It is a national challenge. In many places, there are simply too many people competing for too few affordable places to live. On the South Fork, where home prices are stratospheric, the crisis is even more acute. In response, local governments, including East Hampton Town, are seeking ways to promote additional building units. One concept being debated is if the town should relax its standards to allow multi-family housing on property as small as half an acre. At present, higher-density development is limited to sites of three acres or larger. Importantly, if this change is going to go ahead, there is a path to doing it that would help but another that could create as many problems as it solves, albeit different ones. It all has to do with where the new construction would be.
Existing housing on the East End tends to be dispersed. But smart growth principles dictate that new residential development should be sited close to hamlet centers. Additional dwellings would be placed ideally where walking to services is a practical option — with the obvious health benefits a bonus. Closely spaced mixed-use designs help reduce vehicle trips, protect the environment, and maintain open space. Important, too, is the potential for higher-density neighborhoods that could tie into upcoming wastewater treatment plants so as not to add to the effluent already tainting groundwater, harbors, and bays.
A coherent set of rules for higher-density building could make the permit process more predictable and less time-consuming, which is a good thing. However, in the absence of sound planning, the result could be more of the same housing hodgepodge that helped create the affordable housing issue here in the first place.