Keep things pretty much the way they are — preserving the North Fork’s quality of life, rural character and small-town charm. At the same time, find a way to provide enough affordable housing in the hope of allowing local young people the chance to settle in the beautiful place where they grew up — and retirees the ability to stay.
That’s the daunting challenge facing Southold planners articulated repeatedly by residents who came out for the town comprehensive plan update hamlet meetings over the past 10 days.
There are no easy answers — sometimes planners are left to wonder whether there are any answers at all. People say they want housing opportunities for the next generation and retirees as the North Fork housing market comes under increasing pressure from second-home buyers and investors. But when a developer proposes a high-density residential plan — higher densities are required for affordability, developers say — there is invariably loud community opposition.
Nevertheless, town officials continue to labor to find the sweet spot for balancing those competing interests — planners already completed the housing chapter of the comprehensive plan — and at the same time work on other competing and related interests: traffic and infrastructure, economic development and human services.
Planning director Heather Lanza conducted three hamlet-specific community meetings to present the draft land use chapter of the plan to residents. Lanza authored the draft after a series of similar meetings throughout the town to gather residents’ input on planning goals for each hamlet. She gave presentations on Southold and Peconic hamlets on Saturday, April 23, on Greenport, East Marion and Orient on Thursday evening, April 27 and on Laurel, Mattituck, Cutchogue and New Suffolk on Saturday, April 30.
At each meeting, Lanza first reviewed the process planners are using to write the draft plan and the plan’s town-wide goals. She produced the department’s analysis of Southold’s growth since 1990 and the potential “full buildout” of the town under current zoning, with a hamlet-by-hamlet breakdown:
Cutchogue – 1,249
East Marion 275
Fishers Island – 279
Greenport West – 444
Mattituck Laurel – 1,234
New Suffolk – 45
Orient – 338
Peconic- 470
Southold – 985
All told, the town could add 5,319 housing units — a 37.5 percent increase — with full buildout under current zoning.
The full buildout scenario is “only theoretical” and “unlikely to occur given the town’s ongoing land preservation program,” according to the draft.
Sixty percent of the 5,319 potential new units would have to be constructed on building lots that have not yet been created by land subdivision. Forty percent of them — 2,083 units — could be constructed on building lots that already exist. Those are scattered throughout the town, according to the draft, in the form of either individual vacant lots or entire subdivisions that haven’t been built.
Southold added 2,000 housing units between 1980 and 1990, 845 between 1990 and 2,000, and 1,491 between 2000 and 2010. In the last decade the rate of development as measured by building permits issued for new residential construction peaked in 2005 with 100 new permits. The numbers plummeted with the crash of 2008, decreased a little more in 2009 and has been slowly rising since. At this rate it would take more than 50 years to achieve full buildout, the report says.
While the actual buildout would likely be far less, there would still be “significant growth over time,” according to the draft, necessitating a close look at the zoning code and land use regulations to ensure that they maintain quality of life and take into account the changing economy and demographic trends.
Nearly 40 percent of all homes in Southold Town are considered seasonal, meaning their owners do not live in Southold full-time. The proportion of seasonal to year-round homes has been increasing for many years and planners expect the trend to continue.
The objectives of the plan, as stated in the draft:
- clarify the zoning code and other chapters related to land use;
- make sure existing zoning is appropriate;
- assess public parking in each hamlet;
- set policies limiting increased housing density to affordable housing units;
- locate affordable housing as close as possible to hamlet centers and schools; and
- create a coastal resilience plan.
After Lanza presented highlights of the draft chapter, residents formed “breakout groups” to discuss individual hamlets.
All who turned out for the three meetings expressed their desire to maintain the quality of life and the rural, small-town environment they enjoy. They all expressed worry over possible new development in the town, especially close to home.
Mattituck residents on Saturday said they would like to see the undeveloped commercially zoned lands in the hamlet’s “sprawling business district” changed to residential or office zoning.
The prospect of continued sprawl and the spread eastward of Route 58-type development worries residents in the western end of town.
“We oppose new zoning for more commercial uses,” the spokesperson for the Mattituck group said.
The group did not mention the Sports East Fitness proposal by name but it was clearly on their minds.
“We’d like to see the special exceptions eliminated to prevent land from becoming commercial, which is what that allows,” she said. “We’d like to see effort to preserve woodlands.”
New Suffolk residents focused on the hamlet’s waterfront: specifically lack of parking and congestion at the beach and boat ramp.
“We’re the smallest hamlet but we seem to have some of the biggest problems,” one New Suffolk resident said. “The beach becomes a nightmare. You can’t get people in or out.
People are there from so many other places and it seems like nothing gets done about it.” He said there’s “one long parade” using the boat ramp, with commercial marinas charging boat owners to haul their boats there and launch them.
Parking on the waterfront has long been a problem during the warm-weather season, residents said. “With a new restaurant opening on First Street, the whole community is holding its breath waiting to see what happens,” a resident said. “What’s this going to be like?”
Greenport residents living outside of the incorporated village expressed an interest in being annexed by the village. They suggested a trolley or shuttle bus system to bring visitors into the village, where parking in season can be very difficult.
Residents in the eastern reaches of the town said they didn’t want to see high-density housing in their hamlets.
“If there is going to be development, it should be in places that already have a sewer system or that can develop a sewer system, like Mattituck or Southold,” one resident said.
East Marion residents said they want to “make sure that the post office and country store are zoned commercial so they can stay there.” They also asked the town to reassess zoning from the standpoint of public access to the water “including the old oyster factory.” M2 zoning, which they described as “catch-all” should be reviewed and updated.
“We would like to see the zoning actually fit 2016. Some of the zoning right now is more appropriate to 1995.”
Two residents at the Southold-Peconic meeting last Saturday spoke from the perspective of business and property owners.
“You need to have balance,” Frank Cashen of Peconic said. “Recognize that we need the tax base, but address the corridor zones outside the hamlets, so we don’t have Route 58-type sprawl with strip malls and commercial strips.”
Jim Miller of Peconic remarked on how difficult it can be to obtain approvals. “I recently completed an industrial subdivision that took in excess of two years,” he said. “It should be approved within 90 days.” He complained of a review process that was “incremental and extremely time-consuming.”
Miller said industrial development, in addition to providing tax base, can provide much-needed facilities to support agricultural uses.
Chris Baiz, president of the L.I. Wine Council said the value of agricultural jobs in the local economy is often overlooked. “There are many highly skilled, high-paying jobs in agriculture,” he said.
The planning department will next work on the draft chapter dealing with transportation and infrastructure, the only remaining chapter in the draft comp plan to be completed.
The next step after that is revising the draft chapters, taking into account residents’ feedback, compiling the full draft and presenting it to the town board, which the planning department hopes to do by year’s end.
