A new wastewater treatment plant could be coming to Hampton Bays, but where officials want to build it is causing some concerns.

Town officials just approved the purchase of a 30.8 acre property at 130 Old Riverhead Road West for $3.2 million.

The money comes from the Community Preservation Fund and General Town Account.

Construction, however, could be years before any of it starts.

"We have extreme nitrogen problems in this town. It's affecting our fish, our fisheries, our industries. It's affecting recreational boating," says Town Planning and Development Administrator Janice Scherer.

Town officials say want to have a centralized system to remove nitrogen instead of little ones that they say are going into the groundwater.

Some local organizations have concerns.

"This is not a place to be putting a sewage treatment plant," says Acting Executive Director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society Nina Leonhardt.

The Long Island Pine Barrens Society says its not against building a plant but wants it to be placed somewhere else.

"It's in a critical resource area, which means that there are flora and fauna there, and it overlays the aquifer, which we all depend on for our drinking water," Leonhardt says.

People who live near the site tell News 12 they're worried about quality of life, property values and environmental impacts.

Town officials say it would be built away from the road and mostly underground.

"People say that all the time that it's going to bring down their value but actually having adequate infrastructure is a valuable thing," Scherer says.

Town officials say once they have control of the land, they will start the engineering, public design and fundraising process.