Letters

Ever since the East Hampton Town Board appointed its zoning task force with no representation from much of the community, I’ve been dubious about the process. The new plan to count finished basements toward the cap on gross floor area confirms my doubts.

Before my real estate career, I was a senior government official for 14 years in Washington, D.C. I also advised government agencies and nonprofits for another 20 years. The importance of linking actions to outcomes and objectives was a consistent directive throughout. And this is exactly what the task force fails to do with its proposal.

There are legitimate reasons for limiting GFA, lot coverage, clearing and setbacks. Nobody wants homes to loom large over neighbors, destroy viewsheds (as was sadly the case at Ditch), conflict with historic districts, or saturate our fragile groundwater system with fertilizer and pesticides. These are all clear objectives.

But what objective is being achieved by counting lower levels toward already capped GFA? How is that lower level measurably impacting the environment or neighbors if, presumably, owners have corresponding septic capacity and are not running afoul of any other dimensional regulations?

It appears that task force members have philosophical objections to larger homes and have not followed evidence-based policy-making. The irony is that if lower levels are counted toward GFA caps, I expect that most builders will chose to increase the above-ground, more impactful footprint of houses vs. building lower levels.

When my kids are home from college and work, our home is filled joyously with family and friends. Happily, I can convince them to visit by offering them a place to sleep. Every bedroom and sofa are taken, including the pull-out in the playroom in my lower level that saved my sanity as a full-time working mom when my kids were toddlers.

I’ve lived in East Hampton year-round for almost 25 years. If more restrictive rules are adopted, small-lot owners will be forced to choose between bedrooms for their adult children (who probably can’t afford a home of their own), a room for elderly parents, home offices, or playrooms for preschoolers.

To limit GFA based on the presence of a finished basement, the town must link actions to legitimate objectives and goals. It has failed to do that.

Let’s work together as a community and focus on the real issues like affordable housing and not waste our time on non-issues.

Before continuing to proceed from within an ideological echo chamber, the task force should reach out to a broader section of the community, including real estate and building professionals, and make them part of the process and solution. The town’s future actions should be firmly grounded in supportable outcomes and objectives.

Jackie Lowey

East Hampton