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• NY POLITICS
• Updated April 5, 2012, 9:41 p.m. ET

Hamptons Protest Irks Top Democrat

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By WILL JAMES

Jay Jacobs, the chairman of the New York state Democratic Committee, has opened up children's camps throughout the state with little trouble over the years.
But the powerful Long Islander may have met his match in the tiny Hamptons community of North Sea, which is forcing him to scale down a campground proposal—at least for now.

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Associated Press

New York State Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs, center, pictured speaking at a 2010 party function..

Mr. Jacobs ignited one of the most contentious backlashes against a developer in recent memory when he proposed a sports campground for 400 children on a 17-acre defunct tennis club. Even for the Hamptons, where year-round residents are known for their fierce protection of privacy and property, the criticism was unusually sharp.
"They had people standing on the streets of Southampton in front of stores and giving out leaflets that said I was a liar," said Mr. Jacobs, who has filed a libel lawsuit.
If neighbors voiced their concerns loudly, they said it was because they were up against someone of unusual influence.
"He's well-connected, and I think this project has become an ego power thing for him," said Jimmy Silber, 55, a real estate manager who lives directly across the pond from the proposed camp. "And he just doesn't accept that a community can rise up and say he can't do this. He just hasn't been able to come to terms with that."
The protests against Mr. Jacobs's camp worked, to a point. On March 15, the Town of Southampton said he couldn't go forward with his project without getting a zoning variance, a lengthy process.

But Mr. Jacobs now says he still plans to open a camp on the property this summer, but a smaller version that complies with the town's laws—a tennis club similar to what used to operate at the site.
And he vowed to move forward with his larger project by getting a variance.
"If he continues to try to move ahead with this project, it will continue to be the same reaction from the community of opposition," said Foster Maer, 61 years old, an attorney who lives next to the property. "Overwhelming opposition."
Mr. Jacobs bought the North Sea property for $7.65 million in 2010.
Already the owner of three sleep-away camps in New York and Pennsylvania, Mr. Jacobs hoped to turn the Hamptons site into his third day camp, redesigning the old tennis club into a summer playground with pools, fields and courts. Children could swim and play sports during the summer. Cabins on the property, he said, could be made into staff housing.
But neighbors objected to the expansion of what one described as a "sleepy little tennis camp." They said it would bring traffic and noise in a community with little of both.
They also cited the water quality of Little Fresh Pond, which is next to the property where the sports day camp was proposed. The Little Fresh Pond Association, a decades-old group that tests the pond's water and asks neighbors to refrain from using certain fertilizers, was an especially vocal detractor.
"Nothing against kids having a good time at camp, but it's got to be put in the right place, and this isn't it," Mr. Maer said.
At public hearings last year, dozens of neighbors packed Southampton Town Hall and protested outside, toting a 30-foot banner that said, "Save Little Fresh Pond."
Mr. Jacobs said he was taken off guard. "I don't think that their opposition is legitimate which is why I didn't expect it," he said.
In October, Mr. Jacobs sued two leaders of the association for libel, claiming a flier they were distributing accused him of lying about details of his project.
The defendants, John Barona and John Gorman, filed a counterclaim, arguing that Mr. Jacobs' suit was intended to quash public debate.
Mr. Jacobs said he would be willing to settle for no money if he received an apology. The case is pending in State Supreme Court.
Stuart Summit, the attorney representing Mr. Barona and Mr. Gorman, said the flier was an attempt to spark public interest in the proposed development.
Residents said they were concerned Mr. Jacobs would use his political power to push the development through. He has led New York's Democratic Party since 2009 and is also the Nassau County Democratic Party chairman. He is close to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Mr. Jacobs said he has never used his political standing to help his business.
"I've walked a very fine line, because I make my living in business," he said. "I make no money directly or indirectly through politics, and I have a firewall, if you will, between the two. Even if there's something that may get blurry, I don't get involved with it."
Mr. Jacobs stood by his camp proposal, arguing that opponents were exaggerating its potential impacts. He also claimed they were trying to preserve a private enclave around the 25-acre pond.
"This is more about some neighbors hoping for some exclusivity," he said.