Candidate Profile: Deegan Wants Balance in Business Community

Mattituck resident Nick Deegan says he’s had an interest in community involvement since he was a teenager growing up on a farm in County Wicklow, Ireland. His father, Denis, was always a strong voice in local government, and Nick followed in his footsteps.

Deegan, 62, is running on the He has served the North Fork community as a coach, crew member of the Mattituck Soccer Club and as aof the since 2007. A professional carpenter, Deegan said he became interested in running for park district commissioner when he witnessed the building of a storage facility on beachside land at in Mattituck in 2006.

“To me, it was a terrible lack of planning and foresight,” he said. “I couldn’t see how the decision was made to build a big storage building right there on the beach.”

Deegan, who plans to finish his term as park district commissioner, said he sees some of the same lack of planning and foresight in Southold Town government and would especially like to see a more proactive Planning Board. He believes the business community is not balanced and does not want to see box stores overrun the community.

“It seems to be all rhetoric and no action — years of this with the Planning Board has left the door wide open for box stores to come in,” he said. “We’re seeing it right now with and before with the in Mattituck.”

Deegan has lived in Mattituck with his wife and two sons since 1990. He said that Mattituck, as the gateway to the rest of the North Fork, should look more like a park than a strip mall at the main intersection — though he said he understands how hard it is to create a sustainable economy while trying to preserve the rural character that has made the North Fork so alluring for tourists and locals alike.

Like Democratic candidate for supervisor , Deegan said he strongly believes that the will help manage traffic and growth. He said that it’s time local government seriously address the issue instead of focusing all their energy on

“If we had a train going regularly, people would use it — especially on the weekends,” he said.

Ongoing traffic congestion issues on the and wineries can also be addressed by individual owners fairly easily — they just have to take responsibility, Deegan said.

“Businesses can benefit greatly from traffic control in their own domain, but not at the taxpayers expense,” he said.

With his experience as park district commissioner, Deegan said that he is all for sharing resources with schools and private entities to expand and ras needs and wants change in the community. He said he hopes the town can partner with to provide public use of an

As commissioner, Deegan said he also reduced taxes by 16 percent without cutting services to the park district. He said he believes he has proved himself to the community as someone who can get stuff done with efficiency.

“I believe I have the leadership skills to bring us where we need to be,” he said.