Letters

The “housing plan” that The Press reported on in its July 22 edition is anything but [“Town Board Calls For Full Environmental Study Of Proposed Housing Project In Southampton,” 27east.com, July 20]. What is actually being proposed is 60 government-subsidized units on 5 acres, which would be constructed at the gateway to our village, on one of the busiest intersections on the South Fork (at the intersection of North Sea Road and County Road 39), in an area that is already overwhelmed with traffic and congestion.

I was disappointed, but not surprised, that in addition to the deceptive headline the article featured beautiful artist’s renderings of the project, that were supplied by the group that is trying to force this development on our community, which will certainly in no way reflect the final product.

The writer does not report that the apartments will most likely bring in 200-plus new residents to the Hillcrest neighborhood, none of whom will pay village taxes, and all of whom will certainly be calling on our police, ambulance, fire, library and other services.

This “affordable” housing will not be available to local workers, and will not help alleviate our lack of affordable housing for those who work here, but will, in fact, make our housing situation worse by taking up land that could be used for workforce housing, and by certainly increasing property taxes for every other village homeowner, many of us who are already struggling to pay school, village, town and county taxes.

The bias in the article continues by letting the readers know that Town Board members were “amenable” to the project, without stating that there is a great deal of opposition to it and that it is not being supported or spearheaded by any Southampton Village residents or organizations, and will not be subject to village architectural or zoning review, as it sits just north of the village line.

Finally, why didn’t The Press reach out to even one local person or group for a comment? And why was it not stated what people are behind this, where they are based, and how it will negatively impact Southampton? With no sewer system, energy brownouts, high taxes and terrible traffic, we do not have the ability to handle yet another dense development.

What we do need is sensible planning that will result in low-impact construction and affordable local workforce housing — neither of which those who operate the “Center for Independent Living” want to push onto our fragile community.

Walter Deane

Southampton