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East Hampton plan

Topic Tonight: East Hampton Blueprint

By Katie Thomas, STAFF WRITER

2003 September 18

Three years after work began on a blueprint for East Hampton's future, the town
board will give residents tonight what may be their last chance to speak out on
the town's proposed comprehensive plan.

To get to this point, board members have sat through dozens of public meetings
and perused hundreds of pages of committee recommendations, not to mention
two consultants' reports.

But even though the proposed plan, which will guide development for the next 20
years, is nearly complete, residents are still divided about whether it should be
adopted. Most of the debate centers on whether the town can aim to reduce
future "buildout," a technical term for the maximum number of housing units the
town might eventually hold - and hence the total number of people who might
live there.

While the town's planning consultants, Manhattan-based Horne Rose, say their
report aims to reduce buildout by passing more restrictive zoning and other
measures, they say that limiting buildout, as an end to itself, is illegal. Instead,
they argue that decreasing the town's future size is possible if it's justified by
other goals, such as protecting groundwater.

"We absolutely can limit or reduce our buildout," said Republican town board
member Diana Weir, whose party holds a slim 3-2 majority in Town Hall. "The
plan clearly says that."

But opponents - including Democrats, who are trying to win control of the board
in this November's elections - say the plan may lead to an increase in buildout
because it suggests intensifying growth in hamlet centers while limiting it in
outlying areas.

"I think what everybody in town is saying is, 'Look, we want less [growth] in the
hamlets and we want less outside the hamlets,'" said David Gruber, the town's
Democratic Party chairman. "To a large extent this document is not usable."

While Weir said she is determined to pass the plan while her party holds a
majority, town board member Pete Hammerle, who like Weir is running for
re-election this fall, said he would favor hiring yet another consultant if
Democrats win control. "I have a strong sense that the people I talk to don't want
to see this adopted," he said.

This kind of back-and-forth has exasperated many residents, said Robert
DeLuca, president of the Bridgehampton-based environmental organization, the
Group for the South Fork. "Some kind of action, after all of this chewing on the
process, would make people feel a lot better," he said.

newsday.com/news/printedition/longisland/ny-lieast183459465sep18,0,6028309.story?coll=ny-linews-print

Posted by dc at September 16, 2003 09:04 PM