East Hampton Will Build 16 Subsidized Homes, Could Allow More Accessory Apartments

Members of the East Hampton Town Board will advance a 16-unit housing project on land it purchased in 2020 off Pantigo Road.

Board members last week instructed members of the town’s Planning Department and Housing Department to begin drafting a detailed site plan that will fit the most housing lots possible on the 7 acres of land at 395 Pantigo Road that the town has dedicated to the development of a new affordable housing development to be called Pantigo Hill.

The development will be geared toward the creation of 16 individual housing lots on which single-family homes will be built with subsidies from the town and sold to eligible applicants chosen by lottery at below-market rates, with restrictions on future sales intended to keep the homes in the affordable housing market.

The project would be the first town-subsidized project to focus on the sale of subsidized single-family homes since the creation of the much celebrated development of the Green Hollow neighborhood off Stephen Hands Path in 2000.

The town’s Planning Department had drafted four alternative designs for the development of the Pantigo property, showing different arrangements that would yield between 12 and 16 lots. At a work session discussion on June 7, board members each expressed support for creating as many lots as possible.

Planning officials had told the board that the “preferred” option of the professional planners was actually another option that yielded the fewest number of lots and more open space.

“This is the one that the Planning Department feels is the most appropriate, that is the most consistent with what we would require when we’re reviewing a subdivision,” said Eric Schantz, the town’s assistant planning director. “All around the perimeter you have a minimum 50 foot buffer of green space … the downside obviously, and perhaps this is the main discussion for the board to have, is it has the lowest yield.”

Board members were quick to set aside the more conservative plans in favor of expanding the impact of the project.

“Every home is a family that gets to stay here,” Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said. “16 homes is 16 families.”

“I’m looking toward the maximum yield,” Councilman David Lys said. “We’re developing a community.”

“I think we need as many as we can get,” Councilwoman Sylvia Overby echoed. “I think it would be a lovely street to live on.”

Councilwoman Cate Rogers, who lived adjacent to the Green Hollow subdivision as it was being developed, encouraged local residents to visit the neighborhood now. “It was placed in the middle of existing residential development and it’s seamless,” she said. “I lived there and it was great watching it develop.”

The design alternative supported by the board members clusters the 16 housing lots in loop around a cul de sac, with a section of wooded land offsetting the development from Pantigo Road and a ribbon of green space running up the western edge of the land to a 3.5 acre area of open space at the northern end of the property, separating the new development from existing residential neighborhoods.

Planners have said that the design process will consider the size of homes that could be built on each property — town zoning would allow a home of more than 2,000 square feet on the quarter-acre lots the 16-lot layout provides for, but planners have suggested that because the density on the lot will be substantially higher than a typical subdivision that would be allowed on the land that the houses should be limited to smaller sizes.

Housing officials said they will craft the site plan designs as fast as possible so the application can be made to the town Planning Board. While town projects would typically not be held to the full standards of typical site plan review by the Planning Board, affordable housing projects must be reviewed.

Town Board members also expressed support for expanding the number of accessory apartments that can be created on residential lots in each of the town’s five school districts.

The town has been trying to encourage homeowners to create accessory apartments that can be offered for rent to help chip away at the demand for low-cost housing options. The town allows up to 20 such units — which must be no larger than 600 square feet and one-bedroom — in each school district. The East Hampton School District, the largest in the town, has reached its limit, while other districts like Amagansett and Wainscott have just a smattering.

“I’m willing to double the cap right now,” Lys said. “There’s people who are ready and wanting to do this.”

Lys said he’d even be in favor of lowering the minimum lot size that would be eligible for having accessory apartments — which started out at 1 acre minimum and was lowered to three-quarters acre in 2019 — to a half-acre.

The approach the town will take in crafting its Community Housing Fund is beginning to take clearer shape as well, with the town planning to begin public hearings on the proposal next month.

Planning Director Jeremy Samuelson detailed what the funding could be used for under the town’s plan, at least at the outset, if voters approve the creation of the new fund in November.

The CFH money could be put toward buying land or existing buildings; funding town-led development projects like the Pantigo Road project; funding public-private partnership developments, like the Gansett Meadows and Harborview Terrace development now under construction on Three Mile Harbor Road; rehabilitating existing homes; down payment or other financial support for homebuyers; construction loans for accessory apartment additions; employee housing for local businesses; and buying units within existing multi-unit complexes.

The quiver of options will give the town as many avenues to chip away at the growing housing shortage, board members said.

“As property values have increased exponentially in the last couple years, especially, we’re going to find that our community is basically unraveling,” Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said, “and that the people who are required to make a community run, whether they be municipal workers, hospital staff, volunteer firefighters, ambulance service, teachers, police officers — the gamut —if we can’t have housing available for these folks, we’re going to have a very sad situation.”

The CHF would be funded by the revenues from a new quarter-percent transfer tax on real estate sales over $400,000.

Samuelson said that if the fund had been in place in 2021, the town would have taken in more than $15 million to help with creating affordable housing.

Board members said that once the plan is drafted, the challenge for the board will be to present it to the community as clearly as possible so that there are no doubts lingering in the minds of voters about where the money will come from, how it will be spent and who will benefit.

“If we are able to make meaningful progress on addressing the affordable housing crisis in this community, I would argue that there is not a person in this town that doesn’t benefit,” Samuelson said. “We can make a meaningful difference in many, many people’s lives in this community.”