Project Most’s effort to build its new, state-of-the-art community learning center at 92 Three Mile Harbor Road is in full swing, with a $10 million fund-raising campaign and discussions with the East Hampton Town Planning Board formally underway.
Proposed are several classrooms, a commercial kitchen, office and meeting spaces, a multipurpose room for activities like sports and dance, and a caretaker’s apartment, in a two-story, 7,623-square-foot building with a 4,418-square-foot basement. The challenge: This type of “semi-public facility,” as it’s defined in the town code, would require a special use permit from the planning board; standards for approval thus become a little stricter than a typical residential or commercial structure in East Hampton.
“I know firsthand how hard it is to find after-school and summer programs for your children in the Hamptons that are both stimulating and affordable,” said Tara Burke of Lighthouse Land Planning, which is managing Project Most’s applications before the town.
A working parent of two and a Montauk resident, Ms. Burke cited a “crisis with the local population” that is trying to avoid being priced out of the South Fork. “Working is critical to keeping us here, and having our kids in places that we feel are safe” is important. Project Most “is that for so much of the community. It’s a lifeline for our local work force.”
The plan is to move a large house, provided by a donor and described by some as a “lovely” structure, to the site of the East Hampton Neighborhood House. The existing house would be demolished to make way for the new facility. The Neighborhood House, having been in existence for more than 100 years, is winding down its operations and has agreed to donate its land to Project Most, pending approval of its site plan and architectural plans.
During a Feb. 1 meeting of the planning board, its members positively received Project Most’s preliminary site plan. The conversation focused on elements of the organization’s application that were deemed incomplete, but some praised the project.
“I think they do great work around the town,” said Ian Calder-Piedmonte, a board member. “I wish you success inside and outside this project . . . I’m generally supportive.”
“This is really a great project for the town, for the community, and I’m really thrilled that a house that might have wound up in a landfill is being reused,” Ed Krug, another board member, later said.
Eric Schantz, a town planner, outlined several items Project Most needs in order for its application to move forward: a lighting plan, landscaping plan, and traffic study, an architectural review board application, Building Department approval for the proposed 800-square-foot caretaker’s apartment, and Suffolk County approval for a new curb-cut on Three Mile Harbor Road.
What was not well received, however, was Project Most’s initial bid to separate the application into two phases, the first of which would concern a place to store the donated house while the rest of the application makes its way through the architectural review board. Mr. Schantz said there’s no established mechanism for the planning board to be able to do that.
The house’s current storage site won’t be viable for much longer, Ms. Burke said. “We are working very hard to find an alternative site to store it.”
The conversation shifted to concerns over building capacity, traffic impacts, and the types of programs and amenities that it would offer the public, similar to the way the Neighborhood House operated.
Regarding traffic, Sam Kramer, the planning board chairman, suggested that the proposed 14-foot-wide, circular one-way driveway may not be adequate. “That driveway needs to be wide enough to accommodate, safely, probably more than one or two kids hopping out of their parents’ cars at any given moment. When my kids went to nursery school there, there was always a backup” into Three Mile Harbor Road. “Let’s make sure that driveway is engineered well so that it can accommodate lots of kids real quick. But it’s a great project. I’m sure you’ll work through all the issues. It sounds like there aren’t too many more.”
“I think what everybody’s saying is, what’s your real capacity? What’s the most people there’s ever going to be here at one time?” said Randy Parsons, another board member. “For athletics and dance, maybe those parents are going to want to come see a performance. To be a good neighbor . . . you’ve got to be pretty clear about the real maximum attendance and parking.”
According to documents on file with the town, Project Most has proposed moving the parking lot to the rear of the building with 25 paved parking spaces and 18 more in a grassy overflow area; the town code does not lay out specific parking requirements for a semipublic facility. It would have 75 children and 10 staff members during summer-camp operations, 40 children and five additional staff members for a day care program, small groups of 10 children in the culinary program, and 20 to 40 children with staff members on Saturday and weekday programs in the fall, winter, and spring.
Michael Guinan, vice president of the Project Most board of directors, took to the lectern to point out that some of that was already taking place at the Neighborhood House. “We see this as Neighborhood House for the 21st century,” he said. “It’s been around for over 100 years and we think the community deserves this type of facility for the next 100.”
Mr. Krug asked about events and community members’ ability to rent the space, as had been the practice in the past.
“We do plan on letting the community use it for events,” Ms. Burke replied. “It would be a shame not to. However, those events are subject to review by the town board.”
Rebecca Morgan Taylor, Project Most’s executive director, said in a follow-up conversation on Tuesday that the traffic study is nearly complete, and its architectural review board application is to be filed by the end of this week. The lighting, landscaping, and fencing plans will follow shortly thereafter.
“I have to say our team was happy with the way the application was positively received” by the planning board, Ms. Taylor said.
She said a capital campaign is underway to raise $10 million, and has already been buoyed by a $5 million commitment from the same anonymous person who donated the house. The organization also aims to set up an endowment fund to support future programming. Details on donations can be found on the group’s website, projectmost.org.