The East Hampton Town Board will hold a public meeting to launch the Springs-Fireplace Road Corridor Study on Feb. 27 at 6:30 p.m. in the Baldwin Family Lecture Room at the East Hampton Library, at which a consulting team will present an overview of the study and solicit public input.
The study is to comprise an evaluation of the traffic, land use, and environmental issues affecting Springs-Fireplace Road and the surrounding area. The goal is to develop a plan to improve the functionality and visual character of the area while also reducing potential environmental threats through the collection and analysis of existing conditions, projected buildout conditions, and other issues facing the area. Field observations will be made, existing data sets will be analyzed, and information will be solicited from businesses, property owners, citizen groups, the public, and town officials.
A more detailed study of the Springs-Fireplace Road corridor was a recommendation residents made during the Springs and East Hampton hamlet studies. Not just the gateway to Springs, the area is also one of the most heavily traveled roads in the town and suffers from traffic congestion and a lack of landscaping, according to a statement from Town Hall on Tuesday.
Multiple site plan applications are pending development approval in the area, and the planning board requested the town retain an outside consulting team to help evaluate the cumulative traffic impacts of these development projects. The corridor has been designated a New York State Special Groundwater Protection Area because disproportionately large quantities of rainwater are recharged and stored in the nearby aquifers supplying the town’s drinking water. Therefore, all activities and land uses within the area must be monitored and evaluated to prevent potential groundwater contamination.
The boundaries of the study span the North Main Street intersection, north on Springs-Fireplace Road to Floyd Street then east to Accabonac Road, then northeast to Abraham’s Path, then northwest to Three Mile Harbor Road, and then south on Three Mile Harbor Road to the intersection with Springs-Fireplace Road on North Main Street.
The town has retained Dodson and Flinker, the landscape architecture and planning firm that conducted the five hamlet plans for the town, along with Fine Arts and Sciences and LK McLean Associates to conduct the study. LK McLean Associates has served as a transportation engineer for the town for more than 35 years and Lisa Liquori, principal of Fine Arts and Sciences, is the town’s former planning director. The Planning Department, the town’s office of information technology, and other town officials will assist the consultants.
The public has been encouraged to attend the meeting. Comments can be sent to [email protected]. Additional information on the study is at online.