An event Monday night that had been billed by Sag Harbor Village as an “affordable housing workshop” quickly led to calls by Aidan Corish and Bob Plumb, both village trustees, for an updated comprehensive plan.
The men had been spooked by draft legislation introduced at a work session immediately before the workshop that would create an Affordable Workforce Housing Zoning District “floating zone,” with a public hearing on Jan. 9. The legislation was not passed. Mr. Corish and Mr. Plumb also questioned the wisdom of introducing such an important proposal on a Monday night, just a week before Christmas, when attendance was minimal.
The idea of a floating zone, which Mr. Corish labeled “a powerful and potentially damaging tool,” is not new to the village. From 1984 until 2009, a floating zone was written into village code, but it was never implemented and eventually removed. Recently, however, with a document prepared in October by Nelson Pope Voorhis, an environmental-planning and land-use consulting firm, called “2023 Affordable Housing Initiative,” the idea has resurfaced.
“How many people understand what a floating zone is?” asked Mr. Corish. Only a few people at the meeting, which had at most 20 attendees, raised their hands. “This is the first opportunity we’ve had to discuss this, and we’ve not had an opportunity to discuss this as a board,” he said. “I have serious reservations.”
Mr. Corish said that New York State recommends that before a village undertakes zoning changes, it does so in accordance with a comprehensive plan, which Sag Harbor lacks. He had announced at the Dec. 12 village board meeting that New York State had given the village a grant of $176,400 to create one. “To press ahead in the absence of a now-funded Village of Sag Harbor comprehensive plan is wrong. I respectfully request that the affordable housing initiative be tabled. A pause will allow us to add a comprehensive plan into the decision-making process to address housing needs.”
“My take on this document is that it’s essentially Local Law 12 the second time around, with even more ramifications,” said Mr. Plumb. Local Law 12 was passed in 2022, but subsequently annulled after residents defeated the village in an Article 78 lawsuit. He criticized the lack of specificity in the Nelson Pope Voorhis analysis, especially regarding the definition of “affordable,” and said, “This cannot be done without extensive input from the public.”
Like others who spoke after him, Mr. Plumb took issue with the 50-unit cap that Nelson Pope Voorhis asked the board to consider. “We can’t afford to do a 50-unit complex,” he said. “I’m concerned this is a non-starter. It is pro-development, that’s the way I read it.” However, it was unclear if the 50-unit cap was per complex, or village-wide.
“You don’t come up with a 50-unit cap — what in the hell is that based on?” asked Randy Croxton, a Sag Harbor architect.
Jeanne King, who with a fellow trustee, Ed Haye, had worked on the housing initiative, said, “I don’t think this is any kind of rush, maybe just a misunderstanding.” While the village does not have a comprehensive plan, many plans and studies have been done in years prior and, she said, the consultants had leaned on those to make their recommendations. “This is just a framework” for discussions to begin between the board and the public, she said.
“We shouldn’t just dismiss this study,” agreed Mayor Tom Gardella. He said it was great that the village was awarded a grant to develop a comprehensive plan, but that the affordable housing initiative was announced in October, before the village knew they would receive the grant. The initiative, he said, could be integrated into whatever comprehensive plan was developed.
Mr. Corish pressed. Only three votes are needed on the five-member board of trustees for legislation to pass and, he said, because the document would return preliminary approval for development projects to the board, it would give three people too much power: They’d have discretionary approval over new projects. “I implore you to research floating zones. They can be fantastic, but can also, in the wrong hands, be very destructive. My concern is we’re passing a law that’s going to be here for 20 or 30 years.”
“We’re not passing anything yet,” Mr. Haye said. “We’re having a discussion.”
“Let’s get our house in order first,” Mr. Corish said. “If I go back to the state and say, ‘Listen, thanks for the $180,000. We didn’t do the study; we just went ahead and did a major zoning change,’ it’s just wrong.”
Public comment was less about the merits or contents of the Affordable Housing Initiative draft and more about the merits of an updated comprehensive plan.
Lee Skolnick, an architect, said he doesn’t “start a project until we’ve gotten a vision for where we’re trying to go. Then we can make decisions in a rational way. You cannot put together a vision by legislating regulations. The code has to be a tool to realize the vision. You can’t do it backwards. Otherwise, it’s like the blind man and the elephant — you’ll know what all these pieces are, but you won’t know what it adds up to.”
“I look forward to doing this again,” said Mayor Gardella. “We’ll do a public hearing on a Saturday after the holidays and get some more participation.”
