In a surprise move at Tuesday’s East Hampton Town Board work session, the board temporarily paused implementation of a portion of the town code that would require updated certificates of occupancy upon the sale of property.
The requirement was adopted in October 2023 and meant to take effect on Jan. 1, 2024. The “stay of enforcement” approved Tuesday extends until Dec. 31, 2026, and will be retroactive to the date the change was supposed to take effect. Certificates of occupancy are still needed for construction projects that require building permits.
In the resolution itself, the board cited “community feedback regarding delays” and said the pause would allow for the Building Department “to more expeditiously process the current pending applications.”
“Under the stay, the town’s Building Department will continue to accept and process applications for updated Certificates of Occupancy,” read a press release. “However, property owners who are unable to obtain an updated certificate of occupancy during the pause will not be issued violations for failing to do so.”
Councilwoman Cate Rogers, a chief proponent of the original law, supported the stay of enforcement and shared some productivity numbers from the Building Department.
“We know since Jan. 1, 2025, the Building Department has issued 1,606 building permits, conducted 3,685 inspections, processed 855 permit renewals, issued 870 certificates of occupancies, and handled 1,006 rental registrations,” she said. She added that the Building Department handled over 4,000 phone calls and walk-ins to its service counter over the year.
Pointing out that the law was working to catch illegal structures, and thus showed “proof of concept,” she shared that six of 10 updated C.s of O. showed structures “including finished basements” that had been built without permits.
Still, she said, “Until we are running at processing capacity, out of fairness to the community, the applicants, and the users, I support a pause through the end of the year.”
The board followed her lead.
Councilman Tom Flight suggested that the paused time should be used “to not repeal the code” but to put a group together to “bring forward a revised code.”
Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte took it a bit further, saying he supported a temporary repeal.
“I don’t think people object to updating their C.O.s, it’s just the current delay. I look forward to feedback from the community to see if this is effective at getting rid of the backlog and allowing real estate transactions to take place.”
“This is our top priority. We understand the importance of our building industry,” said Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who supported the pause of enforcement. She listed other steps the board had taken to address the backlog, bringing on Richard Normoyle as principal building inspector in September, adding new positions such as plans examiners, and hiring three outside companies to examine plans. “We think this is an efficient way in the short term to get plans reviewed and moved through the system.”
At its meeting last Thursday, the town board also hired an account clerk to support the administrative operations of the department.
East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen, who is challenging Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez in the Democratic primary to run for town supervisor in June, has been promoting the idea of pausing the law on his social media accounts. His last post on the topic was late last week.
“That’s a huge step and I’m glad they did it,” he said in a phone call, “but that’s just one part of it. Now they have to get working on the building permit problem. I’m glad they went retroactive to 2024, otherwise it wouldn’t have helped the backlog.”
In other Building Department news, the town rolled out OpenGov 2.0 on March 4, with hope that it too would create efficiencies.
The updates allow applicants to submit five types of permits entirely online: residential, commercial, solar, telecommunications, and accessory structures.
While that was always part of OpenGov, which was originally released last spring, previously there was no distinction between, for example, a new house or something much smaller, like a shed. There was only one permit category, which meant that smaller, simpler applications often got delayed sitting behind larger applications that required significantly more time to review.
“We are already seeing progress,” Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said in a press release hailing the software update, “and we will continue to build on it so people can navigate the process with greater clarity and confidence.”
