Problems Are Greater Than Housing Alone
If you take the time to really think about it, East Hampton Town does not have an affordable housing problem, it has an economic problem — a problem of demand greatly exceeding supply.
The shortage of safe work-force housing is tied to growth — and a failure to manage it in an effective way. Successive generations of town officials have lacked the foresight that would have been necessary to keep development in balance with nature and infrastructure. And the village boards, despite being eager to preside over sparkling downtown business districts, have been content to hand over the issue of where workers live to the towns.
The crisis in housing is not going to be solved by building more rent-controlled units; there will never be enough. Proposals in Wainscott and Amagansett for two modest efforts have been met with unreasonable opposition. What elected officials and residents alike will have to understand — and then act on — is the cumulative cost as each new residential or commercial project breaks ground, each time a small mom-and-pop business morphs into something far larger. Until East Hampton realizes the time has come for a complete rethinking of zoning’s relationship to available resources, there is no hope of the town’s ever again having a sense of balance.
In November, officials are expected to ask voters to authorize taking up to 20 percent of the community preservation fund for water quality efforts. This may prove a mistake. While such efforts are necessary, better treatment will inevitably lead to increased development, despite tepid assurances to the contrary. It would be much better to keep the fund whole and to buy as much land as possible, even parcels of limited obvious environmental worth and those already built upon. An aggressive approach to reducing existing density appears now the only way to actually achieve the goals of the program. If water quality improves over the long term from more open space, so much the better.
Last week we floated the idea of a commercial building permit moratorium to buy time as East Hampton Town develops a radical new plan. Quite clearly, the town zoning code and staff cannot keep up with what is happening today; what about in 5 years? Or 10? Each new or expanded house, every revamped business adds incrementally to the burden — and housing deficits are only one of the many costs. At a minimum, figuring out how to tie all significant new construction to providing low-cost housing is a must. The time is now, before it is too late.
As summer 2016 approaches, East Hampton Town officials, and those studying new hamlet plans, must take a look around and ask themselves if they think any more of almost anything at all is what the community really needs. The answer is obviously no.