Tuckahoe To See Two Affordable Homes

Two new affordable homes will be built in Tuckahoe on property that has sat vacant since Southampton Town purchased it 10 years ago.

On Tuesday, the Southampton Town Board approved the transfer of two lots, each approximately a half acre in size, which the town purchased from the estate of Katie Press in 2005, to the Southampton Business Alliance. The alliance will build the two homes, whose ultimate price will be relatively low, because the cost of the land will be eliminated due to the donation.

Originally, the alliance intended to develop a piece of property on the corner of Red Creek and West Landing roads in Hampton Bays that used to be part of a Girl Scout camp. However, after hearing complaints from the Hampton Bays community about adding more affordable housing to the hamlet, the Town Board opted not to move forward with the project. Instead, it will sell that piece of land in Hampton Bays, while offering the Tuckahoe properties to the Business Alliance to develop.

“The hamlet of Hampton Bays has been very specific that they don’t want any more affordable housing in there,” Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said this week. “And the property has such high value because it is surrounded by preserved land. So this was just not the smart way to do this, and we are better off surplusing it,” she said of the Hampton Bays parcel.

The Hampton Bays project at the former Girl Scout property was first proposed in 2007, when the 65-acre camp was purchased for $16 million using Community Preservation Fund money. At the time, the Town Board voted to preserve most of the land, except for a half acre containing a caretaker’s house that was saved for the affordable housing project. Ms. Throne-Holst estimated that the half-acre property is worth $500,000.

On Tuesday, the Town Board rescinded a resolution designating that property for affordable housing in favor of using the Tuckahoe property, which was purchased along with a third property in 2005 for $3.5 million. The two properties were part of a larger purchase of 4.7 acres off Moses Lane, which was originally slated to be subdivided by the owner. The town has not yet decided what to do with the remaining 3.6 acres.

The two lots to be developed conform to half-acre zoning. The houses will be auctioned by the Business Alliance to bidders who meet income requirements.