Public Hearings On Food Pantry And Museum Laws Rescheduled For September 21

The Southampton Village Board was scheduled to hold public hearings on proposed laws concerning museums and food pantries last Thursday, September 9, but neither hearing was on the board’s agenda to the surprise of those who came out to Village Hall to be heard.

Still, a few attendees with an interest in the proposals took advantage of the public comment portion of the meeting to share their thoughts — and opinions were mixed. Speakers were also concerned that the hearings, rescheduled for Tuesday, September 21, would take place via Zoom rather than in-person.

The proposed laws would enable the Village Board to issue permits for museums and food pantries. The proposals arose in response to two applications: the Heart of the Hamptons food pantry moving into the former village ambulance barn on Meeting House Lane and the Pyrrhus Concer Homestead on Pond Lane.

Village Attorney Kenneth Gray said that special exception use permits are issued by the Zoning Board of Appeals, a power that’s delegated to the ZBA by the Village Board, and in the case of the proposed legislation, the Village Board is giving the option back to itself on food pantry and museum uses.

Self-identified summer resident Gregory D’Elia sought to clarify that the proposals concern the Heart of the Hamptons and the Concer Homestead specifically. “Basically, we’re going to rewrite the law to suit what we want to do here?” he asked. “Is that it?”

Mr. Gray explained that the laws are not written to address particular properties, only to give the jurisdiction to the Village Board.

Mr. D’Elia also pointed to a previous ZBA decision that approved rebuilding the Concer house, which was razed in 2014. “The zoning board already issued in 2016 a resolution for them to go ahead and put the homestead up, and in that resolution, it requires that they turn around and build the homestead before they come to any board to do anything or ask for anything else.”

The Southampton African American Museum has been before the ZBA and the Planning Board in recent months for permission to add a visitors center and make other changes to the property.

Mr. D’Elia asked Mayor Jesse Warren to explain why these issues were being taken on by the elected Village Board rather than the appointed ZBA.

Mr. Warren said that in the past two years since he took office, his administration has researched what authority lies with the Village Board as opposed to other boards. He noted that in some villages the Village Board and the ZBA are one and the same. “Other villages designate certain authority to the Zoning Board of Appeals,” he said. “So that’s the beauty of being the Board of Trustees: We can choose to be as proactive or not proactive as we like to be.”

He said the board is working within the confines of the law to do what it thinks is best for the village, and he added that moving special exception use authority to the Village Board will be more in line with what Southampton Town does.

Christine Sullivan Witker was concerned about hearings to take power away from the ZBA being held on an online platform. “It should not be held in a Zoom session,” she said. “There should be a proper public hearing on that.”

Former Village Board member Kimberly Allan called the proposed laws a power grab.

“The Village Board of Trustees seeks to change an entire zoning category just to accommodate the lease it recently signed with Heart of the Hamptons,” Ms. Allan said. “We love Heart of the Hamptons, but one has to really question the wisdom of this Village Board for signing the lease for a use that’s not presently permitted in the village. Land use decisions cannot be shoehorned just to bring about one desired result in one particular zoning category. This sets a very bad precedent.”

She said this erodes the nature of residential districts and historic districts and erodes the role of the land use boards, process and transparency.

Ms. Allan also objected to holding hearings on Zoom. “So many people struggle with Zoom,” she said. “So how is that being transparent?”

She added that shifting the hearing date is also not transparent.

The board had voted on August 12 to schedule hearing for the museum law and voted on August 24 to set the hearing for the food pantry law. As of the morning of September 9, the homepage of the village website still advertised that the food pantry hearing would take place that night.

Dr. Georgette Grier-Key of the Pyrrhus Concer Action Committee said she too only learned about the postponement after she arrived at Village Hall. However, she had a different view of the ZBA.

“I have to beg to differ that the zoning board is all-knowing and knowledgeable,” she said. She called the ZBA imbalanced and abusive.

“The ZBA is abusive and only applies rules to certain people. So to me, it looks racist. To others, it looks racist,” she said.

She pointed out that the ZBA requested to see the documents behind the Southampton African American Museum’s state charter application. “It’s outrageous,” she said. “I have museum professionals in the state asking me about that.”

ZBA member Susan Stevenson had asked to see the documents that the museum submitted to the state when it applied for its charter. Advocates for the Concer Homestead visitors center have said that reexamining a museum charter is not within the purview of the ZBA.

“The wealth that many of you enjoy” has to do with the enslavement of Pyrrhus Concer and others, Dr. Grier-Key said. “The fact that we have to continue to fight to have his legacy preserved is a disgrace.”

She said that, according to the New York State attorney general, a municipality has the right to not adhere to its zoning code if the decision does not harm its people and benefits the community.

Mr. Warren said on Monday that the hearings were not held on September 9 because required public notices were not published in time. He would, ideally, like to continue with in-person meetings, he said, but he wants a venue with better air circulation than that Village Hall board room. He said that for small meetings, the room is OK, but when 50 or 75 people attend a meeting, it’s a not a good, safe environment.

He noted that when former Governor Andrew Cuomo let his state of emergency declaration expire, the village no longer had the option to hold meetings online. He said he’s happy that Governor Kathy Hochul allowed online meetings to be an option again.

The board voted to reschedule the public hearings for Tuesday, September 21, at 6 p.m. via Zoom.