After months of work, new legislation is ready for review that would focus on the historic preservation of structures such as churches in Southold that might otherwise end up on the chopping block.
In July, the Southold Town board discussed a plan to create new zoning that would preserve historic structures such as churches that could soon be on the market.
In recent months, Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell has said that many churches with rich histories could be coming up for sale.
“Anyone ever been to the Limelight?” Russell asked the board Tuesday. The once-church in New York City was turned into a “seedy” nightclub for years, Russell said, and is now used as a marketplace for designer goods.
To that end, town planner Mark Terry said, at a July town board work session, that the rough draft of an overlay zone for historic properties had been created, a “floating zone” that would protect and preserve historic churches and other community facilities such as fraternal organizations, schools, cemeteries, and firehouses.
On Tuesday, Town Attorney Martin Finnegan said that the new legislation had come in and was subject to town board approval.
An applicant would voluntarily petition the town for the change of zone, Russell said; the zone change would afford flexibility for new, lower intensity uses.
The new legislation would provide incentive to developers to maintain existing facades while preserving not only churches, but community centers, firehouses, and other facilities that could be maintained through adaptive reuse in a way that “keep the character” of the structures, town planner Mark Terry said.
The board agreed to request a code committee meeting to “flesh out” the draft, before determining whether or not to move forward.
Terry said work has been ongoing for a long time, and permitted uses would include one, two, or multi-family housing, educational facilities, offices, childcare centers, retail businesses, not-for-profit organizations and even farmers’ markets, something that’s being done across the United States, Terry said.
“Anything but cell towers,” Russell quipped. He added that with churches going on the market, “This issue really needs to be addressed sooner than later.”
The structure must be eligible for historic preservation, Terry said. One other use could be utilizing the structure for hosting community events. Terry said the reason why the legislation was expanded to include community facilities was that some are currently at risk, with lower memberships.
“We have community interest in seeing churches preserved,” Russell said this summer.
One caveat, Russell added, is that the town wants to see the historic structures protected, with tax benefits, should the properties be turned into private hands.
Justice Louisa Evans asked if other communities had created similar zoning. Terry said a nationwide search had indicated that many former churches were used for housing and offices.
Even locally, Terry said, the North Fork Community Theatre is housed in a former church building; another adaptive reuse of a church in Greenport exists.
“This is occurring,” Terry said, adding that the town was just aiming to offer incentives for preservation, which is good for the economy and scenic quality of the community.
For months, speculation has been swirling about whether the Sacred Heart Parish in Cutchogue would be sold; Sean P. Dolan, spokesman for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, has told SoutholdLOCAL more than once that no decisions have been made.
Earlier this year, however, members of the church, the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council, and the church said they were working together to consider possible adaptive reuses should a sale commence.
