Letters

In 2019, the Planning Commission of the Village of Southampton held a historic preservation workshop. This workshop was presented by the New York State Historic Preservation Office. As our village is designated a certified local government, the focus included successful infill designs for historic districts. The Saturday morning session was geared to members of all the village boards and their consultants.

During the question-and-answer section, interest turned to the loss of historic resources through demolition. Our village preservation consultant raised our November 1926 cutoff date (a structure built after 1926 could not be considered a landmark).

In response to this crisis, the state instructor recommended that we change our code. She further cited the demolition code for the City of Buffalo as a model: The Buffalo code requires all demolition applications come before that city’s architectural and historic preservation review board.

Such review boards protect the buildings listed within the boundaries of our four historic districts, designations protected by local law and part of our zoning code today. We have used the 1998 Index of Historic Buildings based on the findings of a survey conducted by GAI Consultants. This survey was funded by the village and a SHPO grant.

In the 2010s, our village preservation consultant used this index to assess their current status. He determined that 29 contributing resources had already been demolished. A “windshield survey” conducted in 2021 revealed that an additional 69 historic buildings had been demolished — a rapidly accelerating loss of history.

In response to accelerating development and loss of historic fabric, in 2016, the Village Planning Commission engaged Studio A/B to recommend strategies for future development. One of its conclusions is to move the 1926 cutoff date forward, and to “establish a map and database of properties with addresses, age of buildings, and historic register references … to be placed on the village website.”

This list of contributing buildings, originating in the 1970s survey, augmented in 1998, and updated in 2011-14 and 2021, provides the database for evaluating demolition applications under the proposed code change.

As our law now stands, outside designated historic districts, only buildings constructed after 1926 can be considered a landmark. Recently Four Fountains, built in 1929, and a binder-full of contributing buildings, have been ineligible for protection and were demolished.

Our code change requires public review before demolition of any potential landmarks can proceed — and to include in that review structures older than a rolling 50-year period. Extend protection to worthy buildings built after 1926 and allow the public a voice in that protection.

In essence, the board is following the advice we were given in 2016 and again in 2019.

Sarah Latham

Southampton

Ms. Latham is a member of the Southampton Village Board of Architectural Review and Historic Preservation.