Hauppauge golf course owners pull proposal for more houses

The applicants behind a controversial plan to build more than two dozen homes and a clubhouse at a Hauppauge golf course have pulled their proposal.

Stonebridge Golf Links and Country Club LLC informed Smithtown officials recently it has withdrawn a proposal to build 28 more homes and a clubhouse on its 134-acre property — where there are 105 homes.

Stonebridge representatives this week declined to comment on the matter “at this time.”

The proposal would have required the town to roll back building restrictions on the property, dating back to 1999, that limit the number of homes that can be built there to 105.

Besides those homes, covenants on the property also allow for the 18-hole golf course and clubhouse that are on the property now and restrict the golf club’s membership to 250 members.

The restrictions also state that if the golf facility ever closed, any application to subdivide the property would be limited to 30 homes, with at least 90 acres of the property preserved as open space.

Melville-based attorney David Altman, who represented Stonebridge in the application process, sent a letter dated May 7 to Smithtown’s planning board.

“Please be advised that the applicant hereby withdraws the application, without prejudice, and respectfully requests that the Planning Board remove the application from its decision calendar,” the letter stated.

In July 2023, Stonebridge had proposed building the additional homes and an 8,000-square-foot clubhouse on the property.

The clubhouse would have featured a grill room and pro shop for golf club members on the first floor, and amenities including an exercise room, a meeting space and locker rooms for members on the second floor, Newsday previously reported.

In addition, the club sought to build a driving range and to modify the 18-hole golf course into two 9-hole courses.

Smithtown officials said this week the golf course’s application was submitted to the planning board and there are no other pending applications or requests to the town related to the proposal.

It drew criticism at a March planning board meeting, where more than 60 people — including many residents of the golf community and two Suffolk County legislators — objected to the proposal. Opponents said they worried it would create traffic and safety issues and potentially hurt the ecosystems of nearby Blydenburgh Park and the Nissequogue River.

The Stonebridge Estates Homeowners Association, which represents the community’s 105 homeowners and opposed the project, issued a statement this week expressing some relief about the application's withdrawal.

“We are obviously cautiously optimistic that the applicants’ withdrawal is actually the end of this matter for not only our Stonebridge residents, but the entire Smithtown community and surrounding area,” the statement read.