A Foundation - 27 East

Letters

Southampton Press / Opinion / Letters / 2272889
Jul 15, 2024

A Foundation

Nick Carlon’s letter, “A Guide, Not Code” [Letters, July 11], suggesting that Gayle Lombardi does not know the difference between a comprehensive plan and a zoning ordinance, is perplexing. Would that be the same Gayle Lombardi who, although not a lawyer, sued the town over its illegal downtown overlay district zoning ordinance, and won?

Rest assured, Ms. Lombardi, as well as the others who spoke in opposition to the town adopting Historical Concept’s revised pattern book in its current version as an amendment to the town’s Comprehensive Plan, are fully aware of the differences.

A comprehensive plan is much like a constitution or a foundation with which local zoning laws must be consistent. In this case, the town sought to amend the current Comprehensive Plan to include a revised pattern book that would accommodate future development in downtown Hampton Bays with 2½-story or more, 50-foot-tall buildings, with no limitation on first-floor residences. This is all contrary to existing zoning laws, which limit downtown buildings to two-story, 35-foot-tall buildings, with no first-floor residences.

Can you say: lots of three-story, or perhaps even more, apartments lining multiple proposed “new streets” downtown and overlooking Good Ground Park? Is that what Hampton Bays residents are clamoring for?

While the revised pattern book purports this to be a fact, it does not comport with the sentiments expressed by residents at the well-attended public listening sessions conducted by former Supervisor Jay Schneiderman following the disastrous Nelson Pope Voorhis contract blowup. To the contrary, those who spoke on the subject unequivocally said “no” to tall buildings downtown, especially overlooking the park. And the town’s most recent survey regarding the revised pattern book makes no mention of building stories or heights and cannot in good faith be cited as support for the revised pattern book’s recommendations on these issues.

To be sure, few, if any, have objected to the pretty pictures included in the revised pattern book. They are lovely. The real issue is that the revised pattern book will provide the foundation on which the town will rely to allow a developer to cram a substantial number of three-story or more, 50-foot-tall residential buildings (apartments) along multiple “new streets” leading from Montauk Highway to Good Ground Park and all along the park. That, as they say, is the rub.

In short, Gayle Lombardi knew what she was talking about and got it exactly right in her “Not for Sale” letter.

Linda Wells

Hampton Bays