The plan to build an emergency room annex in East Hampton, which has wended its way through multiple regulatory boards over the last four years, was the subject of several angry exchanges when it returned to the town board on Tuesday.
Eric Schantz, a town planner, David Larson, the project’s architect, and Elizabeth Vail, an attorney representing the Southampton Hospital Association, the not-for-profit corporation that operates Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, presented a status report to the board, which leased the property at 400 Pantigo Place to the association in 2018 and discussed a required zoning change a year ago.
A change in the property’s zoning from parks and conservation to commercial-industrial, resolution of an archaeological review, examination of a yet-to-be-updated traffic study, and a determination of no significant environmental impact are required to move the project toward construction, they told the board. The property also has an approximately 4.5-acre affordable housing overlay, and Mr. Schantz recommended that any resolution require the same acreage to be reassigned elsewhere.
Ms. Vail and Mr. Larson presented the project to the planning board, which reviewed the proposal last month, as did the architectural review board. On Tuesday, Mr. Schantz described the planning board’s comments as “not trivial” but mostly “elements that can be resolved.”
A residential neighborhood around 600 feet to the east was the site of a Native American burial ground that was excavated in 1917, with human remains and artifacts removed at the time. A later archaeological study, while concluding there was little chance of burial sites at the proposed emergency room property, recommended further investigation. A survey of the site on Monday did not reveal evidence of artifacts, but receipt of an official report is pending. Mr. Schantz said that he is “confident that that issue has been resolved.”
A traffic report was prepared in 2016, when the Planning Department was searching for an appropriate location for the facility. “We have requested those figures be updated,” he said. The proposed facility, however, has been reduced from 33,000 to around 23,000 square feet, which will change the traffic calculation. “I’d like to see those figures updated. I do anticipate, based on the square footage being reduced, that will probably come up with numbers that indicate less of a traffic impact,” he said, “though probably not by that great a margin.” The update is pending, but “bottom line: the facility will have an impact on traffic at the intersection” of Pantigo Road and Pantigo Place. The study recommended a traffic light at the intersection, he said, which would have to be approved by the State Department of Transportation.
The property abuts several others zoned commercial-industrial, Ms. Vail said, and the plan to move Stony Brook Southampton Hospital farther west makes the East Hampton annex more vital. Mr. Larson said that he is “striving to create a nice, park-like lot that will be quite a lot more lush than the current site.” The plan also calls for a nearby helipad, possibly on the Town Hall campus, for airlifting patients to facilities to the west.
But Councilman Jeff Bragman insisted that the board is moving too quickly toward a determination of no significant environmental impact, and questioned the need for the building’s proposed size given the scope of its services. The yet-to-be-updated traffic study must also be reviewed before the board takes action, he said.
“This has been presented once to the planning board,” he said, “and presented in its current form once to us, today.” Mr. Schantz, he said, “was talking about issuing a [State Environmental Quality Review Act] declaration as early as next week. Is that the town board’s plan?”
Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc defended the process, recalling four years of planning, a “very thoughtful design” that is largely driven by state requirements for the type of facility, and the zoning designation of abutting properties. “We’re really in the final stages of this project -- planning review,” he said. “The fact that we have to wait an hour or more to get to the hospital, traveling from Montauk or elsewhere, especially in the summer, is really unacceptable.”
The building’s size “should be examined more carefully,” Mr. Bragman said, “than two meetings culminating in issuance of a determination” of no significant environmental impact. “Today’s documents came in this morning about 9:45, and you’re talking about signing off on the entire project within a week or so.”
Further, he said, the facility will not be capable of treating emergencies including heart attack, stroke, or trauma. “That is why they’re talking about a helipad here -- probably a good idea.” It is clear, he said, “that they are anticipating patients be medevac’d out of this facility if they’re facing any of these kinds of difficulties that cause anxiety in folks’ minds when they’re talking about not having hospital care.”
The building, he said flatly, is too large, and its functions should be reviewed. Angry exchanges with Mr. Van Scoyoc ensued, both men talking over each other, before Councilwoman Sylvia Overby joined the fray. “I didn’t know you had such good medical training, or had been an E.M.T. or E.M.S.,” she said to Mr. Bragman. “I think you’re fearmongering here. I’m really upset that you are doing this to the population, saying they will not be able to treat you if you have a heart attack, a stroke, a broken leg. It’s very upsetting to me. . . . These are not questions. These are things you are pontificating about.”
Referring again to the traffic study, Mr. Bragman said that “this board is basically going to fly blind and issue a declaration saying everything’s fine . . . and it’s not.”
The traffic and archaeological studies will be updated and submitted, Ms. Vail said. But “You don’t submit a traffic report on a Thursday and have this board, which is not a planning board, issue a decision within days,” Mr. Bragman said. “I understand the need for a medical facility,” he said, but “no matter how well intentioned, it should receive the same rigorous review” as any other project.
Mr. Van Scoyoc said Mr. Bragman was “casting aspersions on this project. . . . You don’t support the project, just say it.”
“I’ve asked you before,” Mr. Bragman said, “to please refrain, please do not restate my comments in your form of aggressive characterization.” He asked that Ms. Vail confirm where those experiencing a heart attack, stroke, or trauma will be taken.
“We have been talking about this,” Ms. Overby said, “since Larry Cantwell,” Mr. Van Scoyoc’s predecessor. “I’m going to be dead already by the time this facility gets built if I have to hurry up and wait again.”
Mr. Bragman reiterated his view that “We need a careful review by the planning board to discuss whether the size, traffic, and functionality of the building are what we need for the size community we are.”
“This is something our emergency responders have needed for so long,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said. “Half their day is gone on a single call. That means they’re not available.” The board is “not just turning this around in a week,” he said.
