Work halts at Shinnecock gas station; tribe seeks to move case to federal court

Work at the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s travel plaza/gas station went quiet on Tuesday, 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, in an interview Tuesday 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."

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. Liccione wrote that building the gas station without regard to town zoning rules would "substantially disrupt the settled expectations of the community" and "would pose a danger to the publics safety and health."

Liccione dismissed the notion that blocking construction would financially hurt the tribe, saying "hardships are of their own making, since they took the risk" of starting construction despite an adverse state court ruling. Her decision also raised questions about a December finding by the U.S. Department of the Interior that the 80-acre parcel known as Westwoods was protected aboriginal tribal land.

Neighbors who live around the gas station expressed relief at the judge’s decision in interviews with Newsday on Tuesday. 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."

Asked what the tribe should be allowed to build, Garber said, "That’s not really for me to say." If it’s zoned residential, she said, perhaps houses. "If you ask anybody who lives in Hampton Bays we feel like we’re in paradise. And so our goal is to keep it protected ... Protecting the environment is our primary concern," Garber said.

Several commercial marinas operate on the nearby Shinnecock Canal, selling large quantities of fuel to boaters. The tribe has also noted Southampton Town recently approved a gas station above a remediated spill site at a 7-Eleven in Hampton Bays where work is now underway.

James Burke, a lawyer for Southampton Town, in a statement said the town was "grateful for the obvious time and consideration" the court put into the decision. He said Southampton is "hopeful that we can work" with the Shinnecock Nation "to find a common solution and agreement on how we can all move forward for the best interests of the residents of the town and the nation."

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 Westwoods 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 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."

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.