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Shinnecock Nation halts construction after injunction
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Former Republican Southampton Town Councilman Rick Martel defeated Democrat John Leonard yesterday in a special election for an open Town Board seat, 3,092-2,738, with Martel receiving 53 percent of the vote to Leonard’s 47 percent.
Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that Martel will serve on the Southampton Town Board through the end of the year, completing the term of former Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni, who resigned in December after being elected to the New York State Assembly. Both candidates said they planned to run again in November. “I’m happy to be back and be able to serve the people of the Town of Southampton,” Martel said. “I hope to get a lot done in nine months, and I’m hoping to be able to put in nine months, plus four years, if we are lucky enough in November.” Martel had previously served one term, but lost his bid for reelection in 2023 by a narrow margin. Gordon Herr, the Southampton Democratic Party chairman, said, “We go home, we regroup and we move on to November.” His candidate John Leonard responded, “Today, it’s a loss, but it is not a loss for the long term. We are in this to win this.”
***
Work at the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s travel plaza/gas station went quiet yesterday, a day after a state Supreme Court judge ordered all construction to stop at the Hampton Bays site while Southampton Town’s case against it advances in court.
But Lisa Goree, chairwoman of the Shinnecock Nation’s council of trustees, called the judge’s ruling a "bump in the road" as the tribe seeks to move the case to federal court and continue to build the economically important project. She declined to say what impact, if any, Monday’s ruling would have on construction, but said, "We will take whatever necessary steps that we have to see that project is completed."
At the same time, she said, "Our ultimate goal is to get [the case] to federal court where it does belong. We know that the local courts, the state courts, don’t understand Indian law."
Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that the tribe has filed a motion to dismiss the state court case brought by Southampton Town in December, arguing that the nation and the United States are necessary parties to the action. Only tribal leaders are named as defendants.
For now, however, the focus is in State Supreme Court in Riverhead where Judge Maureen Liccione on Monday issued a 27-page decision that ordered all construction activity to cease immediately. Goree said the nation intends to work to establish the long-held belief, some of it using Town of Southampton maps and other documents, that the tribe’s Westwoods property in Hampton Bays is aboriginal, sovereign land, not subject to local zoning.
"We know what it is," she said. "This is our aboriginal territory, this is Shinnecock land that has never gone from our ownership and we have a letter from U.S. Department of the Interior attesting to that."
"We’re used to bumps in the road," she said, but "we’ve always completed what we’ve set out to do."
***
The Shinnecock Nation halted construction of a gas station on land they own in Hampton Bays yesterday, the day after a NYS Suffolk County Supreme Court justice granted a preliminary injunction to the Town of Southampton ordering that work stop at the site.
Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that tribal leaders said the case would be immediately appealed, but that they had instructed their construction contractor to stop work at the site while the nation explores its legal options and acknowledged that it may mean the project could be left dormant for weeks or months. While tribal officials have said repeatedly in recent months that New York State courts do not have authority over them, as a sovereign Native American nation, they acknowledged that the contractor that has been working developing the 10-acre gas station site since last April could face legal ramifications if it had continued work following Monday’s judicial ruling. “We told them to stop while we decide what our next moves are,” Lance Gumbs, the vice chairman of the Shinnecock Council of Trustees, said on Tuesday afternoon, referring to the contractor, California-based Moorefield Construction. “If we had our own construction company, we wouldn’t have stopped. But we don’t want to put them in any kind of legal jeopardy.”
Meanwhile, neighbors who live around the gas station expressed relief at the judge’s decision in interviews with Newsday yesterday. Some have homes adjacent to the parcel and say the town’s zoning of the property as residential prevents the tribe from building a gas station there. "The reaction of asking for construction to stop pending real answers is an important place to be," said Maria Theresa Garber, who owns a home on nearby Newtown Road. "We live in a residential area. It’s a quiet road, these are quiet neighborhoods. And to have the magnitude of a travel plaza ... is a very different feeling than having a neighborhood backyard backing up to woods or other neighbors."
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By WLIW-FMDonate to WLIW-FM today to keep this podcast going!
Former Republican Southampton Town Councilman Rick Martel defeated Democrat John Leonard yesterday in a special election for an open Town Board seat, 3,092-2,738, with Martel receiving 53 percent of the vote to Leonard’s 47 percent.
Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that Martel will serve on the Southampton Town Board through the end of the year, completing the term of former Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni, who resigned in December after being elected to the New York State Assembly. Both candidates said they planned to run again in November. “I’m happy to be back and be able to serve the people of the Town of Southampton,” Martel said. “I hope to get a lot done in nine months, and I’m hoping to be able to put in nine months, plus four years, if we are lucky enough in November.” Martel had previously served one term, but lost his bid for reelection in 2023 by a narrow margin. Gordon Herr, the Southampton Democratic Party chairman, said, “We go home, we regroup and we move on to November.” His candidate John Leonard responded, “Today, it’s a loss, but it is not a loss for the long term. We are in this to win this.”
***
Work at the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s travel plaza/gas station went quiet yesterday, a day after a state Supreme Court judge ordered all construction to stop at the Hampton Bays site while Southampton Town’s case against it advances in court.
But Lisa Goree, chairwoman of the Shinnecock Nation’s council of trustees, called the judge’s ruling a "bump in the road" as the tribe seeks to move the case to federal court and continue to build the economically important project. She declined to say what impact, if any, Monday’s ruling would have on construction, but said, "We will take whatever necessary steps that we have to see that project is completed."
At the same time, she said, "Our ultimate goal is to get [the case] to federal court where it does belong. We know that the local courts, the state courts, don’t understand Indian law."
Mark Harrington reports in NEWSDAY that the tribe has filed a motion to dismiss the state court case brought by Southampton Town in December, arguing that the nation and the United States are necessary parties to the action. Only tribal leaders are named as defendants.
For now, however, the focus is in State Supreme Court in Riverhead where Judge Maureen Liccione on Monday issued a 27-page decision that ordered all construction activity to cease immediately. Goree said the nation intends to work to establish the long-held belief, some of it using Town of Southampton maps and other documents, that the tribe’s Westwoods property in Hampton Bays is aboriginal, sovereign land, not subject to local zoning.
"We know what it is," she said. "This is our aboriginal territory, this is Shinnecock land that has never gone from our ownership and we have a letter from U.S. Department of the Interior attesting to that."
"We’re used to bumps in the road," she said, but "we’ve always completed what we’ve set out to do."
***
The Shinnecock Nation halted construction of a gas station on land they own in Hampton Bays yesterday, the day after a NYS Suffolk County Supreme Court justice granted a preliminary injunction to the Town of Southampton ordering that work stop at the site.
Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that tribal leaders said the case would be immediately appealed, but that they had instructed their construction contractor to stop work at the site while the nation explores its legal options and acknowledged that it may mean the project could be left dormant for weeks or months. While tribal officials have said repeatedly in recent months that New York State courts do not have authority over them, as a sovereign Native American nation, they acknowledged that the contractor that has been working developing the 10-acre gas station site since last April could face legal ramifications if it had continued work following Monday’s judicial ruling. “We told them to stop while we decide what our next moves are,” Lance Gumbs, the vice chairman of the Shinnecock Council of Trustees, said on Tuesday afternoon, referring to the contractor, California-based Moorefield Construction. “If we had our own construction company, we wouldn’t have stopped. But we don’t want to put them in any kind of legal jeopardy.”
Meanwhile, neighbors who live around the gas station expressed relief at the judge’s decision in interviews with Newsday yesterday. Some have homes adjacent to the parcel and say the town’s zoning of the property as residential prevents the tribe from building a gas station there. "The reaction of asking for construction to stop pending real answers is an important place to be," said Maria Theresa Garber, who owns a home on nearby Newtown Road. "We live in a residential area. It’s a quiet road, these are quiet neighborhoods. And to have the magnitude of a travel plaza ... is a very different feeling than having a neighborhood backyard backing up to woods or other neighbors."