The site plan for a 50-unit affordable housing complex the East Hampton Housing Authority will build off Three Mile Harbor Road received a positive initial review from the East Hampton Town Planning Board on July 7.
The complex, which is expected to be completed in 2024, will be built on a more than 14-acre parcel at 286 and 290 Three Mile Harbor Road, adjacent to Harbor View Avenue to the north and Bistrian Gravel Corporation to the south. The lot is almost entirely uncleared of vegetation, according to Eric Schantz, a senior planner.
The Housing Authority is partnering with Georgica Green Ventures, a private developer, as it did on the Gansett Meadow affordable housing complex in Amagansett, to build the units.
The new complex will comprise five two-story buildings with 10 units each plus two rooms for mechanicals, as well as a separate wastewater treatment facility. Each residential building will contain two one-bedroom units, one that is 689 square feet and one that is 847 square feet; six two bedroom units with three at 882 square feet and three at 1,003 square feet, and two 1,147-square-foot three-bedroom units. The structures will be grouped in an oval with a playground and barbecue area in an inner courtyard, and parking spaces, and a sidewalk along the perimeter. There will be several bike racks, and two school bus stops on site.
East Hampton Town has received a $5.6 million award from New York State to finance the complex. "The necessity for affordable housing has not lessened, the last year to 15 months have only intensified it," Catherine Casey, the housing authority's executive director, told the planning board. The original plan had called for constructing six buildings, Ms. Casey said, but because of a pandemic-related uptick in the cost of building materials, the project had to be scaled back to remain on budget.
At the entrance to the property, which is in a special groundwater protection area, two rain gardens will be installed, and a driveway and a walkway will lead from Three Mile Harbor Road to the buildings, which will be approximately 450 feet away from the thoroughfare. To compensate for the steep slopes on the property, the walkway was designed with several curves to make it wheelchair accessible, said Christopher Robinson, a principal of R and M Engineering.
Planning board members praised the overall site plan, but raised concerns about the complex's proximity to a sand pit on the Bistrian lot, and the circuitous walkway. They recommended that a physical barrier be installed on the southern property line to prevent children and others from wandering into the pit, and asked Mr. Robinson to keep the clearing of trees for the sidewalk to a minimum.
