After a public hearing on Sept. 18 and a follow-up discussion on Tuesday, the East Hampton Town Board appears poised to move forward with legislation that will allow parcels as small as a half-acre to be designated affordable housing overlay districts. Right now that designation is permitted only on lots that are at least three acres.
The legislation, which has been batted around since last winter, would allow up to four housing units per acre, or two per half-acre.
“This is going to be an important next step to allow for affordable housing developments on smaller parcels, because we just don’t have that many large ones left,” said Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte. “You can almost think of this as sort of a super A.D.U. [accessory dwelling unit] type of situation, where somebody who owns a parcel wants to live in a unit, and then construct three rentals.”
Eric Schantz, a principal town planner, addressed the concerns of the only member of the public who spoke at the September hearing. That person said the legislation would not encourage building because it wasn’t financially feasible.
The use is intended to be limited in scale, Mr. Schantz countered, so that it will conform with existing residential neighborhoods and appeal to people who already own land — not to those seeking to build affordable housing as an investment. “It is intended to permit the creation of small-scale multiple residences with a simple ownership structure,” he said.
Mr. Calder-Piedmonte agreed. If there was a sticking point, he said, it was that the preliminary draft of the code did not explicitly state that a homeowner could live in one of the units. “In the context of the public comments of ‘Who’s going to do this?’ it became clear that maybe somebody who already lives on the property would want to do this.”
“An owner of modest means could have three apartments on their property, and you’re already, as of right, allowed to live on your own property, so we wouldn’t be giving them anything they don’t already have,” he added — making it clear that he’d rather the board not have to go to a public hearing again.
However, Jake Turner, the town attorney, indicated that such specificity could require a new hearing. “It seems, at first blush, it would be a material change,” Mr. Turner observed.
“It does surprise me that it would need another public hearing,” said Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez. “I mean, a person owns land, they have a right to live on it. I think it is time to move this forward.”
The board asked Mr. Turner to take a closer look at the issue.
