Southampton Village Board Takes New Tack To Enable Food Pantry

The Southampton Village Board is poised to adopt a law to enable the nonprofit Heart of the Hamptons to operate a food pantry at a former village ambulance barn on Meeting House Lane — but not the law that was originally drafted for that purpose.

Mayor Jesse Warren and other board members expressed their support for the food pantry after a public hearing on Tuesday, August 24, which was welcome news to those who came out to advocate for Heart of the Hamptons. For Meeting House Lane property owners who oppose having a food pantry on their block, the fight will continue.

Representing the newly formed Meeting House Lane Neighbors Association, Jim McFarlane told the Village Board: “We are not at all willing to be intimidated into silence. We have a substantial war chest on hand.”

The new proposal will allow food pantries only through a special exception use permit issued by the Village Board, while the original legislation, which was criticized for being too broad, allowed food pantries anywhere in a residential district.

During the public hearing, which was continued from the Village Board’s August 12 meeting, Heart of the Hamptons board members and a number of other supporters of having the food pantry at the former ambulance barn spoke out. They rebutted critics who said at the earlier date that a food pantry was not needed by anyone in the village and that Meeting House Lane is a bad location for it. Neighbors had also raised concerns about the impact it would have on traffic and their quality of life.

Heart of the Hamptons, originally named Human Resources of the Hamptons, has been located for 40 years at The Basilica Parish of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary on Hill Street, but it is losing its lease there as church officials plan other uses for the space. Its representatives have pointed out that it has had no complaints from neighbors in all that time.

Planning consultant Stephen Jones — who was enlisted by an attorney for a group of Meeting House Lane property owners — urged the Village Board to inventory a number of other potential sites for the food pantry and come up with criteria.

“The reason why there have been no complaints where Heart of the Hamptons is now is because that particular site checks a lot of boxes,” he said, pointing to its location, convenience and large size.

Mr. Jones said it is problematic to pick a site first and then restructure the code so the site meets the criteria.

Molly Bishop, the executive director of Heart of the Hamptons, said it is not uncommon for a nonprofit to operate in a village-owned facility. Examples given at the meeting included the Southampton Arts Center and Southampton Cultural Center.

Ms. Bishop said the Village Board approved a lease with Heart of the Hamptons because it provides a community benefit — “and I can think of no greater benefit than caring for those neighbors that need a friend to turn to.”

She named a number of services that the organization provides in addition to a food pantry: school supplies, medical supplies, clothing, rent and utility support, senior check-ins, home repairs, taxi rides to medical appointments, and more.

She said the Meeting House Lane location is ideal because of its safe pathways to the business district, schools, the hospital and public transportation.

“We have been operating for 40 years in an almost identical setup,” she told the board. “We are three blocks away in a residential district adjacent to a church with two residents on the other side. So I would say that this is not a big ask. We are just asking to move three blocks down the road.”

Tom Edmonds, the executive director of the Southampton History Museum, which is based at the Rogers Mansion on Meeting House Lane, said he was delighted to learn a year ago that Heart of the Hamptons would move across the street. “We get a lot of tourists to the Rogers Mansion — we are happy to do that — but what we really need to do is serve the underprivileged,” he said.

Gloria Dios said she joined the nonprofit’s board in January because having grown up in an affluent community she was always taught it is important to give back. She pointed out that 50 percent of students in Southampton School District qualify for free or reduced lunches, and in neighboring Tuckahoe, that number is 60 percent.

“The entire life of that property has been in service of Southampton through volunteers and donations of generous people in this community,” said another Heart of the Hamptons board member, Sean Hattrick. “One of the great things about Southampton is that we are surrounded by people who have so much, but there are so many people around us who don’t have the same thing.”

Mr. Hattrick emphasized that Heart of the Hamptons would renovate the building using 100 percent donated funds and said that the food pantry only hands out food from 10 a.m. to noon two days a week.

A public hearing on the new law was set for Thursday, September 9, at 6 p.m. at Village Hall.