A draft of an updated comprehensive plan was presented to the East Hampton Village Board on Friday, a step toward holding a public hearing and its ultimate adoption.
“You can use this for the next 10 years and beyond, hopefully, to start to check off some of the things that are priorities for the community,” Noah Levine of the BFJ Planning consultancy told the board.
The draft plan includes chapters on housing and neighborhoods; commercial development and the village center; transportation and mobility; historic preservation; community and cultural assets; parks, open space, natural resources, sustainability, and resilience, and future land use and implementation. Mr. Levine encouraged residents to review them.
With regard to housing and neighborhoods, “we really didn’t have a lot of strong recommendations,” Mr. Levine said. “I think people felt that the zoning is working pretty well, but there might be some tweaks to think about, particularly in the smaller lots in the village.”
But strengthening controls on residential size and overdevelopment on smaller lots, enforcement of tree preservation, and a requirement that subdivisions be clustered are recommended, along with providing opportunities for attainable housing within the village center area via upper-floor apartments, residential uses in the Gingerbread area, a long-term plan for a potential sewer district, and establishment of a housing working group.
The chapter on commercial development and the village center includes recommendations on updating zoning use tables; mitigation of private club and hotel uses, which Mr. Levine called “a major concern,” and consideration of a business improvement district along with a sewer district.
The Gingerbread commercial area “has long been identified as the remaining opportunity for development,” he said. “It seems like the next approach would be to develop a master plan for that site, to really think specifically about what should be there,” such as a mix of uses but prioritizing retail that serves local needs. “That would definitely be tied into anything that happens with a sewer district,” he said. “So that would require some future planning.”
Regarding transportation and mobility, the Schenck parking lot could be reimagined to improve access in and out, improve signage, and maximize the number of spaces. This could be accomplished, Mr. Levine said, by providing a new access lane at its west side, which he described as an extension of Park Place, across Newtown Lane and leading into the Reutershan parking lot. “It’s just a concept,” he said, “but something that could really help to manage circulation in that parking area.” If that were to happen, “you could rethink Barns Lane,” one of two existing access points, “as more like a pedestrian connection” with sidewalk seating and better pedestrian connection to its parking spaces.
The Reutershan lot is maximized for parking, Mr. Levine said, and could be more pedestrian-friendly and aesthetically pleasing, with better connections to storefronts, “but there’s a tradeoff with losing parking spots. That’s just something to consider and perhaps something to address at a future point.” Suggestions include one-way circulation with angled parking, wider sidewalks at businesses on the lot’s north side, more landscaping, and a pedestrian path across the lot to Herrick Park.
“We’ve heard that cellphone service is spotty in the downtown area,” Mr. Levine said of the chapter devoted to community and cultural facilities. Partnerships with schools, the Y.M.C.A., and beach stewards should be strengthened, he said.
When it comes to parks, open space, natural resources, and resilience, “one of the big ideas is to complete a natural resource inventory to better understand what’s there,” Mr. Levine said, and “to maintain and monitor the village’s urban tree canopy, so street trees, enacting tree preservation ordinances to prevent clear-cutting. There are things that the administration can do to prevent that, or at least document mature trees on existing properties.”
Identifying and eliminating stormwater discharge into surface water bodies and continued encouragement to update septic systems, along with establishment of a sewer district, would improve water quality, Mr. Levine said.
Lastly, the consultant recommended that the village become a Climate Smart Community, a state program that helps municipalities reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. The village could review and update its building and zoning flood protection codes, Mr. Levine said, and improve buildings and other municipal assets to be more energy efficient.
Included in the plan is an “implementation matrix” listing actions, responsible agencies and partners, and an assessment of their difficulty on a scale of 1 to 4, from an administrative action to one requiring extensive coordination and cost. “It doesn’t mean these aren’t priorities,” Mr. Levine said of the more complex actions. “It just means it requires more work.”
The process to update the plan, a project last completed in 2002, began in 2024 with a public workshop aimed at assessing existing conditions and identifying issues and opportunities. More shopping and restaurant offerings for year-round residents, a reduction of traffic congestion, and maintaining or improving the village’s look and feel were among the popular goals.
A second, virtual, workshop, during which a preliminary vision and strategies were outlined, happened in May 2025. There, removal of an eastbound lane on Main Street, reconfiguring the Reutershan parking lot, and redevelopment of the Gingerbread Lane/Railroad Avenue district were among the ideas voiced.
At a third public workshop in March, during which draft recommendations were outlined, a focus was on the eventual development of the Gingerbread district along Gingerbread Lane, King Street, Race Lane, and Railroad Avenue.
“We felt all of those meetings were really helpful, to help us understand the direction moving forward,” Mr. Levine told the board on Friday. The consultant also held focus group meetings and interviews with historic and cultural groups, the village’s design review, zoning, and planning boards, fire and emergency departments, the East Hampton Healthcare Foundation, and religious and environmental institutions.
The next step, Mr. Levine said, is a public hearing and additional revisions, followed by a review under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act. A negative declaration, meaning the plan would not have a detrimental impact on the environment, would allow the plan’s adoption.
The draft is available on the village’s website.
The draft plan has been vetted by the Suffolk County Planning Commission, said Billy Hajek, the village planner, and the village’s planning board has recommended its approval. It is also posted on the village’s website for the public to review.
The board will review the plan, Mayor Jerry Larsen said -- and if board members are in agreement -- schedule a public hearing on its adoption.
