Skip to main content

Town Ponders Flood-Zone Exemptions From Pyramid Law

Thu, 02/08/2024 - 05:04
Jameson McWilliams at the podium
LTV East Hampton

The East Hampton Town Board has held an initial discussion about potentially amending the town zoning code to allow existing residences in flood zones, as designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to be raised without their owners having to apply for a variance from the zoning board of appeals.

The discussion, on Tuesday, came in the wake of three winter storms that have despoiled beaches and dunes and flooded residential areas, including at Ditch Plain in Montauk and downtown Montauk. 

FEMA flood zones are areas defined by varying levels of flood risk: low, moderate, and high risk. All of the town’s coastline is designated a “VE flood zone,” meaning there is a 1-percent chance each year that it will flood and that it is also subject to additional hazards due to what FEMA calls “storm-induced velocity wave action.” Other low-lying areas are “AE flood zones,” defined as areas that present a 1-percent annual chance of flooding and a 26-percent chance over the life of a 30-year mortgage. Both are also known as Special Flood Hazard Areas, with generally very high risk.

The potential revision to the town zoning code would create an exception to the “pyramid law,” which applies to all structures on any lot in any district, with the exception of a central business district. The pyramid law stipulates that structures “must be set back from all property lines so that the height of any point of the building or structure is not greater than the horizontal distance of the point from an imaginary vertical line drawn upwards from the nearest property line to the building at that location.”

There are already a few exceptions to the pyramid law, for some specialized structures, including church spires and transmission towers. Tuesday’s discussion, which included Jameson McWilliams, an assistant town attorney, considered the addition of another: It would stipulate that the pyramid law and height limitations — 25 feet, unless the structure has a gabled roof — would not apply to existing structures in AE or VE flood zones that are elevated to conform with current state and federal flooding regulations.

This exemption, Ms. McWilliams told the board, would allow a house to be raised beyond the limitations set by the pyramid law and height limitations, for protection from future weather events, without having to seek a variance from the Z.B.A.

The discussion was preliminary and the board appeared wary of setting precedent while simultaneously mindful of residents’ desire to protect their at-risk property. The town is already experiencing the impacts of climate change, Councilwoman Cate Rogers said, from the southern pine beetle infestation that has killed thousands of trees to recent storm surge events. “All of those decisions will come after we go through the process” with consultants, the Planning Department, and the Natural Resources Department, she said, “and come up with a comprehensive plan for our coastal zones.”

Villages

First East Hampton, Then the World

In the summer of 2011, Alex Esposito and James Mirras addressed a specific need with Hamptons Free Ride, an electric shuttle service that ran in a fixed loop through East Hampton and from parking lots in town to Main Beach. Since then, a “hometown side project” has developed into Circuit, an all-electric, on-demand “micro-transit” solution in more than 40 cities and towns.

Jul 17, 2025

WordHampton Moves Downtown

The public relations firm WordHampton has long had its finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the East End business community. That comes with the job. And now, with a new office overlooking Park Place in East Hampton Village, it is part of that pulse in a way that was not quite as tangible from its former headquarters in Springs.

Jul 17, 2025

Sag Harbor Rejects Proposed Tree Settlement

The case of Augusta Ramsay Folks, an 81-year-old accused of cutting down two trees on Meadowlark Lane in Sag Harbor in June of last year — in violation of the village’s new tree-protection law — was back in court on July 8, when a settlement proposed by Ms. Folks was rejected by the village and then withdrawn by her attorney.

Jul 17, 2025

 

Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.