Soloviev Group files Colusa conservation subdivision plan as critics warn South Forkification

Crossroads Atlantic LLC, a division of the Soloviev Group, formally submitted a conservation-subdivision application to Southold Town proposing to carve 372 acres into 47 residential lots while preserving 267 acres of farmland and open space. The cover letter, dated Feb. 27, 2026 and signed by Mattituck attorney Martin Finnegan, asks Planning Board Chairman James Rich III to place the filing on the next available Planning Board agenda for a completeness review.

The property runs east of Oregon Road from County Road 48 to Long Island Sound, spanning the hamlets of Cutchogue and Peconic and including beachfront and bluff-top parcels between Bridge Lane and Cabots Wood Road. Sketch plans captioned as of June 2 show 18 bluff-top lots ranging from 2.94 to 3.74 acres and 29 inland lots just over one acre, a dedicated beach-access lot, and up to five large conservation farm parcels. The proposal estimates construction would take about two years once approvals are secured and projects that the bluff-top parcels could list for several million dollars.

The application documents state, "No prior subdivision application has been filed for the property," and identify zoning across the tract as Agricultural-Conservation, R-80, and Protected. The filing also reports about 124 acres of the site are currently in agricultural use. Town staff previously held a pre-submission conference with the developer on April 30, 2025 with both the Planning Board and the town’s Land Preservation staff, and the formal proposal was delivered to the Planning Board in June.

Southold’s conservation-subdivision tool is central to the filing: town planners calculate the model preserves roughly 75 percent of land compared with a standard subdivision and note a conventional subdivision on the same parcel could have yielded as many as 193 lots. Town planners recommended splitting the single 267-acre preserved farm parcel into three to five smaller parcels to promote viable agricultural operations; Krupski said, "It’s an option for one person to have a much larger operation, but the practicality of it is that there will be a number of smaller operations there in the future."

The filing is part of a broader Soloviev land portfolio: Soloviev controls at least 49 parcels totaling just over 1,119 acres across Southold, Riverhead and Shelter Island. A Soloviev Group spokesperson described preservation as a priority, saying, "More land will be preserved in this project than in any other comparable effort on the North Fork. We remain committed to long-term land stewardship and the area’s agricultural heritage." Public-facing estimates tied to the filing put the project’s finished value in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Reaction has been swift. Residents and civic groups have warned of "South Forkification" on social media, raising concerns that 47 multimillion-dollar homes would add traffic and strain local services. Cutchogue Civic Association president Carolyn McCall said the association may host a forum once a revised sketch is filed, and board member Dave Bergen said, "I’m hoping that the town will continue to strike that balance between economic development and also the preservation of our land and the quality of life that we enjoy so much out here in Southold." Attorney Martin Finnegan did not respond to requests for comment.

Next steps hinge on the Planning Board’s completeness review requested in the Feb. 27 cover letter and any subsequent town planner memos and public hearings. The submission raises immediate procedural questions about the project name and related filings in the Soloviev portfolio and sets up a substantive review of whether Southold’s conservation-subdivision rules will deliver the agricultural and open-space outcomes the town’s 2020 Comprehensive Plan seeks.