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The Southampton Town Board on Tuesday officially extended the moratorium on planned development districts, or PDDs, by another three months, and members said they still intend to repeal the zoning law, though that will likely not happen until July.
Although they could have repealed the controversial zoning law at the conclusion of Tuesday night’s public hearing, Town Board members instead opted to adjourn the issue until their next meeting on Tuesday, July 11, when another hearing on the proposal also will likely be held. The meeting begins at 1 p.m.
“It’s a big action to have just one public hearing on it,” Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said.
He also noted that Town Councilwoman Christina Scalera, who was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting, wanted to be present when the board voted to repeal the legislation.
The moratorium on PDD applications, which actually expired on June 1, is now set to retire on September 1—though board members have suggested that the law will be repealed before the extension expires.
Environmentalists have been pushing for the law’s repeal since 2015, charging that it mostly benefits would-be developers by allowing them to greatly increase their potential profits in exchange for minimal community benefits—when the system, they’ve argued, should work the other way. A year-long moratorium was put in place last spring, originally in order to give the board time to assess whether they wanted to tweak and salvage the legislation.
But during their review, a special committee made up of town officials determined that the legislation was too problematic to update, prompting board members to consider ditching the law altogether. One of the committee’s biggest issues with the law, Mr. Schneiderman said, is that it offers too much flexibility for developers.
“At the end of the day, it just didn’t seem like we could fix it,” the supervisor said. “The best thing was to remove it as a tool and kind of engage the community on what it wants its future to look like.”
Several community leaders spoke out in favor of a full repeal at Tuesday’s public hearing, including former Southampton Town Trustee Frederick Havemeyer, who plans to challenge Mr. Schneiderman for the Democratic Party line this September. While he said he understands the original thinking behind the special zoning—permitting more intense development in exchange for worthwhile community benefits—Mr. Havemeyer said the PDD law has been manipulated to the point where developers are reaping the most benefits.
“Really, they’ve become moneybags for developers,” Mr. Havemeyer said of PDDs. “Over time, with the development pressure and all the money flying around, it just got out of control.”
Along with supporting the PDD repeal, Mr. Havemeyer encouraged the Town Board to take action and reject a specific PDD, called “The Hills at Southampton,” a proposed luxury golf course resort community pitched by the Discovery Land Company of Arizona and targeting nearly 600 acres in East Quogue. Because that project has advanced to the review stage, it would not be affected by a repeal of the PDD law.
Bob DeLuca, president of Group for the East End, an environmental advocacy group, echoed Mr. Havemeyer’s comments about The Hills, arguing that those who live near the proposed development want the town to decide on the application.
“You’re never going to get balance,” Mr. DeLuca said. “It’s never going to be cohesive, and it’s never going to be predictable.”
on Jun 28, 2017