seat by voting for something controversial. You have nothing to worry about when you’re retiring.

Why, beyond a retiring supervisor, am I doing this now? Simple. We have the money. The town authorized a $469,000 agreement with BJF Planning to develop a master plan at their regular October meeting, its first since 1979. “I thought it was time to revisit the master plan,” Town of Islip supervisor Angie Carpenter explained when allocating the money.  The context was the $2.8 billion proposal for Midway Crossing, a 2.7 million-square-foot project near the Ronkonkoma railroad.

Please text or call me at (516) 987-6453 if you have questions. I am happy to meet with groups and organizations to answer your questions.