As Moratorium Expires, Southampton Village Adopts First Law Pertaining To Elevated Homes In FEMA Zones

The Southampton Village Board adopted a law last week, just before a moratorium on new construction in Federal Emergency Management Agency flood zones expired over the weekend, that imposes “sky plane” requirements for new, elevated homes in those zones.

Sky planes—angles drawn from a point on the ground to the top of a proposed house—are used to limit the height of new homes, as well as to determine the position of a house on a property. With the new law in place, homes will not be able to exceed a 33-degree angle from the designated point on the ground. The angle had previously been set at 45 degrees.

Front-yard sky planes will begin at a point 40 feet into the property from the front lot line, and side-yard sky planes at the side-yard lot line. The line begins in front yards at the base flood elevation, which is where FEMA would expect floodwater to rise to. The line begins in side yards at an elevation of 5 feet above the base flood elevation.

The code amendment is the first of what village officials said are many zoning changes to come with respect to elevated homes in FEMA flood zones. In October 2014, the Village Board adopted a moratorium on new construction in those zones after an application for a home at 40 Meadow Lane was approved and resulted in the construction of a home that many argue is too tall for the neighborhood. The nine-month moratorium expired Saturday.

Once the moratorium was in place, the board appointed the municipality’s planning consultant, Nelson, Pope & Voorhis, to conduct an in-depth study of the village to evaluate FEMA construction requirements in flood zones. The consultant was also asked to determine how the requirements affect construction in the area and suggest what could be done to adjust village laws in response.

Paul Travis, chairman of the Village Planning Commission, said at the Village Board meeting on Thursday, August 13, that the study helped the commission make recommendations for homes on larger lots on waterfront streets like Meadow and Gin lanes, where homes often tend to be taller and larger. He added that narrow lots will also be addressed eventually.

Residents at Thursday night’s meeting, however, argued that focusing on sky plane requirements in the pyramid law was only scratching the surface of the issues surrounding the heights of homes in FEMA zones.

Bruce Bockmann said the new law “totally ignores the key issue in FEMA zones” and would probably apply only to two properties on Meadow Lane. He said he did not feel the law was a complete solution, and that it addressed the height issue in a “haphazard manner.”

“I think we’re seeing a consistent pattern of sort of half-measures, and then we’ll get to the second half of the law another time,” Mr. Bockmann said. “I think we should go back to the drawing boards and come up with something more complete. There really is nothing in here about height. We have to put this back to the Planning Commission.”

Philip Howard told board members that they should first see the physical result of the sky plane regulations before adopting the amendment. With a blown-up photo of Meadow Lane he had taken the previous afternoon, he showed what 40 Meadow Lane looks like from the entrance to Coopers Beach—a house that towers over trees and hedges, looming over the street, with no other houses in sight.

Mr. Howard added that a stringent height law should be enacted so that homes in FEMA zones look uniform in height. “This proposed legal change will basically allow houses to sort of stick out like Dracula’s teeth,” he said. “You’re going to get houses that look like the picture I just showed you. There’s nothing in the law that prevents that house. We ought to see what these things create—what a height limit would create in this zone.”

Village Board members stressed that because the moratorium was expiring, they needed to at least act on a law that is a step forward in addressing the heights of homes in FEMA zones. Village Attorney Richard DePetris said the pyramid law and sky plane requirements are height regulations, because the roofs of homes will not be able to pierce the decreased imaginary angle of the sky plane, thus creating a shorter structure. He pointed out that if the village did not adopt this new law, another house like the one at 40 Meadow Lane could go up in other FEMA zones in the village.

“It took us nine months to get this far—so, this is a starting point, and that’s all it’s intended to be,” Mr. DePetris said. “Sky plane and pyramid law requirements are a type of height regulation. So by putting in sky plane and pyramid law requirements, you are addressing height. You may not be addressing it fully … but it is a height regulation. It could be nine months from now before you have another local law.”