On Wednesday, March 18, a public meeting on the Violet Cove Redevelopment Design was held at the Mastic Beach Property Owners Association on Neighborhood Road in Mastic.
Hosted on behalf of Suffolk County executive Edward P. Romaine and Suffolk County Legis. Jim Mazzarella, the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development and Plannings and architects led the meeting.
“Keeping our community fully informed is essential as we move the Violet Cove Project forward. The feedback we received at this week’s public meeting reflects just how invested residents are in the future of this site. By maintaining transparency and continuing this dialogue, we can ensure the final plan truly meets the needs of Mastic Beach and creates a space that everyone can take pride in and enjoy for years to come,” said Mazzarella.
The public meeting was held so that residents of Mastic Beach had an opportunity to learn more about a proposed transformation of a long-abandoned waterfront site into a new ecology and arts destination known as Violet Cove.
The project was made possible by funding from the New York State Department of State under Title 11 of the Environmental Protection Fund.
The Mastic Beach Conservancy has been advancing plans to redevelop a former restaurant property along The Great South Bay into an environmental education and cultural space.
Once predominately a summer community, the Mastic, Mastic Beach, and Shirley community has grown to the year-round population that has steadily increased since 1950 as a result of the conversion of summer homes and significant in-fill construction.
Today it is the most densely populated area in the eastern portion of the Town of Brookhaven due to relatively small building lots.
Within the Mastic-Shirley Conservation Area is an approximately 1.27-acre waterfront site that was formerly occupied by the Violet Cove Restaurant. This property, the future site of the Violet Cove Redevelopment Design, is located at 2 Violet Road, south of Floral Court, in Mastic Beach. The site was inundated after Superstorm Sandy and then the County seized the property for unpaid taxes. Subsequently, the county secured permits to delineate the onsite wetlands, and demolished the restaurant structure in July 2022.
Several acquisitions within the Mastic-Shirley Conservation Area have been made by the county and Town of Brookhaven over the years. As of 2022, the county has acquired approximately 77 acres in the Conservation Area, while the federal government owns 613 acres, the State owns 93 acres, and the Town owns almost 112 acres. Altogether, about 895 acres of the Mastic-Shirley Conservation Area have been protected.
In recognizing that the site is in a low-lying, flood-prone area and building off previously provided community input, the Suffolk County Hike Bike Plan, the Suffolk County Blueway Trail Plan and the draft Southern Mastic Beach Ecological Restoration Design Project, the county is working with a design team to develop an interpretive center at the site that is connected to a larger trail network throughout the Mastic-Shirley Conservation Area.
Based on 2017-2021 American Community Survey Economic data, the three Census Designated Places that make up the tri-hamlet peninsula are among the top 15 most economically distressed communities in Suffolk County, with Mastic ranking No. 3, Mastic Beach ranking No. 10 and Shirley ranking No. 14.
In addition, the New York Climate Justice Working Group recently designated three census tracts on the peninsula as Disadvantaged Communities based on 45 indicators, including environmental and climate change burdens and risks, population characteristics and health vulnerabilities.
The Mastic Beach Conservancy and the Gino Macchio Foundation will plan and design for the restoration, preservation and accessibility to the Mastic Shirley Conservation Area located on Long Island’s South Shore. The plan will support recreation, education, and environmental stewardship through an interpretive center, trail network, and a kayak launch. The project builds on the county’s prior awarded Blueway Trail and Brookhaven Local Waterfront Revitalization Program.
Planned for a May 2027 completion date, the State has given approximately $44,829 of the $1,000,000 allocated for the project.
In 1940, the site originally opened as Captain Andy’s Fishing Station, and most recently operated as the Violet Cove Restaurant that closed in 2008.
Starting in the 1980s, Suffolk County acquired a significant number of wetlands and associated buffer zones within an area identified as the Mastic-Shirley Conservation Area.
The Tri-hamlet Comprehensive Plan for Mastic, Mastic Beach, Shirley was published in 1995 and two years later the 1,685-acre Mastic-Shirley Conservation Area was delineated in a report prepared by the Suffolk County Department of Planning entitled, “Narrow Bay Floodplain Protection and Hazard Mitigation Plan”.
The Violet Cove Site was heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy and was subsequently seized by Suffolk County for unpaid taxes in 2012.
In 2014, a report by New York Rising identified the Violet Cove Site as a potential centerpiece of economic development in Mastic Beach. The report also noted that any redevelopment would have to withstand future storms.
In 2019, Suffolk County adopted Resolution Number 907-2019 which states that the Violet Cove property should be used for community purposes and not open space preservation.
In recent years, the property has drawn interest from local environmental advocates who see the location as an opportunity to reconnect the community with the surrounding.
The Mastic Beach Conservancy’s proposal would convert the shoreline parcel into a small ecology and art center that combines environmental education, creative programming, and public access to the bay.
According to information released by the Conservancy, the center would host programs focused on:
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