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The Westhampton property that was once Coast Guard housing is on the auction block, again. KITTY MERRILL
Southampton Town Board member John Bouvier wants to know where U.S. Representative Nick LaLota has been when it comes to supporting affordable housing opportunities in town.
At a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Eastport on Monday celebrating the opening of a new nature trail, Bouvier expressed his view regarding LaLota’s presence in the district in both the figurative and literal sense, as the town moves closer to an August 7 auction of a 14-acre U.S. Coast Guard housing tract in Westhampton Beach, which will be administered by the federal General Services Administration.
LaLota was elected in 2022 to represent the 1st Congressional District but lived outside the district, in Amityville, at the time of the election.
He told reporters he would move to the district if elected, and Bouvier said this week that while he can’t say for sure, he doesn’t think LaLota has done so.
“In my view, you should be living in the district that you represent,” Bouvier said.
The town already has made an unspecified offer to buy the Coast Guard property, with an eye toward possibly developing it as affordable housing, but that effort was rejected. Instead, bidding will start at $5 million at next week’s auction.
Former U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin was in office when the plan to offload the government property through an established GSA process of auctioning it off was put into play.
But in other instances around the country where a former USCG property was on the auction block, a robust “bigfooting” of the process by a local congressman has proven an effective way to steer abandoned federal properties in the direction of affordable housing, usually in partnership with local elected officials.
For example, in Marin County, California, U.S. Representative Jared Huffman helped that county secure a 32-acre USCG housing tract that had been designated as surplus by the government in 2014. Like the East End, well-heeled Marin County has struggled with a workforce housing shortage and daily “trade parade” of its own of people who work in the county but can’t afford to live there.
As the Marin County website explains, “with major assistance from Congressman Jared Huffman and his staff, the property was acquired by Marin County from the federal government in December 2019 for $4.3 million. The purchase agreement includes language that restricts the property’s use to public benefit.”
Zeldin instead opted to lean on standard operating procedure when it comes to surplus properties: Let the GSA sell it off to the highest bidder. In fairness to the former congressman and failed gubernatorial candidate, that is not unusual: In 2017, for example, the GSA auctioned off former USCG land in Boston to a local real estate developer for $3.66 million.
A Zeldin spokesperson said in 2018 that the auction would be “taking place in accordance with the same surplus procedures the U.S. government follows nationwide.” Now, the fallout from Zeldin’s hands-off approach to dispensing with the Coast Guard property rests on fellow Republican LaLota’s desk.
LaLota spokesman Will Kiley pushed back strongly on any assertion that his boss was AWOL from the district and said that he had, in fact, been keeping tabs on the dispensation of the former USCG property. “The congressman and our team have been in contact with local officials and residents in Westhampton and Southampton about this issue for quite a while at this point,” Kiley said via email. “Saying otherwise is completely false.”
Kiley noted that LaLota had met recently with Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, “who did not express a preference on what happened with the property or even bring this up.”
Last week, Schneiderman said, “We were hoping the federal government, knowing what we’re trying to do with affordable homes, they’d work with us. But they seem to feel they just want the highest number they could get.”
Kiley also insisted that LaLota is standing by, ready to lend an assist to local groups and governments.
“From what we have heard, the town and homeowners have not agreed upon what they would like to see happen with the project, which is incredibly important and should not be overlooked,” Kiley said. “As someone who served in local government, the congressman supports local control, and when local groups and governments come to a consensus, we will be more than happy to do what we can to support them.”
As far as the question of LaLota’s residence and where he is hanging his hat these days, Kiley stressed the freshman congressman’s bona fides as a lifelong resident of Suffolk County and said he “reject[ed] the premise of your question that the congressman is not involved and up to date on issues in the district.” However, he did not address the specific question of whether LaLota had moved from Amityville into the 1st District.
The spokesman said LaLota has “traveled to every corner of his district, including spending 40 percent of his time when not in D.C. or on official travel in the East End, meeting with businesses, schools, local officials, and residents … Anyone saying he isn’t in touch with the issues hasn’t been paying attention.”
Reporter Tom Gogola is a former field representative for U.S. Representative Jared Huffman in California — Ed.
