Though the Federal Emergency Management Agency is in the middle of a gutting nationwide, its rules regarding shoreline construction remain in place — for now. These add to the challenges local officials face as they review residential and commercial development applications. Under FEMA rules, first floors must now be elevated well above anticipated flood levels. Along the shore, the regulations could in theory add as much as 10 feet in height to building and renovation plans — with the potential to significantly alter views for neighbors as well as change the long and low nature of the East End's shoreline landscape.
Examples have already sprouted up here and there. Along Napeague Harbor, for example, several residential rebuilds have resulted in rooflines that now pierce the horizon, where once they were in harmony with it. The effect is an increasing number of towering, looming structures that seem to affront the traditional building vernacular.
In one recent example, the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals heard a request from Amagansett oceanfront homeowners who would like to increase the height and square footage of their house, arguing that FEMA regulations forced their hands. In a substantial renovation, the rebuilt house would be nearly 10 feet taller than it is at present. Elevating the floors would allow the homeowners to add square footage. If approved as proposed, the house would loom over neighboring parcels; so-called pyramid variances would increase the above-ground mass of the house relative to the property lines. A decision on the application is pending.
Also in the Amagansett area, the Devon Yacht Club is pushing an application for a new, expanded clubhouse and to replace several other similarly low-slung buildings. Its current plan does not appear to exceed the town's height limit but a new second story on the clubhouse would give the club much greater visual impact, especially to boaters on Gardiner's Bay.
Increasingly, managing coastal projects will be a local affair. Federal money appropriated following Hurricane Sandy will run out soon. Already, the United States Army Corps of Engineers has mostly handed the massive downtown Montauk beach replenishment project to the town and county to maintain. Now, Trump administration cuts further limit Washington's ability to help. Damage to FEMA has already been severe. Its full-time staff has been reduced by about 30 percent. Around the country, as much as $1 billion in the pipeline for affected communities has been slashed, meaning there will be no more federal money to help relocate houses and other structures away from shorelines until something changes. This puts the struggle for coastal erosion-sensitive work squarely in the laps of local planning departments and review boards.
To our government land planners, we say: The point is that homeowners do not automatically get the right to a second floor merely because of FEMA's minimum elevations. Height variances should only be granted in the rarest circumstances. The town and village codes might have to be adjusted to clarify that maximum height restrictions are sacrosanct, regardless of where FEMA says a first floor must be. And zoning and planning boards should not be afraid to tell property owners "no" when the need arises.