Public comment was minimal when the East Hampton Town Board held a second public hearing last Thursday on amending the town’s comprehensive plan to incorporate a community housing plan, but one person who did speak tried to put the matter in perspective.
“Please invest in our local labor force, which includes our firemen and ambulance personnel by offering more stable affordable and community housing,” said Prudence Carabine. She also asked voters to “remember that no matter how rich and wealthy a small, isolated town on a peninsula is, it cannot sustain itself without an adequate labor force. Please invest in Proposition 3 when you vote on Nov. 8.”
On Nov. 8, voters will decide whether or not to approve a .5-percent real estate transfer tax to fund the community housing opportunity fund. If approved, the .5-percent real estate transfer tax would be in addition to the 2-percent transfer tax on real estate transactions that funds the community preservation fund. If passed, it would become operational in January 2023.
Buyers of a property would pay the .5-percent tax, with the first $400,000 exempt up to $2 million, beyond which the full purchase price would be taxable. First-time home buyers would be exempt. Money could be allocated to land and building acquisition, town-led or public-private construction projects for sale or rent, rehabilitation of existing buildings, down payment and other financial assistance to buyers, loans to construct accessory dwelling units, creation of housing for employees of local businesses, purchase of individual units within existing multi-unit housing complexes, and housing counseling.
Jeremy Samuelson, the town’s planning director, said last Thursday that there had been very minor amendments to the 66-page plan that has been available on the town’s website in draft form since May, but it has been “very consistent since late July.”
Also at the meeting, the board voted to hire Drew Bennett, a consulting engineer, to evaluate existing structures for potential re-use in conjunction with the development of affordable housing on property on Route 114 previously acquired for that purpose. Mr. Bennett is to be paid up to $2,250 to conduct the evaluation and issue a recommendation to the board.
An informational forum on the ballot proposition will be held at the Clubhouse in Wainscott on Saturday from 5 to 7:30 p.m.
The East Hampton Democratic Committee and East End YIMBY will co-host the event, which will include live music, cocktails, and hors d’oeuvres from 5 to 5:45 p.m., after which Scott Rubenstein, an owner of the Clubhouse, will deliver opening remarks. A panel comprising New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.; Catherine Casey, executive director of the East Hampton Housing Authority; Kathy Byrnes, a manager of the Windmill Housing Development Fund, and Pamela Greinke, an assistant manager of Provisions Natural Foods, will discuss the ballot proposition from 6 to 6:45. A question-and-answer session will follow.
East End YIMBY (Yes In My Backyard) will distribute materials at the event. Those planning to attend have been encouraged to take their children, who can receive a 50-percent discount for mini-golf and the game arcade.
In other town board business last Thursday, the board set next Thursday as the date for a number of public hearings, including one on grant awards for high-impact water quality improvement projects. Up to 20 percent of community preservation fund money can be allocated to water quality improvement, and the town’s water quality technical advisory committee previously recommended two awards in its second round of requests for applications for 2022.
The committee recommended an award of $23,750 for an upgrade of the existing septic system at Gansett Snuggery, encompassing two commercial structures on the parcel at 249 Main Street in Amagansett. The project would comprise an upgrade of an undersized, conventional commercial septic system to an innovative-alternative system that would serve both structures. The expected reduction in nitrogen to groundwater is 57 pounds per year. The other, much larger recommendation was a grant of $1,002,523 to Sag Harbor Village for an expansion of its existing sewage treatment plant, which would remove 33 properties, four of them commercial, from conventional cesspools in East Hampton Town. The project would result in an estimated annual reduction of 2,234 pounds of nitrogen entering the waterway.
Also scheduled for next Thursday is a hearing on a proposed amendment to the town code that would prohibit parking at all times on the easterly side of Flamingo Avenue in Montauk, extending 750 feet north from the intersection of Fenwick Place and 300 feet south of the same intersection.
