Hamlet Study Starting
A study of East Hampton Town’s nonresidential properties, designed to help develop long-range plans for each of the town’s hamlets, will get underway in mid-March by a Massachusetts firm hired to coordinate the work.
The firm, Dodson and Flinker, will be paid $286,900 to work on the study over the course of about a year. Representatives of the firm are to visit the town board in a few weeks. Public sessions will follow.
The goal, according to an outline prepared by the town’s business committee, will be “to determine what the town needs to do to allow business to thrive and meet the needs of our communities.”
“The total economy of the town” should be pinned down, and questions such as whether the present zoning code is appropriate examined, the business committee said.
The completed studies are to be informed by the comprehensive plan, which was last updated in 2005. The plan called for hamlet studies that would take in-depth looks at downtown areas, business corridors, and other nonresidential sections. Among other goals, the plan said future development should be “harmonious” with existing community character, and provide opportunities “to engage in a variety of livelihoods.”
The plan also called for encouraging “local businesses to serve the needs of the year-round population and reduce the environmental impacts of commercial and industrial uses.” The business committee had worked in recent months to develop an outline to guide the work, which is also to include suggestions from citizens advisory committees and members of the public.
In conjunction with town staff, Dodson and Flinker is to look at how existing businesses function and to assess the shopping and business-related needs and desires of year-rounders, seasonal residents, and visitors.
The business committee suggested compiling data on the elements affecting housing for employees in numerous parts of the economy; classes and outdoor recreation; restaurants, bars, and clubs; resorts and motels; the artist community; recreational and commercial fishing; farming, and non-retail businesses such as lawyers, doctors, and banks.
The study is also to look at the impact on residents, tourists, and businesses, as well as the desirability of the many special events held here, the committee said.
Draft outlines for each of the hamlets have been prepared, taking into account each area’s unique characteristics. For instance, in Wainscott, the study proposal says, the area along the highway, which now has a “strip mall character,” could, along with the area of the nearby reclaimed sand pit, “represent an opportunity for redevelopment into a cohesive identity with a walk-able hamlet center.”
In East Hampton, North Main Street will be examined, and in Springs, which lacks an actual “downtown,” the proposal suggests looking at how existing “pockets of commercial development” serve residents and what is needed for them “to thrive without growing too much for the community or destroying the character of the community.”
Three areas of Springs were named in the preliminary plan: the area around Ashawagh Hall, the eastern and western ends of Fort Pond Boulevard, and the Three Mile Harbor shoreline. However, Ms. Wolffsohn said this week, the exact parameters of the study will be developed during initial public meetings with the consultants, and could, for instance, include the commercial-industrial zoned corridor along Springs-Fireplace Road, on the way into the hamlet.
For Amagansett’s downtown, an analysis of parking and suggestions for transportation improvements could be included, according to the outline.
An inventory of existing conditions in Montauk’s downtown was completed in 1998 by the town’s Planning Department. The proposal recommends updating it and addressing such matters as land use and zoning, parking and traffic, and the potential for affordable housing. The Montauk dock area will be the subject of its own subcategory.