Southampton Town Buys 35 Acres Near Jackson Avenue for Hampton Bays Sewage Plant

The Southampton Town Board unanimously approved the purchase of approximately 35 acres of wooded land just to the west and north of its Jackson Avenue complex in Hampton Bays on March 11, paying $3.2 million from the Community Preservation Fund's dedicated water quality account for roughly 31 acres and an additional $465,000 from the town's general fund for a 4.8-acre parcel that will be folded into the existing Jackson Avenue facilities.

The land, identified on the Suffolk County Tax Map as SCTM 900 205 1 1.003, is currently owned by Hogan Southampton, LLC. Town Supervisor Maria Moore said the property at 130 Old Riverhead Road West sits just northwest of the town's offices and courthouse on Jackson Avenue, and that the town hoped to close on the purchase quickly.

A wastewater treatment plant is planned for roughly 6 acres of the larger parcel, with the facility ultimately connected to a sewer system serving the Hampton Bays downtown business district and neighboring properties. Planning and Development Administrator Janice Scherer said the technology central to the project will make a measurable difference in local water quality. "The facility is going to be advanced wastewater technology that can remove 80 to 90 percent of nitrogen," Scherer said. "Even with new development, you'll be getting a 51 percent reduction in nitrogen."

The timeline is measured in years, not months. Moore said the town must first hire an engineering firm before breaking ground. "Once we get the property purchased, then we can hire an engineering firm to start on the designs, which, that is probably about two years in, then to build it will probably be another two years," Moore said, placing the earliest operational date roughly four years out.

The 4.8-acre southeastern corner of the property, fronting Riverhead Road and Jackson Avenue, will serve broader municipal purposes. The town is also developing a master redevelopment plan for the Jackson Avenue complex that could eventually accommodate offices relocated from the current Town Hall in Southampton Village.

The parcel sits within both the Central Pine Barrens Critical Resource Area and the town's Aquifer Protection Overlay District. The town's resolution proposes reclassifying it under the Aquifer Recharge Water Quality Target Area, a change that reflects the site's intended function for wastewater treatment and groundwater recharge. Town findings cited in resolution RES 2026 0172 noted the property's multiple road frontages on Jackson Avenue, Hildreth Road, Old Riverhead Road, and State Route 24 as factors making it uniquely suited for water quality objectives.

The vote came after the board heard objections at a prior hearing from at least one immediate neighbor of the property and residents of a neighborhood approximately 1,000 feet away on the opposite side of Old Riverhead Road, who argued the project would harm their property values. Town officials pushed back, describing the proposal as a critical component for the Hampton Bays community that would produce far fewer neighborhood impacts than residents feared once the facility is complete.