Developer says it is withdrawing zoning application for Stanhope Stables in West Hills

An application for a controversial zoning change for Stanhope Stables in West Hills that would have allowed for 59 units of housing to be built on the 16-acre property is set to be withdrawn this week, said a spokesman for the developer.

A spokesman for Jericho-based developer B2K at West Hills LLC at 300 Jericho Tpke. said on Wednesday that several weeks ago company officials began discussing the withdrawal of the application to go from 2-acre to cluster zoning, or less than a quarter of an acre, on the Downs Road property.

A statement to Newsday said the company “has made a business decision to withdraw from its purchase as our company realigns its strategic focus on other development opportunities and existing projects on Long Island and in other parts of the nation.”

A formal letter to the town will be sent this week, the spokesman said.

Huntington Town Supervisor Ed Smyth said the town is considering acquiring the property through its open-space purchasing program.

“We plan to look into the feasibility of acquiring Stanhope Stables as a public park and maintaining the equestrian use of the park,” Smyth said.

He said there is $7.1 million in the acquisition account of the town’s Environmental Open Space & Park Fund Advisory Committee program. He said town officials had set money aside to purchase 160 acres of the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Lloyd Harbor in partnership with the state, Suffolk County and the Oyster Bay-based North Shore Land Alliance.

The town was informed in the spring that the state wanted to move forward in the Lloyd Harbor deal without the town or county, Smyth said, so now the money could potentially go toward purchasing the stable property.   

Nancy Henderson, owner of Stanhope Stables, said she has not yet heard from the town, but has a meeting next week with Suffolk officials to discuss selling the property’s development rights.

“I would prefer that the property remain a stable,” Henderson said. “My intention is for it to be the last standing stable on Long Island.”

Suffolk County spokeswoman Marykate Guilfoyle confirmed the meeting to discuss the Farmland Preservation program, which is the county’s purchase of development rights program.

Whoever owns development rights on a property can control what can be developed on the site.

Kathy O’Hara, who lives on West Hills Road, said her concern had been the increased traffic new housing brings and is relieved that the zoning change has been stopped.

“I understand someone else owns the property and it’s not up to neighbors to tell them what they can do with their property,” she said. “However when it comes to zoning I think we have a say in that as neighbors.”

Cynthia Clark, an equestrian and member of a Facebook group called Huntington Residents Against Development at Stanhope Farm, said she thinks it’s a terrible idea for the town to purchase the property. She said the group prefers that the town or county purchase the development rights on the property and allow the property itself to remain under private ownership.

“Government is a bad steward of specialty properties such as historic buildings and equestrian facilities,” she said.