Thirty years ago, Sharon McCobb moved to East Hampton and had a daughter. A year later, she bought the Springs General Store, which she owned until 2003, making kayak rentals available from the store’s backyard, which for many opened the door to Accabonac Harbor.
Through connections she made there, she was invited to join the town’s zoning board of appeals, where she remembered a steep learning curve. Seven years ago she was appointed to the planning board.
“In planning there are fewer guidelines, so you have more discretion. It was fun to weigh in on what was going on in the town. It was always interesting, and hopefully we made it better.” When she left in October, she was its vice chairwoman.
When not volunteering for the town, she worked as a personal trainer and as the athletic director for I-Tri, the empowerment program for young girls here. For years, she was president of the Old Montauk Athletic Club. After her own daughter graduated from high school, Ms. McCobb volunteered as assistant coach for the girl’s high school cross-country team. On the side, in the summers, she would cater.
Many would characterize her as an ideal community member.
Then, this fall, she lost the lease on the house she rented with her husband, Paul Hamilton, a farmer who once managed Quail Hill Farm and was a co-founder of the Springs Farmers Market. Like many before, they fell victim to the town’s affordable housing crisis. At the end of October, they packed up and moved to Chester, Vt.
“It was impossible to find anything,” she said in a phone call. “You’d just be living to pay rent.”
“It’s sad. As I was leaving, so many people were like, ‘I hope I don’t lose my rental. If I do, there’s nowhere for me to go.’ The town is working hard on affordable housing, but it’s like a needle in the haystack, and they don’t accept pets. We also weren’t sure we wanted to live in an apartment. I don’t know where it’s heading. I feel like it’s going to change a lot. It’s going to be fancy people and those who have had houses forever that get passed through their families.”
Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte worked with Ms. McCobb on the planning board for nearly seven years. “It’s a common story, unfortunately,” he said. “Paul will be missed as well. It’s very sad to see them go. This is why we need more housing solutions, not just low income, but also for people of moderate income. Without that, we will be left with no middle class. Most affordable housing projects that get funded are for low-income tenants. However, I do think the community housing fund could be very helpful in the future, because the town now has its own source of funding for housing projects.”
“Housing is such an undercurrent out here. We’re all trying to figure out how we can afford to stay,” said Jenn Fowkes, a planning board member and development director for I-Tri. “When you see it directly affecting the community, like this, it’s hard.”
Ms. McCobb stayed at Ms. Fowkes’s house when her lease ended. “Everything she does is so thoughtful. She’s such a kind, generous, understated woman. She would never toot her own horn about anything, but has done so much for the community. I miss her terribly already.”
“She really gave back,” said Diane O’Donnell, who coaches the East Hampton High School girls cross-country team. “She donated large chunks of her time when she could have been paid for doing something else. Some people don’t realize how much that takes from somebody.”
“We lived in Clearwater,” Ms. McCobb said. “It was mostly second-home owners, and many, it seemed, had a rent-controlled apartment in the city. But they were thrilled to be there. Now, it’s just all services. We used to walk around with no cars. Now you have the landscaping trucks, the pool trucks, the house-cleaning people, all of a sudden at each house, after they tear them down. They’re creating traffic. I don’t see how you can ever go back.”
She’s supportive of the town’s efforts to update the zoning code but fears the updates don’t go far enough to change the tide.
“The town is in a tough position. They have to toe the line between the movement coming in and those that are there. But taxes are coming from people moving in. I don’t know how to turn that around, but the zoning laws are a good start.”
“Sharon has always stepped up and done a great job,” Samuel Kramer, the chairman of the planning board, said at her last meeting. “I’m going to miss her. The town is going to miss you. I just wanted to take this moment and thank you for your service.”
Ms. McCobb has already been asked to serve as an alternate on the zoning board in Chester. They’re lucky to have her.
