The hotel industry “has supported life on the North Fork for over 350 years,” according to the Southold Historical Museum. Early hotels including the Mattituck House were constructed in the 1700s and hosted guests including America’s founding fathers George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Later, in the 1800s, the town welcomed tourists at iconic grand hotels such as the Mount Pleasant House and the Orient Point Inn — and more modest hotels such as the Southold Hotel, the Old Mill Inn and the Glenwood in Mattituck. For most of Southold Town’s history, hotel development has been part of the town’s fabric. Locally owned businesses and local employees have always depended on tourists and the tourist economy to make ends meet.
The North Fork Chamber of Commerce is calling on the town board to end the moratorium on the development of new hotels. When the moratorium was approved in April, 2024, the town board represented that the Southold Town Planning Board would present an actionable plan to streamline the hotel/transient rental permitting process. As of today, the planning board has not presented a plan. The current moratorium discriminates against the next generation of entrepreneurs and does not provide any benefit to the people of Southold.
The Mattituck House, the Mount Pleasant House and Orient Point Inn shut down decades ago. The Old Mill Inn and the Glenwood are no longer hotels. The Southold Hotel changed locations and became the North Fork Table & Inn. Hotel development has stalled since the 1950s and most of the hotel rooms that were lost have not been replaced.
In recent times, the lack of hotel rooms has led the transient rental market to develop illegal AirBnB rentals, which have permeated throughout Southold Town. For the past 10 years, the town has invested millions of dollars and failed to stop the development of illegal transient rentals in our residential communities. The landlords do not apply for rental permits, nor do they subject the properties to basic safety inspections. Further, chamber members advise, these illegal rentals do not refer guests to local businesses or contribute to the local community. The development of safe, inspected local hotels will help the town combat the illegal transient rentals and help keep our communities safe. The new hotels will also refer business to our already-established businesses.
For locals on the North Fork to survive, the North Fork needs to enter its next phase of business development. Change is difficult, but with globalization, the rise of e-commerce and the development of artificial intelligence and robotic technology, the world is changing and has been changing for a long time. The North Fork will change regardless of any decision the town board makes. If the town board chooses to keep the moratorium and spurn future local business development there will not be a next generation of locals on the North Fork. Southold Town needs strong leadership now more than ever and the business community needs the town board to fight for a strong, local business-friendly future.
Eric Dantes is a North Fork Chamber of Commerce board member.