To Discuss Growth In Amagansett
Future commercial growth in Amagansett - where to allow it and how to control it - will be a matter for the public to debate next week, as the East Hampton Town Board holds its first public hearing on the Amagansett Corridor Study. The hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 16, at Town Hall.
The 300-page study, commissioned by the board more than a year and a half ago, sets forth recommen dations designed to guide development in the village core and along a significant portion of Montauk Highway to the east and west.
Recommendations range from zone changes to the construction of more sidewalks. When adopted by the board, it will become part of the town's overall Comprehensive Plan.
No Commercial District
The Town Board has already eliminated some of the potentially controversial recommendations in the document - most significantly the "planned commercial district" proposed east of the village.
The town also disagreed with creating "central-business" zoning around Brent's General Store and extending small residential lanes off Main Street to serve potential future development behind the Amagansett Library.
The board still has one major question to grapple with, however: What about the Bistrian family's 42 acres of vacant land behind the municipal parking lot?
Road A Possibility
The Bistrians have had a long-pending request before the Town Board to rezone a substantial portion of that land for commercial use. It is now residentially zoned, with provisions for affordable housing.
Any significant development on the former farmland, whether commercial or residential, is likely to be accompanied by the opening of a new road from the adjacent Windmill Lane, the study suggests.
The town owns a right-of-way running from Windmill Lane to the back of the municipal parking lot. Windmill Lane residents have vehemently opposed such a road.
Open Space Preservation
The Corridor Study suggests leaving the Bistrian property's zoning intact - that is, with one-acre minimum lots and the possibility of more densely clustered affordable-housing units - and adding the designation of an agricultural district. The latter would insure the preservation of open space in any future subdivisions.
Under current zoning, up to 80 affordable housing apartments and 46 single-family houses could be built on the Bistrian property.
As for the roughly 25 acres east of the village that had been proposed for "planned commercial" development, the plan offered no alternatives.
Housing Possibilities
Six acres of that land, just east of the Amagansett I.G.A. complex and north of the highway, is currently zoned for "central business."
The rest, running all the way to Bunker Hill Road, has the same zoning as the Bistrian property, and has been the subject of discussions about possible affordable or senior housing.
Under current zoning, the commercial portion of the land could house up to 130,000 square feet of new commercial buildings, and the residential portion (with its affordable housing designation) could house up to 152 affordable apartments, 42 affordable houses, or 21 market-value houses.
The Corridor Study also addresses other properties such as the Amagansett Farmers Market site and Lorne Michaels's property adjacent to the Miss Amelia's Cottage lot, but recommends against zoning changes proposed by their owners.
Scenic Character
The bulk of the study focuses on planning strategies to retain the vitality of the village while protecting the scenic character along the highway.
Copies of the plan are available for review at the Planning Board and Planning Department offices at 300 Pantigo Place.
In addition to the hearing on the Corridor Study, the Town Board has two minor hearings on the agenda for Friday, Jan. 16, on modifications to the town's urban renewal maps.